Well let us agree to disagree. However fact is latest software requires the latest libraries and integrates accordingly for max stability (and tested by developers this way as well) . If you are on earlier software and have later libraries installed you also stand to run into trouble. Too many combinations to take into account.

The big mistake some make is thinking all software somehow lives in it's own individual desert island. If you leave it alone nothing will happen. Not the case, how stable your system performs is mainly down to how the componets intigrate.

One exception being that you never ever update any software... Not even Sonar. Then nothing should change.

Anyway the symptoms you describe could easily be audio driver, and you will never ever be able to rule it out unless you update.

Unless you have a specific error in the windows event viewer the only way you can troubleshoot is to update and rule things out one at a time. Or just switch things off and uninstall them, but that doesn't really get you anywhere because one thing might be effecting something else.

Asking people for advice on how reliable software is isn't going to get you very far because their system is likely to very different to yours. However it is much easier to compare notes with others if everybody has the software up to date on their system.

Of course if it's just a single project effected it's likely to be a plugin or corruption, or perhaps you are out of resources. If you rule that out you have no alternative but to look elsewhere.

Btw the latest saffire driver seemed to double my performance and stability recently FWIW. I can run on lower asio buffers. Your project 'could' suddenly leap into action after updating (don't make me bet on it though).

And like I say if it all goes tits up there are backups.

Btw you can't be sure it's a Sonar thing, we aren't seeing many instability reports in these forums quite the opposite... Unless you have specific steps to repro a crash.

Beepster
Welp... I tried the Audio Engine thing and it didn't help (it still took an oppressively long time before I was able to reopen Sonar).
 
So I opened the Task Manager BEFORE starting SPlat to see what was idling in system "services" before opening Sonar (this was after I gave Sonar enoough time to release itself) so I could see everything that got added when I opened the project. The only thing I saw was Sonar Platinum. No Jbridge or anything which I guess makes sense because there are no 32bit plugs... only DX plugs... I was unsure if DX was run through a wrapper as well so I guess that answered that.
 
Then I went and closed SPlat with the Task Manager open to see what exactly was hanging (like maybe something else would pop up that could point to the issue). The only thing that was hanging was the main SONARPLT.exe entry.
 
So in my case it seems (on the surface) that the only thing getting stuck is Sonar itself.
 
It should be noted that no changes were made to the project so it's not like it had anything new to save.

Obviously m-audio drivers ... LOL

He's using Focusrite.

No LOL about it. If Sonar is sticking around in task manager the first thing I would look at is jbridge and 32 bit plugins (as stated earlier), maybe perform a VST reset. Maybe look at the virus scanner in case it is locking something up. I would definitely look at the windows event viewer for better clues.

Then I would look at drivers and the OS environment if I was pretty sure the file was not corrupted, top of the suspect list is audio interface.

For those having this problem - does physically disconnecting your audio/MIDI devices help when the process hangs?

Doktor Avalanche
He's using Focusrite.

No LOL about it. If Sonar is sticking around in task manager the first thing I would look at is jbridge and 32 bit plugins (as stated earlier), maybe perform a VST reset. Maybe look at the virus scanner in case it is locking something up. I would definitely look at the windows event viewer for better clues.

Then I would look at drivers and the OS environment if I was pretty sure the file was not corrupted, top of the suspect list is audio interface.

I'm just bringing this back up to the top because I snagged the new drivers/firmware/Scarlett Mix today but have yet to install them.
 
The reason being, as usual I am using due diligence investigating reports of problems with these versions (I do this EVERY time I update ANYTHING on my DAW so I know what to look out for and the time it consumes is part of the reason I don't go "all in" on updates).
 
Basically I am seeing some negative reports about the Firmware, Drivers and seemingly Scarlett Mix releases that have come out since ScarlettMix 1.2 (including 1.2). I am on the version IMMEDIATELY before 1.2 ( it's 1.1.128.1.0). Driver version 2.3.0 API 3.0. Firmware version 198.
 
These are oooooold versions of all of that BUT my interface works and works reliably. The reports are that newer versions, particularly the Firmware stuff (which is my major concern) are causing the interface to disconnect all willy nilly and/or causing glitches.
 
Now I have KIND of deduced from some of these reports that we're dealing with people who have no idea that USB ports will go to sleep (thus disconnecting the audio device attach via those ports) BUT they also seem to state that this issue was not occuring before they updated the software/drivers/firmware.
 
A lot of these posting/reports then get a bunch of "confirmation" from others.
 
There's also a vid of some guy doing some really dumb crap (to me) and wondering why his unit isn't responding in a specific way but again saying the behavior is new after updating to the versions I have just downloaded (but have not installed until I sort this out).
 
So... it's one of those issues where I am not sure if I'm finding reports being made by people who are doing dumb crap/don't know what's going on or if there are legit problems. When I was first researching the 18i6 I found a lot of reports about bad drivers around the 2010/11 era but that all those problems went away with update releases (the ones I am currently on and don't seem to be available on the FR site anymore).
 
The technical details released about these drivers/software/firmware updates are REALLY lacking too and I can't find anything that specifically applies to me as a Win7 user (they mention Win8 and Mac related compatibility updates... seems Win8 users are having these issues).
 
Also it seems if you update the Scarlett Mix stuff without the firmware updates (and vice versa) there won't be any connectivity (or something like that... like I said it's all kind of howler monkey stuff so hard to parse).
 
To me updating the software is of course no big deal. I create a restore point and if something wacky becomes apparent I just restore. For firmware inside the unit? I have no idea how to roll back something like that aside from MAYBE reinstalling from the original drivers/firmware I used when I first installed (and I should have those somewhere but am not sure... the disc is no good because that's the ORIGINAL relase which was garbage).
 
So yeah... software/drivers no worries. Firmware? Too stupid to figure that out.
 
Right now my plan is essentially to poll the users here who are a) on Win7 64, b) using the 18i6, c) using Sonar Platinum and whatever other system specific stuff I can think of in the Computers tab before updating.
 
My instinct though is to let it sit because I cannot be sure if this "hanging" problem is from the interface (which has never once caused me a problem) instead of risking bricking/crippling a working device with no exit strategies (firmware) over what is an unconfirmed and comparatively minor annoyance.
 
THAT right there is why I generally only update stuff when absolutely necessary. My system is actually turning into a relic already (despite being built only a few years ago) but it works so if necessary (and I've already started considering this) I'll lock it down and just build a new machine. Really I figured I'd get around five years of it being "modern" before I'd have to do that and the end of that life cycle is coming up quick. I of course expect to get another 5 or more years out of it after that but yanno... as is... which is a fruck of a lot compared to just sitting on my balls with an acoustic guitar, my crazy brain and nothing to record into. lulz...
 
Mostly posting this to organize my thoughts and be sure anyone thinking about updating their 18i6 does a bit of research first. I will be myself here on the forum with the NON howler monkeys who use similar rigs to mine and hopefully we can all figure out what's what with this great device (18i6).
 
The 18i6 also seems to be discontinued too in favor of the 18i20 so I guess it's now a legacay product and should be dealt with as such... even though Focusrite are releasing bulk updates for their other devices that are being recommended for this device.
 
That said... I still love my 18i6 which is why I am taking so much care to NOT destroy it unnecessarily.
 
 
Cheers.

Well the amount of times I've heard something like ... I updated Sonar and now it does not work
.. It was working fine in X3E but not in Platinum... Sonar is obviously crap.. Queue two or three posts explaining.. Finally OP updates the driver, run windows update yada yada.. Oh it works fine now. Conclusion.. This was not 'magic'. How a well driver works is not necessarily down to the software or the driver, it's how they intigrate together. This is mainly down to the common libraries they aceess which need updating every so often, and sometimes it's down to a depreciated piece over MS code which means if the DAW code is up to date, it may not get what it expects when it calls an old driver or library which is not up to date.. And vice versa.

I appreciate your motives but honestly being cautious often means you actually lose stability. But I totally understand though being cautious with software that hasn't been out for very long. Also if everybody starts barking at the same time it's a good time to avoid (I'm still on Gloucester btw).

And I say again... When you lose stability that is what backups are for. With a backup strategy it's win win.. You don't need to be so cautious when you know you can roll back...

Anyway I suspect I'm barking up a tree so anyway, good on you:)

If I could rollback/reinstall the firmware as easily as I can the software/drivers I'd totally be on it right now testing it all out. Windows restore is old hat to me now.
 
It's the firmware thing that's got me skeeved. I have no idea whether that can be rolled back so yanno... pretty important piece of gear to get brave with. I'll research it and see what's up.
 
I'm not a formally trained computer/hardware dude and I really can't lose any time or drop cash when something goes wrong so the "look before you leap" approach serves me well.
 
Also didn't want people leaping based on my previous post either just in case it is a fer realz issue.
 
Might even stir up the Focusrite guys to make a statement. They used to monitor and post on this forum when it was relevant.
 
Cheers.

You could ask you but you know the first thing they are gonna ask :) Firmware comes with mix control... It's a good point can you roll back the firmware? Ask 'em I don't know...I was actually thinking that earlier when I was blaghing on about backups...

I haven't yet found a pro audio interface where you couldn't roll back the firmware Beepster. Double check with the manufacturer. If they have multiple firmware versions on their website for download would be a pretty good indicator. Just make sure you have a copy of the firmware installation file for the version you want to roll back too.

Beep is right though it's a bit ambiguous with Focusrite. He should def check it.