First off I want to say I'm not used to writing in forums, so if I do something wrong, sorry. I am not at home right now so I don't have all the information I probably need right now to post, but I'm hoping someone out there has heard of this issue and its an easy fix. Everything was working fine for a few weeks, then I have my singer come over to do some tracks, and all hell breaks loose. At one point the phantom power kicked off by itself on my Octa-Capture, but worse yet, Sonar Platinum starts freezing every 5 minutes. I go through my settings, I tune up my BIOS so everything is running 100%. I have a very fast computer, Windows 8.1, AMD 8 core processor, 2.3GHz, 16mg memory, a Radeon video card, its a gaming system I bought specifically for recording music. So anyway, PLT keeps on crashing. I sent dump files to support, they said it looked like V-Vocal was causing the issues, to uninstall or deactivate it in Program Manager, so I tried that, still crashing. They told me to uninstall all of my C++ files and re-install them giving me the link to them, I did that, still the same issues. They told me to uninstall PLT and re-install, I did that 5 to 6 times now, now things are worse, I've even re-installed all of my Waves after uninstalling them. Now when I record, when I hit the space bar to stop, instant crash. If I try to edit, instant crash. I can use X3 Producer all day long with no hiccups, but now, it cannot find Melondyne, and neither can PLT. I can probably figure out the Melondyne problem on my own, I may have uninstalled it in the chaos of everything that's been going on. But this thing where just stopping a recording causes a crash? And why hasn't re-installing helped at all? I even did a remote desktop with support, it was no help at all. I did everything he told me, nothing worked. I know when I uninstall PLT from the Command Center, I can uninstall only PLT and leave everything alone, then only re-install PLT. Could that be an issue? Should I try uninstalling everything, like D-Pro, and Melondyne, and even Command Center and just start from scratch? I've got a feeling this is Registry related somehow, on one reinstall I was getting a dll error and Sonar would not work at all, wouldn't even boot up. So I had to redo it and then it was ok, that error went away. Now on PLT I'm getting errors about finding my Waves effects, but on X3 it finds them just fine. None of this is making sense to me, why one works and the other won't. Anyway, that what I got.
 
Thanks for any help or advice!!
Walt

Moved to SONAR forum, this appears to be system specific.

wgmj
 Everything was working fine for a few weeks, then I have my singer come over to do some tracks, and all hell breaks loose. At one point the phantom power kicked off by itself on my Octa-Capture, but worse yet, Sonar Platinum starts freezing every 5 minutes.

This would suggest a system change, maybe a software update was made to the machine after the few weeks of correct operation. It might be worth restoring to a point in time when the system was working correctly.
 
Uninstalling whether using the Command Center or Windows does not clean up the registry. Registry clean up is a manual process. After uninstalling any version of SONAR, the registry entries should be removed. Here is an article about how to perform a clean install of X3 http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013371/SONAR-X3-Clean-Install-Instructions The process is the same for the new SONAR except the registry keys are slightly different. For example, the X3 Producer key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\X3
the new SONAR Platinum key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR\Platinum
I doubt removing more than the SONAR core would make a difference. When first running SONAR do you allow it to use the previous version config? If so, consider a full re-personalizing by holding the CTRL+SHIFT keys while starting SONAR.

I tried system restore, both attempts failed. I will take a look at that article you provided, and will also try personalizing Sonar, I do think when I installed it, or upon first start up it asked something about previous config, and I said yes. So maybe that will help something. Thanks.

welcome to the forum Walt.
 
Let me start out by reporting that I have only had Sonar Platinum crash on me once, and I use it around 16 hours a week since the first day of release.  About once or twice a week, someone comes on the forum reporting problems very similar to yours.  The answer is somewhere between your experience and mine.

A large percentage of the solutions to issues like yours are eventually solved by making sure that
 
1) drivers are the latest and the correct ones for your operating system.  I'm assuming that you installed the 64 bit version of Platinum.  Was your X3 64 bit as well?  Are you positive that you have the 64 bit driver specific to Win 8.1 installed for your Octa-Capture?
 
2) your VTS plugins are the latest versions and of the correct bitness for the install of Platinum that you are running?  There are issues with some older versions of (particularly 32 bit) plug-ins that seem to be addressed by downloading and installing the latest version.  Just what plugins are you using?
 
3) I'm assuming that because you are using an Octa-Capture that you are using the ASIO driver specifically for that device and not some intermediate kludge like ASIO4ALL.  When you go into your ASIO control panel, are you actually where you are expecting to be?
 
4) are you sure that your video driver is the most current one for your version of Windows?  (BTW gaming systems are not necessarily good for audio production, and some of them are actually not very good at it).
 
5) is your computer up-to-date and clean/complete with Windows Update?  Having outstanding items in Windows Update will definitely cause problems.
 
Glen
 
 
 

gcolbert, Yes to #1, Yes to #2, I use Waves VST3's mainly, but to be honest I struggle getting the Program Manager set up to find them all. Yes to #3, I also use an Axe-FXII Mark II with Asio driver at 48000khz, the Octa-Capture, when used for vocals automatically picks up the 48000khz and is running Asio on current drivers. Yes everything on my system is up to date. I just did what scook suggested about the uninstall and the registry, and the re-personalizing, it still crashes when stopping after recording. I can edit now, I edited the EQ in Prochannel on an old idea and it was fine. But as soon as I stopped after hitting record, it goes down. But the message says Windows has stopped working, so I do believe your right in thinking its a Windows issue. Oh I did roll back to the oldest version of PLT thinking maybe it would would, but I'm having the same issues which tells me its something in my system. I wonder if that stupid box thats always popping up to make a change to your system needs to be shut off. It doesn't affect X3, but maybe it does PLT? I thought I had to shut it off before for another version. I don't know, I'm just so frustrated.
 

Another problem that seems to be a pattern in crashes is USB audio devices in USB3 ports.  These are (usually) blue instead of white.  How many USB ports do you have?  How many USB2 and how many USB3?
 
Glen

Are you using Version 1.5.2 driver software for your Octa-Capture?
 
How are you creating your actual audio out?  Is this through the Octa-Capture to an amp or is this something you are doing with the Axe-FX II?  What is your process when you change from one (Roland) to the other (Axe)?
 
Glen

I have 4 USB2 and 4 USB3, but I only use 2 of the USB2's, and I just found and downloaded a windows optional update to fix USB crashes when more than one USB is plugged in. Yes, I'm using 1.5.2 on the Octa-Capture. I use the Axe-FXII for audio out for its transparency. The only time I use the Octa-Capture is to record my drummers TD-20's, and to record vocals. Other than that everything else is done through the AxeFX. The AxeFX is updated religiously, I like to keep everything current. It is finding my Melondyne now, but its in black and white instead of color. Is that the trial running out on me? I was going to purchase the upgrade but they don't take Discover card...bummer. Anyway, the only problem I'm having now is when I hit record, and then I stop recording by either hitting the space bar, or hitting the stop button with my arrow, it crashes, and its still a Windows message, not a Cakewalk message. Strange why doing the same thing on X3 doesn't get the same result..??

wgmj
a Windows message, not a Cakewalk message. Strange why doing the same thing on X3 doesn't get the same result..??

With each release, the bakers use the newest Windows features to improve performance and to stay current with windows.  It shouldn't be a surprise that they have different reactions to the operating system.  X3 was written for an older version of Windows 8.1:).  One of the reasons that having Windows Update updates applied is important.
 
These crashes should be leaving information in your system log that identifies the exact component that is having problems.  You should be able to get to the system log from the control panel (Control Pnel->Administrative Tools-> Event log).  The events should be recorded under Windows Application logs or Windows System logs.