First post here. I have been running Sonar producer 8.5 for about four years or so. Yesterday while tracking I by accident routed the audio signal to run thru the DAW, and what came out of the speakers was at extreme high volume. After I settled down ( it scared the crap out of me) I checked my project and notice that now my song was littered with cracks and pops. playing it back again I noticed there was no pattern to the noise or not in the same places on each play back. I checked other projects that I know where clean before, to now have the same problems. Also the higher the CPU count the noisier the play back. Could this be a result of a damaged audio engine and is it fixable or do I have to purchase a new program.
 
Thanks, MickeyH

Hi. I think that the cracks and pops you are hearing, might be due to latency settings (to low). I believe that it would coincide with the increase in CPU usage.
What kind of soundcard / audio interface do you have? What kind of drivers do you use? What operating system, and CPU, RAM etc.?
The more info you give, the easier it is to troubleshoot.
Best of luck.

Ps. I do not think it is possible to damage the audio engine in SONAR (or any other DAW).
 

No you didn't break the audio engine. Software doesn't work that way. You don't need to buy a new program.

Give the info requested above and we can help you out.

Forgot to tell you, Welcome to the forums!!

I forgot... Welcome

Lol did you take the engine to the body shop yet? :)
Fortunately software can't be damaged that easily - it takes a lot of abuse!

Welcome Mickey.
Either the speakers, amp or interface/audio card would be suspect.  Most likely the speakers, but the amp could have been overdriven without damaging the speakers.
Will wait for more info from you.
 
Clint

Thanks for the quick response. Win 7 64 bit. 6GB. It's an HP I got 5 yrs. ago. I'm going thru an Audient iD 22. just got it. everything was great until yesterday. I get the same noise with headphones and speakers turned off. I have a pair of Prodipe  8 inch speaker they are set at max. If you are familiar with the Audient iD 22 you know they have an on screen systems board from which you route your analogue outputs and digital outputs. I clicked to "DAW MIX" in  analogue by mistake. That's when the volume peeked and now all the noise.

MickeyH
Thanks for the quick response. Win 7 64 bit. 6GB. It's an HP I got 5 yrs. ago. I'm going thru an Audient iD 22. just got it. everything was great until yesterday. I get the same noise with headphones and speakers turned off. I have a pair of Prodipe  8 inch speaker they are set at max. If you are familiar with the Audient iD 22 you know they have an on screen systems board from which you route your analogue outputs and digital outputs. I clicked to "DAW MIX" in  analogue by mistake. That's when the volume peeked and now all the noise.

I suppose its possible although extremely unlikely that the internal preamp could have damage. Most likely its a configuration setting with the buffer sizes or some interference from other drivers on your system. Try a DPC latency check and make sure other programs are not accessing the device etc. I assume you have done a shutdown restart sequence...

Yes, I restarted my computer and also unplugged all cables and power from the Audient and let it set for a bit. I'll check my latency settings and see if any other program in getting access. Thanks.