mudgel

Adq
http://forum.cakewalk.com...yannoyed-m2640092.aspx

That's a 3 year old thread related to an issue with X1.

There is absolutely nothing new with this.

Maudio drivers and firmware here:
 
http://www.m-audio.com/support/drivers

jkoseattle
Most of the time when I work on music projects, my work time is concluded with (and due to) a Sonar crash. I have come to accept this as the norm, though every session is concluded with a string of expletives at Cakewalk. Knowing how time-consuming it is to track such things down, I have just lived with it. 
 
However, one thing seems really troubling, and that is that I can't get SONAR.EXE out of memory after it crashes, which requires a complete reboot of the PC. After a crash, the Task Manager shows Sonar right up top consuming 2Gb of RAM. Choosing End Process does not clear it out. Any idea what's happening?
 
Also, because my projects are thick and complex, they can take 5+ minutes just to load, so on the occasions where a Sonar crash does not end my working session I will leave the project open, and sometimes it is a few days before I can get back to it. I only use the computer for Sonar, iTunes and light web browsing. Is there a reason why leaving a project open like that would cause problems?

I have that issue of Sonar remaining in memory either after simply closing the program or after the occasional hang. Control Alt Delete to Task Manager and then stopping Sonar is a simple routine for me. No reboot needed. Just takes a few seconds. Annoying, but I've gotten accustomed to it.

Beepster
You seem to have a couple of M-Audio devices listed in your profile. I have seen lots of reports about M-Audio stuff not releasing Sonar from memory/task/etc. I don't fully understand this issue because the only M-Audio device I own seems to work fine but I have seen this issue mentioned before (but not for a long time). I know others have found a solution so perhaps anyone who remembers all that can provide some help.

I have a M-Audio MIDI keyboard, that sometimes refuses to release the MIDI driver, when closing SONAR. It has been like that it's whole life. Was actually worse, when I had my M-Audio Delta 1010lt (I do not mean to be cruel to OP). I currently have it connected via usb, if that matters. Will try to connect it to my AI, and see if there is any difference. 

I also recommend diagnosing issues like this with sysinternals process monitor and explorer.

I use a bit of M Audio stuff, never had an issue

There are lots of reasons why a process might hang around in memory even after the UI is gone. For example, it could be waiting on a resource to release, or for a cleanup task to finish. The fact that you can't kill it using Task Manager indicates to me that it might well be hung on a driver call that hasn't returned. That is, it may have made a call into say the ASIO driver, which in turn called the user-mode side of your M-AUDIO driver, which then finds itself  waiting on a kernel mode completion that is hung for some reason. I also see Sonar hang around in memory from time to time and often just powering off the MOTU device and then powering it back on frees things up, or sometimes simply unplugging the Firewire cable does the trick. 
 
You might want to check the user community (if any) on the M-Audio interface driver you're using to see if others have similar experiences. Flaky interface drivers can cause lots of issues with a DAW, some of which you wouldn't guess could be caused by your interface.
 
Good luck!

Beepster
Pretty cool, Andy. Thanks.

cheers Beep 
 
I've only recently spotted that myself as I don't normally look down there...

I get this too. Not sure what the underlying cause is, but unplugging the usb cord from the external sound card (a Cakewalk one) for 10 seconds or so seems to release sonar.exe.  Then I plug it back in and normally am good to go.  However, I do find that the level of aggravation this causes tends to drain any enthusiasm I had for making the music, and half the time I press the 'Steam' icon instead!

For the OP, does Windows have access to your audio interface (i.e., is the windows default device)? SONAR not releasing hints at the audio driver has failed to "let go" as it were. Be careful with letting other programs using your audio interface.