• SONAR
  • The unstoppable process bug - needs fixing
2018/04/15 15:18:57
35mm
As many of us know, sometimes when Sonar/Cake crashes (often caused by plugins and audio drivers) the process still running in task manager cannot be killed. The best solution I have found for that is to switch off my audio interface and after a few seconds, the process will end. Most people don't know about that and are forced to reboot their system! This hung process issue can also occur when exiting Sonar/Cake sometimes which means when you try to launch Cake again, nothing happens.
 
This unstoppable process bug has been around for a long time and I frequently see posts here and on Facebook about it. Now, a friend who I recommended Cake and Bandlab to has sent me a very frustrated message regarding this very issue. It crashed, and he couldn't kill the process - many of us know his frustration. His reaction to it is fairly standard, "It's a buggy pile of cr*p!". The chances are Cake didn't crash because of a bug in its code, but most likely because of a plugin or driver. My concern is this: if you spend good money on software and it does this, you spend time and effort trying to resolve it, finding a fix, a workaround or reporting it, or living with it. If however, you got the software for free, you are more likely to give up, right it off as buggy freeware and uninstall it and then tell everyone it's no good.
 
This is probably THE worst user experience someone can have with Cake and it is not uncommon - anyone who uses Cake for any time will experience this. All DAWs crash occasionally, but usually they will close cleanly leaving no processes running and can simply be relaunched. I really think it's about time Cakewalk/Bandlab fixed this unstoppable process issue. It would surely only require a few lines of error handling code! I can see this bug more than any other putting people off using it and going off and telling everyone else that, "It's a buggy pile of cr*p" and I don't think Bandlab or any of us want that!
2018/04/15 15:31:43
35mm
Just for the record, here is the message from my friend which I will share here because I think it is typical of the frustration new users will have with this bug.
 
------------------------------------------------------
Al you can stick cakewalk up your a*se
Buggy piece of sh*t
Will not let me quite the f**king program
Even when doing control alt delete and bring up task manager
It's got some sh*t going in the background
Oh f**k me doing my head in
I'm trying to be good and learn it from the top
It used to f**king work
-------------------------------------------------------
2018/04/15 15:40:18
Rasure
IMO Cakewalk needs a lot of work.
2018/04/15 15:52:36
35mm
Rasure
IMO Cakewalk needs a lot of work.


Rasure, all software needs a lot of work continually which is why they have updates. I am highlighting one issue which I really think will be a killer for new users of the free Cakewalk. Of course, there are other things that can be added to the list, but this is a major UX issue that will turn people away and potentially damage the reputation of CakeLab.
2018/04/15 15:54:01
sharke
I don't think I ever experienced a Sonar crash after which the task couldn't be killed (although sometimes it took repeated clicking of "end task" to do it). But I frequently encountered situations in which closing Sonar normally (i.e. no crash) wouldn't kill the task and I'd have to do it manually. Many people have complained about this as well. It's certainly not the most graceful program in the world in this regard. 
2018/04/15 16:03:36
35mm
sharke
I don't think I ever experienced a Sonar crash after which the task couldn't be killed (although sometimes it took repeated clicking of "end task" to do it). But I frequently encountered situations in which closing Sonar normally (i.e. no crash) wouldn't kill the task and I'd have to do it manually. Many people have complained about this as well. It's certainly not the most graceful program in the world in this regard. 


Sharke, I think it may depend on the audio interface or setup. The process is normally unkillable for me with three different audio interfaces - Focusrite Safire, Focusrite Pro 40 and M-Audio ProjectMix (used at separate times of course). Many of the reports I have seen from other users are about the process being unkillable too. I assume it has something to do with communication between Cake and the Asio driver not disconnecting. In my case, the process ends if I power down my audio interface. Before I discovered that, I would have to reboot the whole computer.
2018/04/15 16:08:31
Cactus Music
32 bit plug ins, don't use them. 
I have never had Sonar crash and not end the process as you say. 
I'm pretty sure that Bug is Bit Bridge related. 
But I agree, no matter what,  people will react the way your friend did and move on. 
They made a mistake buy releasing the Bandlab assistant before anyone tested it out and who knows how many hundreds tried it and were turned off by the "shareware invasive" aura of that first version. They probably won't come back. 
2018/04/15 16:09:10
bluebeat1313
Was using Cakewalk for years,
Always were able to close processes if crashed. Maybe it is hardware / software specifics of some machines?
Buggy Interface usb/audio driver? USB drivers have a way of doing crazy stuff. I would not go into specifics, but recently a USB driver on major brand laptop (Lenovo) gave me a lot of problems with Sonar (AND OTHER SOFT!)
The workaround was disabling some uncommon power saving parameter.... that happened because Lenovo had a buggy win 10 driver specifically for that machine. My point is.... That I thought it was Sonar bug, but it was completely random thing that took me 2 month to solve.
Just guessing :)
2018/04/15 16:23:04
iRelevant
Thanks for the info ... good to know. 
2018/04/15 16:32:10
35mm
bluebeat1313
Was using Cakewalk for years,
Always were able to close processes if crashed. Maybe it is hardware / software specifics of some machines?
Buggy Interface usb/audio driver? USB drivers have a way of doing crazy stuff. I would not go into specifics, but recently a USB driver on major brand laptop (Lenovo) gave me a lot of problems with Sonar (AND OTHER SOFT!)
The workaround was disabling some uncommon power saving parameter.... that happened because Lenovo had a buggy win 10 driver specifically for that machine. My point is.... That I thought it was Sonar bug, but it was completely random thing that took me 2 month to solve.
Just guessing :)


My audio interfaces are firewire and my friend's was USB, so that rules it out being a USB issue.
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