I recently assembled a new PC solely for the purpose of making music. I was tired of making music on a PC that had a single core processor and less than a single GB of ram, so with the hope of not having all the limitations and hardships that such a crappy system entailed, I built the best system I could afford. Yet to my absolute HORROR I'm having more trouble with my new PC than the old one.
 
I had hoped and imagined that with this new system I could run several plug-ins concurrently without any hiccups, but the reality is that I'm not even able to run a single plug-in in without the processor maxing out (according to the performance module in SONAR) and the audio system cutting out. Two examples:
 
Example 1) I insert an audio track and then add TH2 as an FX. I start playing my guitar, not even recording, just playing, and suddenly about three to five minutes into playing the the orange bars in the performance module shoot up into the red, the audio starts breaking up, and then finally the audio engine stops or the program crashes or something.
 
Example 2) I insert an Addictive Drums 2 synth track with my nanopad2 plugged in and start playing (again, not recording, just playing) and after a few minutes, again, the audio system starts cutting out and finally stops or crashes if I don't stop playing.
 
I keep this PC offline, except for the unavoidable AD2 downloads, and use this PC strictly for audio recording and nothing else. I've tried different sample rates and buffer sizes with no different results. I've optimized Windows for audio production by following the guide on the Focusrite website. Windows firewall and defender are turned off, and there is no other anti-virus installed. And now I really don't have the slightest idea where I should begin to go about fixing this problem. All drivers should be up-to date. If anyone has any ideas or advice, it would be appreciated. My system specs are below.
 
Windows 8 64bit, Sonar PLATINUM, Focusrite 6i6
i7 4790k, Crucial 16GB RAM (1600mhz 8-8-8-24), Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK MB, Crucial MX100 256GB SDD, WD 1TB 7200RPM HDD, Seagate 1TB 7200RPM HDD, OCZ ModXStream 600w PSU, Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
 
 
 

New projects or old projects..


Regardless...

In the words of Tom Jones.. It's not unusal... And probably solvable... Let's make sure you've got a good base system install first:

Have you run windows update several times including optional updates...? I would just install pretty much everything apart from bing, if it recommends drivers that need updating.. check it.. most of the time it's wrong (it's rare it asks for this however). I assume you are on Windows 8.1.x?


You have installed all the latest CCC updates?


This is the latest Scarlett Mix Control software, please install:
http://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-6i6/downloads

Goto Intel driver update and detect get the latest drivers (inc chipset)...
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect?iid=dc_iduu

Goto your motherboard manufacturer and download the latest BIOS.
 
Get the latest network drivers for all your adapters.
Get the latest driver for your graphics card (direct from manufacturers website, e.g. if NVidia goto the Nvidia website).
If you are running the Wifi disable it when recording.
 
Also in the power management settings in windows control panel, make sure the min/max process state is set to 100.
You may at a later state need to optimize your drivers for power management, and turn off Intel speedstep.
 
Defrag everywhere afterwards! (Windows defrag knows what to do with SSD's btw).
 
BTW I strongly recommend keeping your firewall on at all times whether on the internet or not.
I also recommend keeping your antivirus running just configure it to ignore the Sonar folders (keep it off for now however).
 
As far as keeping your machine offline all the time, it should really not be necessary nowadays (this is old skool thinking when we didn't have 10% of the power we have nowadays).. By all means disable the network adapter in device manager if you really want it disabled whilst you record. The main thing is to avoid installing crappy software you won't use, or avoid installing games/word processors etc.

Another factor is attempts to build computers for music production often comes down to more than just adding parts. Sometimes parts with great specs on paper do not work well in reality. Audio engine failing is often a latency issue. Something is likely causing a bottleneck of data where whatvis happening with SPLAT is more of a symptom than a cause. Try running latencymon to begin isolating what is causing the problem.http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
 
With a newly built computer it can he anything from bad drivers to components not supported by the motherboard. 

Splat, thank you for the advice. It's happening on a new, single-track project. I'm on Windows 8.1 and all available Windows updates were installed about a month or so ago. I will install any new updates just to be sure.
 
The Intel HD graphics driver was the only other thing I could find that was not up-to-date, and it's updating now. I double checked everything else: Sonar Platinum, Motherboard BIOS, and 6i6 are all up-to-date (although it looks as though this particular sound card hasn't had a software update since march of last year).
 
The only network adapter I have installed is a plug-in USB adapter which I'm using only for AD2 and Sonar updates, and it's driver is up-to-date. When I'm not downloading updates it stays disconnected (I have two other crappy computers I use for internet surfing. I don't really have a need to keep this one online other than for updates.)
 
I don't have a separate GPU, I'm using my CPU's onboard graphics, which I've read is sufficient for audio recording purposes.
 
Min and max processor states are both set to 100% and the processor scheduling is set for Background Services.
 
There was one thing you mentioned that I wasn't aware of, and that was Intel Speedstep. I'm looking into that now.
 

dub disciple, thanks for the link. I will definitely try that and report back with what I find. For what it's worth, I tried to be careful and research all the components of this system before building. I remember the RAM I selected was listed on the Motherboard's website as tested and compatible. As for the other components, I must have read thousands of reviews and message board forums trying to determine if certain parts would work together or be suitable for audio recording.

Also check out this tip. It made a HUGE difference with my system.

Craig, thanks for the link. I will try that as well and report back.

I am not at all sure which tweaks you did to your system - perhaps you could provide a list.
 
Also, I looked up the specs on your motherboard, and it looks like the USB ports on the back panel are combo ports - USB 3/2.  
 
IF you are plugged into one of these ports, I wonder if you might have strange behavior, as many/most audio interfaces still seem to be engineered to work best with USB 2.0 ports.  My own Presonus AudioBox 1818 VSL interface used to freak out with intermittent weirdness if plugged into a USB 3 port.
 
So, just a thought there.
 
Also, can you please tell me what Driver Mode you run with in Sonar?  WDM? ASIO?
 
Thanks, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Definitely try to avoid USB 3 ports. It's really dumb but many interfaces simply don't work well with them. If you get stuck trying the "free" solutions, next thing I would try is adding a PCI based USB 2 card.

Sanderxpander
Definitely try to avoid USB 3 ports. It's really dumb but many interfaces simply don't work well with them. If you get stuck trying the "free" solutions, next thing I would try is adding a PCI based USB 2 card.

I would recommend this anyway.  They are cheap ~ $10 and give you a dedicated set up USB ports you can use for your interface, keyboard, control surfaces, etc.
 
I got a performance improvement when I added one.