John

Why am I seeing such noticeably poorer performance in Sonar than in Cubase under otherwise identical hardware settings and plug-ins? The only difference is that the tracks in Sonar have the ProChannel engaged.
 
 

I think this is the cause. 

If the ProChannel made a huge difference to latency wouldn't it show up across all systems? Why might it increase latency for one person/DAW and not another? I use the ProChannel a lot and as far as I can measure it's no more resource hungry than any other set of plugins. The contents of fx chains aside we're all using pretty much the same set of plugin modules....

so surely easy to see if disengaging prochannel makes any difference?

JWink,
 
Something else to consider about your comparison....
 
Cubase 8 is the latest incarnation.
 
Sonar X3 is not. 
 
And since some users have reported noticeably snappier performance with Platinum (over X3), it's probably worthwhile for you to try Platinum for a month and see how it fares.
 
Also, I'd personally suggest upgrading to Windows 8 regardless.  You'll definitely see better performance in Sonar (no matter which version).
 
Just a thought.

tlw

John

Why am I seeing such noticeably poorer performance in Sonar than in Cubase under otherwise identical hardware settings and plug-ins? The only difference is that the tracks in Sonar have the ProChannel engaged.
 
 

I think this is the cause. 

If the ProChannel made a huge difference to latency wouldn't it show up across all systems? Why might it increase latency for one person/DAW and not another? I use the ProChannel a lot and as far as I can measure it's no more resource hungry than any other set of plugins. The contents of fx chains aside we're all using pretty much the same set of plugin modules....

It depends on what PC modules are being used and on how many tracks and buses. If the Concrete Limiter is used for example because it has a look ahead buffer it will increase latency. 


 
 

At the same ASIO hardware audio buffer settings you should get identical latency settings in all DAW's. 
If you are seeing a latency difference between SONAR and other DAW's you most likely have delay compensated plugins in your signal path somehow. Check your plugins and routing in SONAR. The easiest way to compare is to insert the synth in an empty project and test there with no plugins or PC modules engaged. Make sure you have no other apps using your audio device and that the audio buffer settings and routing to the audio interface is identical.
 
You may see differences in CPU performance but you should not see a difference in actual latency since SONAR doesn't add extra buffers to the audio processing stream.

This thread has me thinking. My Waves plugs have latency values posted online for every plug-in. I know which ones will slow things down and can plan accordingly. Does Cakewalk have latency specs for Pro Channel plugs? It wasn't until this thread that I discovered the concrete limiter was more resource intensive due to the look ahead operation.
 
Slightly O/T but something I'm interested in knowing.

I haven't seen any values posted - might be a good idea for the Features and Requests forum.  There are some other Cakewalk-included effects that can spike latency if used during recording, rather than for mixing/master.
 
I don't know the complete list of those - have seen some posted from time to time - I believe Concrete Limiter (listed above), as well as maybe Perfect Space, and Boost 11.  Pretty much anything that uses look-ahead processing could do it, from what I understand, and possible some that just chew up a bunch of CPU.
 
Hopefully some others with more direct awareness will post here with better information, 
 
Bob Bone