I spoke too soon. My latest project with 30 instances of Dune 2 in instrument tracks got hosed. I tried various things to try to revive it, e.g. open a simple project so that I'd get sound, then open the "bad" project as a 2nd project loaded. X3 pauses indefinitely, then when I click on something I get: "An unhandled win32 exception has occurred in SONARSTD.exe". For kicks, I chose to debug (I have Visual Studio), and I get this in Visual Studio: "Unhandled exception at 0x00007FFA0961961A (mfc110u.dll) in SONARSTD.exe: 0xC000041D: An unhandled exception was encountered during a user callback."
 
I'm open to getting an audio interface, but I don't know if I can go through the hell and disappointment of trying to get it to work. After I upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1 my UM-1 MIDI interface and Tascam US-322 audio interface stopped working. I haven't been able to get them working again, even with latest drivers.
 
Also, I tried Bitwig as an alternate DAW. Sure it's stable, but it has none of the features I need. I'm stuck. Thinking of taking up the ukulele. 

To be fair, I can't say if Bitwig Studio is more or less stable than X3. I haven't pounded on BWS as much as I have X3. I'm venting a little. Losing one's work is very frustrating :-(

Interesting. Someone from Cakewalk who used a US-366 (same basics as a 322) was going to do a SONAR demo to the press, and I had been invited. So he brought the interface and his laptop to San Francisco. 
 
When he booted up his demo the evening before for a run-through, he found to his horror that no TASCAM latency setting was long enough. There were crackles, soft synths crashed, and there were other issues. I checked his drivers for the 322 and they were the most current. He said "Oh well, I have ASIO4ALL on my laptop, I guess I'll use that."
 
Aha! I asked him to uninstall ASIO4ALL completely - not just disable it, remove all traces from his computer. He was reluctant but did so. After that, the interface worked perfectly, the latency was low, nothing crashed, and the demo went off without a hitch. 
 
I've done a ton of interface reviews over the years, and the TASCAM ones weren't the only interfaces compromised by ASIO4ALL. I need to add my usual disclaimer: This is not a diss, and I applaud ASIO4ALL for a very clever kludge that manages to fool Windows into doing something it wasn't intended to do. But it's a last resort. If you have native drivers for an interface, use those and completely uninstall ASIO4ALL. Driver conflicts are a little like a game of chance; they affect some programs and interfaces but not others. Why take a chance?

Thanks for sharing that story Craig. I uninstalled ASIO4ALL, and attempted to re-install the Tascam US-322, and this time it actually worked! I let this little victory go to my head and I tried to re-install the driver for the Roland UM-1 MIDI interface. Ah, such hubris. The UM-1 will not work, period. Now I'm looking for a MIDI interface.... THAT WORKS. Tall order, I know. 
 
I need a MIDI interface because my M-Audio Axiom won't work if I use its USB output, because the MIDI connection is a cheap, worthless piece of junk, that disconnects when you look at it the wrong way.
 
I'm still not happy with the Tascam audio interface, as it doesn't have a digital out, hence the sound quality is unacceptable to me. I've order the US-366, which has a digital out. Hopefully it will work!

And I'm still having issues, even when using the Tascam US-322 audio interface, btw. X3 crashes when I try to add 20+ instrument tracks with Dune 2 as the VSTi. The most recent crash resulted in the fault reporter popping up. Here's the actual URL I can check on for status on the problem: http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Contact/Problem-Report-Status?id=30368&email=mleghorn@comcast.net
 
The associated project is completely hosed. Attempts to start the audio "engine" result in very nasty cracking noise. I managed to "revive" the project by deleting all but one instrument track.
 
What is wrong with my system?
 
ASUS i7 laptop, 12 GB RAM, Windows 8.1, Tascam US-322 audio interface, Sonar X3 Studio (latest version), M-Audio Key Studio 49 (connected by USB).

Cancel the order and get an interface that has a digital out and MIDI interface. You'll only need to go to one company if you have support issues. The TASCAM US-2x2 and US-4x4 have excellent pres, lower latency, and MIDI...but no digital I/O. TASCAM did significant market research and found people considered preamps and MIDI more important.

That's a lot of cup-hungry tracks. Have you tried freezing at least some of them?

Also, a sound card is going to have not the best audio quality...no wonder you want to use the digital out. I think most interfaces will outperform your sound card's audio quality by a significant amount. Ultimately, though, I suspect your instrument tracks are like having a sedan pulling a trailer. The transmission is going to blow at some point.

Thanks for the advice Craig. I'm going to stick with the order for the US-366 for now. I'll address the MIDI interface issue later, as it's not a high priority.
 
As for sound quality of the digital out of my sound card: it's perfect -- nothing can top it. For what it's worth, it's Realtek HD, and it supports up to 192000 Hz / 24-bit. My audio system downstream of the digital out (Burson Audio Conductor, HD800, Cardas Clear cable) gives the whole picture. If the sound isn't perfect, I hear it :-)

mleghorn
I'll address the MIDI interface issue later, as it's not a high priority.

There are several cables that are MIDI to USB converters. Might save you the hassle of dealing with an interface, and they're inexpensive. Haven't used them myself so can't recommend anything in particular.