I have a project nearly complete in X3 producer. It is now developing crackles that almost sound like static. This happened to me once before and I was forced to dump the project because it became so bad.
 
I fear the same is starting to happen on this project as well. I've produced well over 100 projects in X 3 and just began experiencing this problem in the last month or so..
 
Does anyone have any experience with this and how to get around this annoying and DESTRUCTIVE problem ?
Michael

Two things cause this that I know of.  DPC latency spikes and running out of CPU time.
 
Latency spikes are cause by things like WiFi adapters, there are plenty of threads around here that say how to fix/troubleshoot this.
 
As your mix progresses and you add more and more FX and softsynths with their quality settings set to max you can start running out of time to process it all.  The cure is to increase the audio buffers.  This will give longer latency times, but if you're in the mixdown stage it really doesn't matter if you have 5 seconds of latency (other than the 5 second delay when you press the play button).
Another option is to freeze tracks you're happy with to free up CPU time.  You can always unfreeze later if you need to make changes.

DPC Latency is a big cause.  CPU Throttling can cause the DPC Latency (among others).
 
I have a fast/clean PC and no issues with DPC Latency Checker but when I record I disable the Network connection (take it off line).   I forgot to take it off line one time and developed clicks and static in a recording.  Taking it off line eliminated the clicks and static. 
 
There are many other potential causes.

Thanks for the input. First, unfortunately I have no idea what DPC latency stands for. I have followed a lot of steps from the forums and nothing is working at this time.
 
I'll take her offline, increase the audio buffers and freeze the synths I'm happy with.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Wish me luck. It's driving me crazy.
~M~
 
 

Well freezing some synths seemed to be the solution. (I hope) This is one of the more synth heavy projects I've done, so I'm hoping this sticks.
I also upped the audio buffers and it seems to be holding.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. 

DPC Latency in a nutshell.  (A simplistic explanation)
 
Your CPU is constantly processing lots of requests, not just from Sonar, but everything else in Windows as well.  Occasionally a process will momentarily grab exclusive control of the CPU, or force it to stop everything it is doing and wait a short time for something to happen.  This may only be for 1ms (1/1000th of a second) or less, but in terms of Sonar that is 48 audio samples (at 48k sample rate) so if you're running an ultra low 96 sample buffer to get great response you just lost half of your available processing time in one go!
 
If the sample buffer ever empties it stops feeding data to your audio interface and you get dropouts.  If it's constantly running near empty you get lots of short dropouts,  ie, crackling.
 
 
The short term fix, increase buffer size.
The long term fix, find what is grabbing the CPU and stop it...   (It is usually WiFi adapters)

Glad you got it sorted Michael,  if freezing synths cured it, it simply means you need a faster computer to run everything "live".

Thanks again Karyn .... I'll look into WIFI adapters, but I don't use this machine wirelessly ever. And thank you for the definition (works for me)
 

Can you verify you have an XPS 750?  Dell does not list a 750.  The highest it goes is 730.
 

Mychael628
Thanks again Karyn .... I'll look into WIFI adapters, but I don't use this machine wirelessly ever. And thank you for the definition (works for me)

It doesn't matter if you're actually using the wi-fi or not, it's whether or not its driver is enabled. A quick trip to Device Manager to disable devices you're not using (e.g., on-board camera, HD audio driver from your graphics card, etc.) can help. Don't uninstall the devices, just disable them. Also check out this tip, it can make a very big difference depending on your machine and graphics card.