Ok folks here's an update. Camel Audio say Alchemy x64 is reliable in Sonar and no reports of my particular crash (submitted windows logs).
 
Have uninstalled and re-installed Alchemy.
 
The main issue I'm having now is the transport stop button ends up greyed out and the transport won't stop - I have to restart Sonar.  Also the transport head icon gets disconnected from the vertical line. Here's a link to a video of what's happening: https://www.dropbox.com/s/abiipg7v1cxdzmq/bug.wmv?dl=0

It also appears to be random - I can be working for 5 mins, 2 mins, 20 mins doing allsorts of stuff whilst looping a section of music - i.e. changing softsynth parameters on the fly. Like I said previously audio only projects are rock solid. I really want to try my hand at electronic music but using softsynths is just no go for me. This is happening every time I use SONAR with softsynths.
 
Is this a config issue or is it a genuine bug? I read that there were transport issues in X3D? Is it my graphics card? Running a dual screen setup with AMD Radeon HD5450 - drivers up-to-date as per previous attempts at fixing this issue.
 
Should I call Cakewalk and speak to support?
 
Mike.
 
 

Forgot to mention that when this happens I get no sound - clicking on the restart audio engine does nothing. I can minimize SONAR and play mp3's so the audio interface is still working.
 

Don't know if this relates, but I was getting increasingly constant crashing with Dim Pro 64-bit whenever I hit it with a lot of MIDI notes from an external controller (there weren't problems with MIDI generated inside Sonar) - so much so that I installed the 32-bit version, which solved the problem. I renamed the 64-bit Dim Pro dll so Sonar wouldn't find it.
 
But...here's the interesting part. One of the tips I've scheduled in my "month of August tipfest" is slated to be on how to see the hidden MIDI ports in device manager and clean out the duplicates. To document the steps, I did just that.
 
I'd asked Cakewalk what the problem was with Dim Pro and they weren't sure, so they asked if I could send a project where it wasn't working. So I renamed the dll back to what it had been, and Sonar scanned it when I opened up the project with the crashing. So far so good - and I haven't had any problems with Dim Pro since, it's been rock solid. No crashes, no issues.
 
The only conclusion I can come to is that either 1) clearing out the MIDI ports solved the problem, or 2) Sonar re-scanning the DLL solved the problem, although of course I had done the reset and rescan when I installed X3. 

Thanks for that reply Anderton.
I checked hidden devices in my system and couldn't see any duplicates.
 
I have however uninstalled Dimension Pro x64 and replaced with x86 version. I'll give that a good go and report back.

Hello,
 
Getting crashes in ntdll now.
 
I can create a blank project - insert Pentagon 1 synth - load a bass sound I had created and BOOM - crash.
 
Faulting application name: SONARPDR.exe, version: 20.0.5.352, time stamp: 0x5320c501
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18247, time stamp: 0x521eaf24
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00000000000c4102
Faulting process id: 0x990
Faulting application start time: 0x01cfc1839749a87d
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\SONAR X3 Producer\SONARPDR.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: e91ec636-2d76-11e4-b48c-94de802fb7af
 
This is such a headache - my audio only projects work fine, which is a small mercy as I do have an album to finish.
 
I'm leaning towards wiping my whole system and reinstalling windows 7 x64. I ran a SFC Scan earlier but nothing was found.
 
 

This is odd. It does smell of drivers. Can you try uninstalling all instances of mix control, reinstall and do a full hardware reset?

I know you did it before but...

You are definately on 64 bit Sonar?
... and please avoid 32 bit plugins at least for now.

Oh and try renaming AUD.INI as well in Sonar (search google and forums for instructions). Thanks.

Hi Alex,
 
I'll try that next as per your instructions.
 
I guess I'm just one of the unlucky guys who are always getting issues - does Cakewalk have a list of recommended motherboards, graphics cards, RAM, audio interfaces, hard disk etc. I just want a system that is reliable.
 
Too late now but will do the Saffire Pro complete removal and install tomorrow :-)
 
Cheers

I did some digging on the web, and this frequently appears to be some kind of driver issue, and can affect other programs in Windows, as well, it is reported in that same module and offset for other Windows programs, too.
 
I would go through your various devices and check to see if newer drivers have been released.
 
I would suggest starting with video drivers - just a hunch - could actually be any driver - shouldn't take that long to look up drivers for your devices.
 
Bob Bone
 

Oh, and some of those programs that claim to automagically find and update all of your drivers aren't all they are cracked up to be - if it is a brand-name computer, with some sort of service tag or model number, the manufacturer web site should give you the current drivers, otherwise I usually look each device driver up myself.
 
Bob Bone