Hi, thanks guys for your help! I'm still trying to fix it but at least I have several things to try.
Here are some quick responses to your suggestions/questions:
1) I installed the "Focusrite USB ASIO Driver 4.36.5"
driver from Focusrite, downloaded from this page:
https://customer.focusrite.com/downloads?product=Scarlett+2i4 -- Their site says that the Scarlett 2i4 is supported by Windows 10. When I use the Device Manager to look at the driver properties for "Focusrite USB Audio" it says the Driver Version is 4.36.5.612, so it looks like the Focusrite driver is correctly installed.
2) The Focusrite is indeed the
only audio device enabled in Windows. I disabled the motherboard's Realtek audio and NVIDIA audio via the Device Manager.
3)
Motherboard is ASUS PRIME H370-A and the
CPU is an Intel Core i7 8700 (6 core) 3.2 GHz
4) I've been using the Scarlett for
general audio for a couple weeks now, with no problems. None of the games, podcasts, CDs, etc. gave me any problems. The first dropouts I've heard were today, with Sonar.
5) My new computer's
Plugin Layout in Sonar has lots of disabled/grey/missing items on the new computer, so I am having to manually re-create it. While I'm at it, I'm installing some other non-Cakewalk, non-Native Instruments plugins I forgot to install earlier, like Addictive Drums, Addictive Keys, etc. It will take me a while to get my plugins (and plugin layout) downloaded, installed, and configured on the new computer, so any further testing will need to wait until that's done.
6) I plan to test the same "problematic" Kontakt bass patch (mentioned earlier) in both Sonar and the
standalone Kontakt 5 application. This will let me get a better sense of whether it's Kontakt or Sonar (or the interaction of both) which is involved in the dropouts.
7) Question: Are there
Kontakt settings that I should look at, in terms of reducing the chance of dropouts? Or are all performance-related optimisations handled by Sonar and the ASIO driver?
8) I have changed the Power Plan to "
High Performance", but have not re-tested yet (since my plugins are still re-installing).
9) After I test "High Performance" I will try the "Optimise for
Background Services" option. I've done that on other computers before, but hadn't done it on this computer yet.
10) My old MIDI USB device (Edirol UM3-EX) does not work with Windows 10, so I've been using the
MIDI ports on the Scarlett. This is one change from the old setup. Do you think by using the Scarlett as both a MIDI and Audio device is asking too much? I can't imagine that MIDI is very demanding, though, compared to audio!