Hi there audiophiles. I have this on-going issue that occurs 'sometimes'. Today for example, I loaded a project and did some minor tweaking of an automation lane and before I went any further, I wanted to save a copy for my next edits. I selected 'save as' and Sonar just crashed to the desktop...no warnings or anything, just disappeared. 
 
I reloaded the project and selected 'save as' straight up' and it was all good. 
 
This issue seems to occur randomly and not always. Like yesterday, I had been editing a project and saving it to a day old version. I wanted to create a new file for the day's edits and did the 'save as' and CTD. Fortunately I've been getting into the habit of saving, saving before I practically do anything these days so no loss and restarting to save as worked okay. 
 
Anyone else have this happening? 
 
PS. This is like the 'opening a project' from the Screenset. On occasion, it will do the same thing. But after restarting, it's fine. 

Hello Fabio Rubato, Yes I have been having the same type of problems. I'm using Sonar Pro version 23.5.0 build 32. 
 
My first thoughts were that it could be a custom project template that I made, when the problem first appeared I had Rapture Session loaded and it would crash every single time if I selected to replace the synth on that track regardless of the synth.
 
So I went back to using just the Basic track that Sonar has setup as default when first installing and thought everything was fine, but after adding a few tracks the same thing happened again. 
 
I thought perhaps I had some corrupted files, so I tried a reinstall of everything Cakewalk from Command center but that didn't solve the problem. 
 
I have tried everything I can think of to resolve the problem, I made sure Windows updates wasn't causing it by turning that off, I also turned everything off in startup that I could and was not needed, And I turned off services for anything non Windows to make sure something wasn't loading up that way, or more or less I should say a bare bones Windows 10 setup with the exception of my Audio driver and that didn't solve the problem either. 
 
I am using Windows Defender on Windows 10 and I'm starting to wonder if that might be the whole issue. Honestly I have no idea at this point. 
 
I experienced the exact same thing you mentioned above a couple of times also. 
 

Just earlier today all I did was record a bass track, when I was done recording I pressed stop and a few seconds later without doing anything at all Sonar Crashed. So I reloaded got the bass track recorded again and this time saved the project to a bundle file, and all seemed fine until I press PLAY and it crashed again. So at least I didn't lose the track a second time. Reloaded Sonar again after a reboot, the track played fine, but I haven't recorded or added anything to that song since then. 
 
It's getting to the point that if I try and record anything it just crashes. I've decided I'm going to attempt to go try and rollback to the previous version of Sonar and see if that solves the problem, if it doesn't I have no clue what to do. 
 
My only other alternative would be to reinstall Windows and everything from a fresh start, but having learned you are experiencing the same or similar issue's I'm not going to do that just yet. 
 
Good luck!
 
Bobby
 

Random crashes can sometimes be associated with a bad Hard drive/bad ram.
Have you done a check on them ?
 
Sometimes its a plug in but I find random crashes to be a product of the hardware or drivers.
Sometimes a poor/lost connection to a device and yes it could be Sonar not acting kindly with you wish I had more help to offer.

After I posted my previous reply I rolled back Sonar Pro to the January version. I decided not to go with the most recent updates because I figured the problem might still be there. 
 
So far I have recorded 2 quick tracks trying to do exactly as I did when it previous crashed, and I replaced the Synth's like I mentioned previously having a problem with and haven't experienced any crashes thus far.
 
Maybe I am speaking too quickly but for now rolling back seems to have taken care of the issue. Hopefully it continues to work okay. 
 
One thing I should mention, and this is probably very important, a couple of days ago I did update Windows 10 with the latest updates, it didn't occur to me until now that perhaps that is what is causing the issue with the latest version. Not sure but it is worth mentioning.
 
If the problem reappears then I will roll back the Windows update and see if it fixes it. But like I said, So far so good. 
 
 
 
 

Well I spoke way too soon. Going back in time to an earlier version apparently didn't solve the problem, although it did however make the problem not as frequent I should say. So I have decided to go back to the latest Sonar Pro version. 
 
My Pc has more than enough power to handle processing what I record with it. I'm starting to wonder if when I record something if I am going to HAVE TO FREEZE THE TRACK in order to do anything else. The performance meter or whatever it is called in Sonar shows I am not even barely making it do much at all PC power wise. 
 
Something else I should mention, lately I have been using TH3 Overloud Full version and Mark Bass II from Overloud. I'm wondering if multiple instances of them when I record like say 2 rhythm guitars using it and add two lead guitars using TH3 overloud Full if there isn't an issue there? Should that be causing a conflict or crash? If so why? And if that is the case and you can only use something like that on one track what is the point of having or using it is what I am getting at, same with other VST's and VSTi's and such. 
 
Either way, it's just really irritating having Sonar Crash. I've stopped sending reports as of now, the reason why is I haven't heard NOTHING from Cakewalk at all, and apparently since buying Sonar Pro my 1 year of updates and tech support are up, and I find it rather strange that this issue began AFTER my 1yr was up. Either way. The way Sonar Pro is behaving I don't know if I can go on using it, too many crashes and I find it is causing me problems trying to concentrate simply to record anything because I'm wondering when or IF it's going to crash. 
 
I don't want to be forced to move to another daw, but at this point I have to consider it considering the situation and the lack of replies after sending about 20 or so reports, NO TICKET sent via email or nothing. AND I DO GET THE CAKEWALK EMAILS, NOTHING IS BLOCKED ON MY EMAIL that I use for cakewalk. 
 
Oh well, maybe somebody will find a solution to this problem. 
 

chuckebaby
Random crashes can sometimes be associated with a bad Hard drive/bad ram.
Have you done a check on them ?
 
Sometimes its a plug in but I find random crashes to be a product of the hardware or drivers.
Sometimes a poor/lost connection to a device and yes it could be Sonar not acting kindly with you wish I had more help to offer.

Thanks chuckebaby, I thought about the audio driver, it was already up to date but I tried reinstalling it anyway, I also done the same with all my Cakewalk software and other software, it didn't seem to help. As for my Hard drive, I ran an error test on it, it shows up fine. I check all my cables, they are fine because this only happens when using Sonar. So I don't know. Either way, thank you for taking the time to reply and offer advice, I really do appreciate it. 
 
Bobby
 

As usual, issues like these are hard to pin down. I run Defender as well and there may be a correlation. I've whitelisted Sonar but again difficult to know.
 
Yes the issue of ram/HDD. After a period of time when I get startup problems or net freezes, it's time for me to clean the contact points on both my video card and ram with Isocol. This fixes these kinds of issues for quite a while. I've also noticed that after deleting some messages in Outlook, when restarted later, those deleted files show up again. This doesn't happen all the time, so there could be some issues with memory/HDD. 
 
I guess the point for me in reaching out is to see whether other Sonar users have experienced this and whether it might point to something with Sonar. For me at this point, this issue occurs infrequently and apparently randomly and as long as I save my work before 'saving as' and restart, I can work with it, so it's not like it's every time but it also makes it difficult to reproduce. 

Fabio Rubato
I guess the point for me in reaching out is to see whether other Sonar users have experienced this and whether it might point to something with Sonar.

 
+1
 
Totally understand Fab. Hope you find some solutions. (You too Bobby).
 

Just an update in my situation. I decided to start over and reinstalled Windows 10 "Latest public release whatever build it is" from scratch, I got it from the Windows SITE. This time I installed only Cakewalk software. So far it seems to be working great. 
Reason I'm replying here is because I wanted to mention that my previous installation did have "WAVES" and "ILOK" installed on it, I had like one plugin for WAVES which was "ONE KNOB LOUDER" and for ILOK I had "Eventide Ultra Channel" which didn't actually require the ILOK but it required the ILOK activation and the software. 
This time I did not install WAVES or ILOK. I have had problems in my case not just with SONAR but other software that I have noticed in the past after installing WAVES and ILOK software. This time I didn't install either and so far everything after a couple days is working perfect, no more crashes. So I am left thinking it may have something to so with those plugins, or perhaps the Waves or ILOK software or who knows. 
 
I backed this setup I have now to IMAGE backup after setting Sonar Pro up like I want it and the rest of my PC so if problems arise in the future it will be easy to get back to WORKING GREAT for now setup. 
 
One more change I did make, I disabled Windows Defender in the registry completely and now use Zemana Antimalware which so far seems to be working great for me. Much lighter than Defender IMO. 
 
So for whatever reason I was having multiple crashes those are some things I think that might have been causing them and so far so good. 
 
My PC was meant to be a Music Recording mostly PC anyway, although I do use it for a couple other things like checking the weather radar and a couple of sports sites, so I basically go to the same sites all the time and don't download anything new, just thought I would mention that for those of you who might be talking about security issues. I disabled the Windows Defender in case it might have been an issue to begin with and I also have the Zemana Alternative which I believe is light years ahead of WD in protection. Just my opinions either way. 
 
So, this worked for me. For now anyway. I can't tell you how aggravating it is to record a track and have to constantly be trying to save your work on every take in fear of losing it because of a crash. And yeah, you can turn on that auto SAVE feature but WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO? I know there could be power outages and stuff like that, but when your using it a lot it should at least work right most of the time ya know. 
 
I really like Sonar Pro, and I hope to upgrade to Sonar Platinum in the future, and the crashing issue was something really concerning me as I am sure it would others out there also. 
 
My entire point being, I can't say 100% for sure that THIS WAS A SONAR ISSUE and that's why I am mentioned my experience in the hopes it might be beneficial to someone else out there. 
 
Bobby
 

Thanks for the update Bobby. I'm glad things are better for you. I think it's very prudent to minimize the amount of 
other programs on a music computer. There are so many things that computers are able to run these days that its very tempting to load em up...but one little conflict somewhere with one program can really impact upon the program we work with the most. It's also near impossible with Windows to avoid some of these updates as well.
 
As a side comment, I'd like to see music making computers get more support from companies instead of primarily aiming at gaming and business machines. 
 
As for my crashes...I haven't had one recently, which is why it's difficult to pin down. The fact that I have to clean my memory sticks every now-and-then may indicate as Chuckebaby said, a hardware issue. Software conflicts, updates, malware, viruses, hardware issues...it's amazing our machines actually start each day little known make some music. lol