My "Stupid Pilot Error" Lesson for Today

Short form...there's a reason why the "help" button exists on dialog boxes: You click it when you need help!  
 
I was working on developing a loop library and there were about 50 tracks with all the loops cut into phrases - lot of cuts. I started getting audio dropouts, so I increased the latency. Didn't solve the problem.
 
So I "Saved As" and deleted a bunch of tracks. Solved the problem for a couple minutes.
 
Then when the Audio Dropout warning box appeared for the umpteenth time, I noticed it had a "Help" button. Doh. I clicked it, and it suggested changing buffer settings and if that didn't work, to try the next thing. Well  buffer settings weren't the answer, but then it mentioned audio fragmentation. My project was about as fragmented as could be without having a monkey hitting Split endlessly while moving the mouse around. Mr. Help (or maybe Ms. Help) said to save as a bundle file and re-open. I did. End of audio dropouts.
 
Now, how many times did I see that help button on the Audio Dropout box? I'd tell you, but I've embarrassed myself sufficiently already. You can lead a horse to water...
 
 

We men don't need no stinking help..... button!!!!

How many times have we tried to help someone with drop out issues ourselves included. YET I've never heard that particular fix. You know we make the comment " my systems working OK so it's not Sonar but something wrong with your setup. Maybe the audio files are fragmented and this would fix those issues. Just saying.

A long time ago, I was working on a help desk temporarily when someone called with a question.  I said, "That's on page 12 of the manual."  He said, "I don't have time to read the manual," to which I replied, "And yet you think I have time to read it to you?"  That was not well-received, so I started telling people their problems were ID-10-T errors.
 
That was stupid of me since I am the king of asking dumb questions and overlooking help and manual information.  I have grown up a little since then.

Anderton
Short form...there's a reason why the "help" button exists on dialog boxes: You click it when you need help!  
 
I was working on developing a loop library and there were about 50 tracks with all the loops cut into phrases - lot of cuts. I started getting audio dropouts, so I increased the latency. Didn't solve the problem.
 
So I "Saved As" and deleted a bunch of tracks. Solved the problem for a couple minutes.
 
Then when the Audio Dropout warning box appeared for the umpteenth time, I noticed it had a "Help" button. Doh. I clicked it, and it suggested changing buffer settings and if that didn't work, to try the next thing. Well  buffer settings weren't the answer, but then it mentioned audio fragmentation. My project was about as fragmented as could be without having a monkey hitting Split endlessly while moving the mouse around. Mr. Help (or maybe Ms. Help) said to save as a bundle file and re-open. I did. End of audio dropouts.
 
Now, how many times did I see that help button on the Audio Dropout box? I'd tell you, but I've embarrassed myself sufficiently already. You can lead a horse to water...
 
 

 
 How did you fix this? Is this something that can be done with Sonar utility I don't know about? 

 Usually I have no hard disk defrag problems.  Very interesting to know saving as a cwb fixes a messy project.

DeeringAmps
So a simple "save as" to a new folder doesn't consolidate the audio?
 
Tom

I don't know, but I don't necessarily want to have to create a bunch of new folders during the process of creating a loop library...so the bundle thing works great in this case. 
 
I'm far from done with the library, so next time I reach a point where the dropouts start getting out of hard, I'll do a save as and report back.

cue the 'saving as .cwb corrupted my data' thread...

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
Normally there should be no reason to do this but if for either fragmentation reasons or some other disk latency problem its slow to read a specific wave file you can get drop outs. Another way to address issues like this is to increase the disk playback buffer size. That will pre-buffer more audio ahead of the play cursor.

As always, thanks Noel for chiming in. I did play with the disk playback buffer size, but this is truly a "corner case" - I don't know how many people have projects with 50+ tracks, and each track has cuts made for each note in the loop in order to re-arrange them and create variations. Track view looks more like a mosaic than an audio project 
 
You're going to love the loops, though!!

Hey I agree Craig and tbh I've not seen that posted since about sonar 7...

Noel, I'll work on another loop and when it starts getting to the "serious drop out" stage, I'll save the project and send to you prior to compacting.
 
But really, that's a pretty relentless pursuit of perfection on your part...there probably aren't 1 in 1,000 users who would do this kind of violence to track view.
 
 

soens
I've lost track of how often I used to say defrag your HDD. For fewer drop outs and overall better Sonar performance there are a few things that should be done regularly.
 
1. Defrag the HDD.
2. Clear the Picture Cache at least monthly.
3. Use Per Project Audio Folders.
4. In large projects, minimize the number of audio clips by bouncing tracks to one clip for each track.
5. In large projects, finalize clip processes as soon as possible by Bouncing them.
     Don't keep a lot of Take Lanes and FXs going at once.
6. In large projects, keep extensive clip editing to a minimum.
     If you need to do a lot of heavy editing try moving the clip to it's own project.
 
Try not to load up your system by making it handle a large amount of extraneous unneeded stuff. Minimize the project as much as possible.

Excellent advice on how not to stress out a computer and the software it's running.
 
Does this mean I don't have to do a tip of the week? 

I've always save as bundles.  If fact I tried to get the save box to default as a bundle, but failed.  Project files just feel so fragmented.  I have thousands on orphaned wa~ files that I pick at just like a scab from a mosquito bite towards the end of summer.  Too much information? 

soens
 
And, NO! This in no way negates your duty as a responsible contributing member of the Cakewalk community from informing the users of timely, helpful, and much needed information on making Sonar easier and more fun to use. I await patiently your next entry. 

 
Duly noted!