Question about plugins and track freezing

Hi. I'm new to X2 and I'm having a bit of a problem...

I just did a recording in which I started using guitar plugins--various amps and effects--for the first time. Everything seemed to be working until I tried to mix everything down. First, nothing worked. It seemed to take forever to mix down, and the final product was nothing. When I returned to Sonar after this, the tracks wouldn't play, there was just a small popping sound at the beginning and then nothing. I tracked it down to one of the plugins, a guitar effect. It was causing the track meter to hit over 9db. The only way to get it to play was to restart Sonar. 

I finally solved the issue by freezing the track. This seemed to work as the project would then mix down. But then the other guitar track, using different plugins, wasn't playing (just that one track). I tried to mix it down again twice. Once the same thing happened, and once everything came out as it should. 

This is my question: Is it standard practice, when using a lot of plugins on one track, to tweak everything and freeze the track before mixing down? Or are there just some plugins that don't play nice? 

BTW - When playing the tracks together (15 tracks) they all play fine and the CPU is only at about 25% in one core and about 10% in the other three cores. 

I'd appreciate any advice from some veteran users. Thanks.

Here are my specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.4 Ghz
8 GB RAM
M-Audio Delta 2496 PCI
Internal HDD
Sonar Studio X2a

I'm exporting 15 tracks. 

Guitarhacker :

"Don't forget ... you can also freeze or apply the FX to the tracks. Doing so "prints" the FX to the wave and removes the FX from the project. It's destructive in nature but you end up with a wave in the track that sounds exactly like it did on playback..... and it lightens the CUP load."

It's not really destructive, in that the original audio is not affected. You can always get it back by unfreezing.

Let me clarify:

Freezing is reversible 100% 

Bouncing to track renders a new audio track and still leaves the original midi/audio-synth-FX untouched. 

Applying FX to a track is reversible up to the point you close the program after saving the project. At that point the FX has been destructively applied. No going back. 


Depending on the track, the plug, the synth, or the FX, I will sometimes bounce to track, other times I will freeze, and many times I will APPLY EFFECT.... it all just depends. 

Having 3 options at hand is good.

They are once you apply Fx to them by freezing the track.

FWIW, I never freeze tracks - it's so much easier and flexible just to freeze the synth

freezing does not modify the source and is reversible. Freezing is reversible even after the project is closed and re-opened.   Bouncing is similar to freezing ...the difference being is the original tracks remain untouched and a new track is created with everything applied to the wave track that results form the bounce....  

HOWEVER.. if you have an audio track and have a plug or two in the FX bin and use the APPLY AUDIO FX option, the original track is overwritten with the FX applied and the original wave is gone.  At the same time, to prevent doubling the effect, all the plugs and FX are removed from the bin since they have been printed to the wave. 
You can still back up and use the EDIT / UNDO function to revert back to before the apply BUT.... only until you save the project and close Sonar. When you close Sonar, the undo file is dumped and now.... you can not go back. It is permanent. 

Perhaps the original wave is still in the wave folder but you would now have to go back into it and search it manually to find the file or files which made up the original track and then manually drag them to a new track and place them in that track in perfect alignment to where they were to start with.... I say perhaps because I do not know for a fact that the original un-effected files are saved there and not over written. 

For all intents and purposes, the APPLY FX function is permanent and done destructively to the original wave. 

Thanks, everyone, for the insight and info. I understand more about freezing than I did before. It is a decent workaround for the problem I've been having.