[Resolved] Regular crashes with soft synth type projects

Hi,
 
following on from a previous post that appeared to be solved by re-installing the Saffire Pro drivers - I can report that my audio only projects are rock solid. However, I'm still getting regular crashes and hangs when working with VSTi projects for electronic music experiments!  
 
Last night I had a midi loop setup - 16 bars, and I was live tweaking Alchemy 1.55 VST Modulation parameters whilst building the bassline of the century - well not really but it was getting there. Tweaking was going well then hang - crash dump submitted to Cakewalk. My project file is fairly small - a couple of Dimension Pro's, 2 z3ta 2+ , 2 rapture, Alchemy and Session drummer. A few Pro-Q plugins and then Pro channel stuff.
 
My question is this: Are these crashes likely to be caused by the Saffire Pro drivers (of which are the latest and has the latest firmware) ?
 
Latency is set at 256ms.
 
I've been reading about RME interfaces and how their drivers are exclusively used by the DAW and that Windows does not interfere. Would I be better off with an RME Interface for heavy, and I mean more than 6 or 7 softsynths with the ability to live tweak them, than my current interface?
 
Hope someone can shed some light on this?
 
Many thanks,
 
Mike
 
Windows 7 SP1 x64, 16 gb RAM, AMD FX 6core, 1TB Disk, Saffire Pro 24 DSP Firewire interface NON Legacy drivers in Windows, Gigabyte motherboard, dual screen setup with latest AMD FX 5450 catalyst drivers, Sonar X3e, Sonar X2 still installed. Novation Nocturn 25 keyboard and Automap 2.8 installed. Purchased legal 3rd party VST plugins are: Fabfilter, Sausage fattener, Stillwell Rocket/Major Tom, Alchemy synth.

I would say zero possibility with the focusrite drivers now after troubleshooting on the other thread. I would make sure you are on the latest versions of the plugins.

What speed is your hard drive btw? Run chkdsk and give it a defrag. Unlikely to be hard drive BTW as you say audio is working well and that is more intensive.

Did you do a VST reset? That is reset THEN rescan VST plugins? Anything in the windows event viewer?

You need to rule about perhaps that a particular plugin is crashing your system.

BTW I have a project with my Saffire that has so many softsynths I lost count. You have one of the best audio interfaces out there.

On another thing to do is to run Intel autoupdate (Intel chip set?) as well as windows update.

I forgot to paste this:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013315/SONAR-X3-Full-VST-Rescan-Recommended-for-Upgraders
 
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect
 
Thanks...

64 bit Alchemy in this project. 64 bit SONAR X3e

Hi, have performed all the steps mentioned by Alex apart from disk defrag - will set that up now.
 
Windows App Logs reported Alchemy as the faulting module so I've sent the info off to Camel Audio to see if they can explain it.
 
Will report back soon and hopefully mark this post as solved.

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.
 
 

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. 

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.
 
 

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

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
 

Hi Bob.
 
Ok I will make a list of all drivers for any attached hardware and go on an updating spree.
 
Mike

CakeAlexS
Intel auto update is what a lot of people miss and that one works. Ta.

According to his sig, he's using AMD.

Ah I just saw the AMD graphics card in the first post. I can't see signatures right now because these bloody forums don't display the sigs on cellphones :)

Just wondering if the time is right to bite the bullet and upgrade to Windows 8? I have MSDN subscription with my job so will be able to download it. Hassle though, having to reinstall everything. Windows 7 Ultimate won't upgrade to 8 and keep apps...

Ok, have checked all hardware and drivers up-to-date. Saffire Pro MixControl removed re-added.
 
Dim Pro still at 32 bit however.
 
I'm thinking the Pentagon Load patch crash might be a red herring. Can someone try and open the following patch in Pentagon? https://www.dropbox.com/s/y8beqypik3g9kq1/PsyBass%201.fxp?dl=0
 
Default programs are opening in Pentagon so maybe my patch has got corrupted?
 
Been focussing on this issue and haven't tested if I'm still getting the transport won't stop and stop button being greyed out!