Soft Synth - Soundcard Dropout <--Any suggestions???

I wish I could help. I, too, am having issues (not dropouts as such, just a complete freeze that requires a reboot in some cases) with my laptop set-up. At first it was just with Rapture. At the weekend, I spent a considerable sum on some Applied Acoustic Solutions instruments. They work fine stand alone, but as VSTs they keep crashing X1.

Good luck with this.

cheers

andy

thedope


Just bought a new laptop and can't wait to use it, however i can't figure out why I keep getting audio dropouts for no reason in Sonor X1d Producer.
 
Here is what happens.  I open a new Sonor project.  I'll load a soft synth for example Toontrack Superior drummer.  As soon as I start to change any parameters on the soft synth (ie drum sounds, mixer settings, ect) I get an audio dropout.   This only happens when I have my Edirol FA-101 soundcard turned on.  I am running Windows 7 64 bit and have installed the 64 bit drivers for WIndows 7 from www.rolandus.com  I can play Superior Drummer on the laptop's internal "crappy" sound card with no issues its only when I have the Edirol truned that I keep getting dropouts.  This happens with other soft synths I have as will such as Rapture, Massive, Real Guitar, ect   These dropouts are occuring in Sonor files with no audio and hardly ant MIDI so my computer is not even close to being overwhelmed.  I know the problem has something to do with the Edirol FA-101 and/or its driver.  I've tried both ASIO & WDM only to get the same results.  The laptop has plenty of power and should not be dropping out like this.  I've tried all kinds of things even disabled the laptop's "internal" sound card.  I currently have Sonor X1d configured using the settings Cakewalk reccommends on their website.
 
Any suggestions???   Thanks!
 
Dell Precision m4600    Intel i7 2860QM Quad Core @ 2.50GB     16GB RAM     Windows 7 64 bit Pro
Edirol FA-101 IEEE 1394
 
3 Hard Drives:  C:/ HDD 7200RPM     Audio Hardrive -Solidstate      Sample Hard Drive HDD 7200

Sorry that you have problems. I don't think its SONAR so don't worry about that. What first comes to my mind is to:
 
1. Increase the audio buffer, and see if that help?
 
2. If that doens't work you need to check that your are in sync, have setup all right values synchronisation are correct, MASTER Clock, slave etc.?
 
3. If that still doesn't fix it, consider buy a new and better audio card that actually works correctly. If you do, don't go for a extremely cheap interface.It's always in the long run, a bad investment. Audio interface is a investment. You get what you paing for.

I would check if you have a TI chip set for the firewire. Check also for core parking while you're at it. This all can be done in device manager.

The FA 101 is a fine interface. 

I just got off the phone with tech support about this issue with Propellerheads Balance audio interface. In short spoke the guy I spoke with didn't know what to tell me. I appreciate his honesty though I wish they would offer me a refund since their stuff doesn't work as it should. Dan Gonzalez is a nice guy though that is who I spoke with. 

Regarding Core Parking... I turned Core Parking off a couple of weeks ago. I did not, however, do this via Device Manager, and I've just had a look at Device Manager and I can't find where to turn on/off Core Parking via Device Manager.

I used the following Sonar topic to turn off Core Parking and it requires you to use Regedit to do this. Do not be put off by having to use Regedit, it worked for me and all is well with my laptop, despite ongoing probems with X1:-

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1861804

If you are still having problems with dropouts:

1.  There is a TON of info out there on the web for these kinds of problems for XP and Windows 7.

2.  DO adjust your buffers up AND REPORT BACK ON THIS POST with the results - whether it worked or not.

3.  Download a small program called DPC Latency Checker.  This is a free utility that will tell you what your current latency is, as well as your maximum latency during that session of running DPC Latency Checker.  If you are getting latency 'spikes' above 1000us, you will most definitely get audio pops, crackles, or dropouts.  If you are seeing these spikes in latency, you will need to go through identifying and mitigating causes of the spikes.  Things like anti-virus software running, a bunch of other services running that are not needed for recording sessions, and that sort of thing can be causing you trouble with dropouts.  If ANY of these kinds of things are in fact causing your dropout headaches, then switching to another DAW suite will do NOTHING to get you past dropouts, as the dropouts are not caused by the DAW, they are caused by other factors present in your hardware/software environment.

4.  Now the good news - even though identifying the fundamental underlying causes for dropouts is one giant pain in the rear, it is something you will only have to do once for your machine.

PLEASE PLEASE report back on what you find when you run DPC Latency Checker.  There a folks here who will invest time in trying to help you, but only if you show a combination of thoroughness in describing your EXACT software/hardware environment and that you also show a willingness to try incorporating the help that IS offered to you.  This is a problem that MANY MANY people have faced, with Sonar as well as with virtually every other DAW out there.  Many of us here will work with you to get past this.

Here is a link to download DPC Latency Checker: http://www.thesycon.de/dpclat/dpclat.exe

Bob Bone