[Solved] Never understood the stability complaints with Sonar... Till X3!!!

I'm guessing you've tried a complete removal and reinstall of Sonar?

Not sure how you expect anyone to be able to help you when you supply no information ?

 
Sooner or later all our systems will become obsolete.  Maybe it's your system's turn.
 
I remember back when I was in application development and my boss would complain that what I had designed required too much power.  My reply was always - by the time this gets out, every pc will be able to handle it.
 
I'm sure Cakewalk is no different and designs for the current and soon to be current levels of computing power.  This guarantees that with every new release some of us are going to fall by the wayside.
 
If they're doing anything to take advantage of win8 (which would be perfectly understandable), things may go wrong with win7.
 
But then again, maybe your system is just corrupt...
 

As much as X3 irritates me, I do not find it unusable. Flaky as all get out, yes.

I opened an older project on a friends X3D version at his studio here in town and it crashed consistently. It turned out to be memory crashes with Session drummer and Superior Drummer present in the same program. SD2 was the default drum kit and session drummer was just sitting in the synth rack. Removed Session drummer and no more blue screens for the memory usage.

I would not say completely unusable, but PITA at times trying to get it to do what I expect it to. With that said, I am making music here and at other places with it.

The only crash I've had in X3 has been related to V-Vocal
 
Apart from that it appears to be rock solid

Jackel
X3a, b, c, & d have all been completely unusable to me.  I have been using Sonar since Sonar 4 and never really had any major issues with it.  X3 not only crashes itself but makes my entire system unstable.  If I load X3 it crashes quite soon for a who knows what reason at whatever time.  From there if I don't reboot my system other programs start to crash.
 
in case you think I just have a jacked up system... X2 still runs like a charm.  Of course that's what I am using but having paid for the upgrade I was kinda hoping to use it.  At this point I would like my money back.
 
Jeff

I am in the same boat as you. I have been using various versions of cakewalk, for 10 years, and have never had any problems. X3 as been a total failure for me, but X2 runs like a charm. 
 
I have never really had to pay particular attention to the setup of my system, since it has always worked fine for me. I have not needed to run my computer as a dedicated DAW. My next step will be re-downloading with anti-virus off (doesn't seem that safe to do, or a good idea, but I see people are suggesting that). And also installing with AV off. I will go from there.
 
Steven 

One thing to note when comparing X3 to X2, there have been significant changes to the code (at least it appears to me) to allow things like ARA and "better" implementation of take lanes, etc.  They re-wrote a lot of what is under the hood, so systems could react differently due to that.
 
Anyhow, many people have been down this path and a lot of times it just takes a few tweaks to get everything running well again.

FWIW, Avast was reported (several times) to interfere with downloading X3.

scook
FWIW, Avast was reported (several times) to interfere with downloading X3.

Yup - I was one of those reporting that.  I had to suspend Avast during both download AND install.
 
Bob Bone

Hey Guys,  thanks for all the replies.  i just posted pissed off and then forgot about it.  Here are my specs.
 
I7 Processor
12 gig 1066 ram
win7 64
no virus protection
 

@Jackel - please ignore the first paragraph or 2, it is me venting at me.
 
!@#$&^!@$ - I just had typed a GIANT bunch of stuff, and my big fat foot managed to accidentally hit the Restart button on my desktop (it sits on the floor), so I have to do it all again.  ggggrrrrr (nobody to blame but me, but still....)
 
OK, so here goes round 2:
 
I concur with the need for additional information from you, so that we can properly assist you with getting these crash issues resolved.
 
On the positive side of this, it is likely a system-specific set of reasons you are crashing like this, so if we dig deep enough, we can hopefully get you all fixed up.  Please hang in there - there are indeed multiple folks here that will do their best to assist you with these problems.
 
Please review and respond with the following information:
 
1.  I see you are running Windows 7 x64.  Please give an indication of how current your applied maintenance is.  
 
2.  The exact model of audio interface you are using, or an indication that it is the on-board sound card, if no dedicated audio interface is used.  Please also include the exact driver version you have installed, and provide the firmware level, if possible.  (this is frequently displayed in the audio interface UI screen, and might be in the About xxx in the Help tab of the interface UI screen)
 
3.  If your audio interface uses a USB connection please indicate if you have it plugged into a USB 2 or a USB 3 port, and if you instead have a Fire Wire connection, please indicate the Fire Wire chip set for your motherboard, or if it is an expansion card, please indicate the exact Fire Wire card you are using.
 
4.  Please provide as much detail as possible on the kinds of projects you are running when these crashes occur.  Are they projects created from earlier versions of Sonar?  Is is ALL projects crashing?  For projects that crash Sonar and your system, please list ALL plugins used, including effects as well as soft synths.  Are there a consistent set of steps you are doing when these crashes occur?  (please make sure you also list whether or not any of these plugins are 32-bit)
 
5.  Please also try setting up a brand new project where you do not load ANY 32-bit plugins, and indicate whether or not this crashes or works.  So, just record some audio, or midi using something like the 64-bit Dim Pro, and see if that works OK.
 
6.  When you downloaded and installed Sonar, did you have your antivirus software temporarily suspended?
 
7.  When you launched the Sonar installation, did you EXPLICITLY tell it to Run As Administrator?  (This is not the same as logging in to a Windows user account that has administrative priviliges).
 
So, let's start with the above, and see what we get after looking at the information you provide back on the above.
 
Bob Bone
 

I am a parent, and often think back to what I put my parents through.  That process teaches patience and is a bit humbling, when I realize my folks somehow got me through it all.
 
So, even if the original poster is away, his issue remains, so I post and wait - trying to help myself and others in the meantime.
 
Please note that I do not in any way consider the poster a child or anything like that.  I only offered the analogy to explain where my patience partly happens to come from.  (My father had to wait about 10 years for me to finally 'get' something, on one occasion).
 
Bob Bone
 

Time out...

Hi all,
 
Thanks for the help.  I replaced my video card since it seemed to be related to a couple issues on the computer overall.  I also uninstalled and reinstalled X3 as administrator.  For the time being these seem to have solved the problem.