Sonar X2 Producer - Latency Problem

I have been using Sonar X2 for a couple of years, mainly midi. Recently I have been having a major problem with latency which prevents me from finishing the vocal to songs. In the past it was not really evident or to stop me working. My System. Producer X2, Dell Win 7 ...I have been happily using Edirol UA-25 for a few years without any midi problems. So thinking it was overloaded, I copied just the piano (audio) to a new project and want to a vocals to it...Nope..it is always out of sync. I am currently running ASIO. There is no slider adjustment..it is greyed out. If I switch to WDMKS it says its not compatible and wont play anything ....I have tried to record direct to Edirol, or go thru an external mixer ...both have unusable latency...ANY help would be great?

Hi, thanks for your interest. I am using X2 Producer with Win 7 /64...The Edirol is about 6 years old and seems to work fine in all sense's..Except lately, when I try to record audio (vocal) ...even with a simple piano / vocal production...there is a latency that makes it impossible to sing it in sync.  I do admit I am running my system at almost full capacity. I know Roland is no longer supporting the Edirol UA-25,,,but because its an audio related issue, I think it may be related to running the pc at close to maximum as it uses more power/memory..Midi is all fine..So, what to do? that is the question?  What are my choices? Can't update the drivers? Updating the OS is going create other problems with Sonar X2, Edirol and several my modules I use (when I'm not using soft synths)...Looks like I may have to record the audio vocal elsewhere and then import it in as a wav file....What a headache!

Using your system at almost max capacity does not help. I do have 16GB RAM and I also use a third part cache.
My system is also used at a pretty high load as I also have my email, text, graphics and video editing programs on it.
I have my programs on an SSD (500GB) and my data spread over different HDs. One is dedicated to music (3TB).
As you are using it for a long period check if the capacity of your C-drive is still enough.
When you open the file manager and click Computer you can see the disks in your system with bars that should all be blue. If one has a red bar and if it is your C-drive you need to consider to clean  it (remove some programs) or buy a larger one and clone the data.
 
Regarding Asio
In my opinion the Asio Panel button in the Drivers Settings Preference screen should not be greyed. and when you click it the slider should not be greyed as well. In my situation it is on 6. My ASIO buffer size is set at 256 samples.

Thanks for all that helpful information,..apart from my maxed out hard drive (working at 90%) I will look into some of these possibilites. Yes, the ASIO Panel has a button. I press it, it comes up with a buffer, I try to reduce it to the left and get an error message saying device in use by other applications..close down and restart..As far as I know there are no other applications "on"....everything is shut down?  I even removed the checkbox tick for "share drivers with other applications".....usually I use ASIO driver, however, Does anyone know why when I set driver to WDMKS...and apply it plays nothing...zilch?  should'nt the WDMKS drivers be an option?  

No, I dont have any effects patched into my master channel...Now just to be more annoying... I cannot record ANY audio...nothing..message says...either cannot find audio record device? or the audio dropout box comes up??  the audio button is switched on ...midi is working normal ? ...so I now have three problems? cant record any audio? sometimes says theres no device? and latency? wow sometimes I wish I could go back to my old Zoom 8 track !!
Any advice would be appreciated..

Okay I'm sorry, the newest update for X2 is this. Posted March of this year.
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/...13301/SONAR-X2a-Update
 

Here's an article you should follow!!!
 
http://thehub.musiciansfr...izing-windows-for-daws

Here's my last suggestion for the night.
Right click your speaker symbol in the bottom right corner of windows, then click on PLAYBACK devices then highlight each device in there one by one, then select properties, then advanced, then set every device to 24 bit 44100 hz then do the same for RECORDING Devices. Everything should always be set to 44.1 hz (44100) If one device in there is set to 48000 and your recording software is set to 44100 you will have all kinds of stupid problems like clicking and popping and audio drop outs. I did! until I changed all of them to 44100.
Man, that took me a lot of frustrating hours to figure out!!!! 

Maybe I missed this from earlier posts, but do you happen to have your audio interface also set to be the Windows Default Audio Device?
 
If so, and you are running ASIO, then anytime Windows wants to play any windows sounds, it will compete for control of the ASIO drivers, as only one application at a time gets control of it.
 
IF you DO have it set that way, try altering it so the Windows Default Audio Device is set to the computer's internal sound chip/card, and see if that stops at least that error where Sonar all of a sudden cannot see the audio interface.
 
Bob Bone
 

As I had indicated to you in response to your private message, even if no other applications than Sonar are running, WINDOWS could still grab exclusive control of your Edirol audio interface, IF Windows is set to use the Edirol audio interface as the Default Audio Device.
 
In simple terms, generally speaking, the ASIO design specs are that only a single application can have control/access to an audio device, using ASIO drivers.  SOOOO, this means that if both Sonar and Windows are set to use ASIO drivers of the audio interface, there is an inherent conflict potential that way.
 
I believe it probable that you have both Windows and Sonar set to use ASIO of your interface.
 
You can click on the little speaker icon in your system tray (bottom right corner of your screen), and Windows will display whatever is the currently set default audio device for Windows to use.  IF you have this set to your Edirol audio interface, then I recommend you change the Windows Default Audio Device to use your Realtek drivers for Windows, and then leave Sonar to continue to use the Edirol audio interface with a driver mode of ASIO.
 
Please try going into Control Panel and changing the Windows Default Audio Device to be the Realtek on-board sound chip in your system, and then see if that fixes Sonar.  Let's start with this and then we can figure out how to also deal with hearing your Windows sounds outside of Sonar AFTER fixing Sonar first.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

Also check week #35 in "Friday's Tip of the Week."

Well, I was hoping to have you be able to point Windows to use ANY other audio drivers than your Edirol, so that it would prevent any conflict over access/control of the ASIO  drivers of the Edirol in Sonar.
 
So, that was why I had posted the steps to change the Windows Default Audio Device. So, if you have speakers available to be set to the default, go ahead and do that.  Unless you are literally going to record into Windows using the microphone input jack on the computer, INSTEAD of Sonar, don't bother with the Recording tab for Manage Audio Devices - just get the PLAYBACK tab's default audio device to be anything other than your Edirol.
 
I do not at all understand why you have disconnected the Edirol, as it is THIS device that you want to use in Sonar, so please reconnect it - and make sure Sonar is set to a Driver Mode of ASIO and using the Edirol as Sonar's audio interface.  At this point, you should also NOT have Windows itself set to use the Edirol as its default audio device.
 
At this point, you will want to make sure your Edirol ASIO drivers are set to an ASIO Buffer Size that is appropriate for the Sonar project you will be working with.  What I mean is that when you are in the process of recording tracks, or editing, you need an ASIO Buffer Size that is pretty small, to keep latency low, so that you don't have any noticeable lag when triggering midi notes and such.  During the recording phase of working on a project, you need to be careful about the effects you load into that project, because SOME of your effects plugins are really only meant to be used during MIXING and NOT during recording.  This is because they require a very large ASIO Buffer Size to do what they do, so plugins that use things like 'Look-Ahead Processing' or lots of CPU, should not get loaded into the project until you are completely done with recording and have moved on to the mixing stage, where low latency is not at all needed - since you are not trying to record over a bunch of lag.
 
When I am recording, I almost always use an ASIO Buffer Size of 128, and I always use a Sample Rate of 48 K. 
 
When I finish recording and editing, and move to the mixing phase of a project, I change my ASIO Buffer Size to be either 1024 or 2048 - most of the time I use 2048.  It is at THIS point that I can effectively load up my project with the more consumptive effects, such as convoluted reverbs or Boost 11, or other ones meant for use in mixing.
 
For the rest of time, I will be switching between a low ASIO Buffer Size of 128 - for recording - and then 2048 when mixing/mastering.  It's just the way it works best for me.
 
I hope the above makes some sense - but I suggest you start with a very very simple plan:
 
1) Change Windows Default Audio Device to anything other than the Edirol.  Whatever issues with Windows audio that remain can be dealt with AFTER getting Sonar squared away using the Edirol.
 
2) Make sure Edirol is properly connected to the computer, and shows up as working normally when viewed in Windows Device Manager.
 
3) IF the Edirol allows settings changes outside of a host program (like Sonar), then open up the Edirol's user interface and get it set to whatever Sample Rate you wish to use in Sonar (I happen to use 48 k - sometimes listed as 48000).  In addition, set the ASIO Buffer Size to 128 as a reasonable starting point.  Please note that some audio interfaces use a different way of adjusting the ASIO Buffer's size - perhaps with either a vertical or horizontal slider, and further, may use simplistic terms like Smaller/Larger.  If that is the case, then set it to perhaps just a little larger than its smallest size setting.  (if set too low, you can also have problems, so for example my interface will go as small as 32 for ASIO Buffer Size, but that is a bit too iffy, so I just use 128, which is a couple of settings larger than the smallest setting of 32).
 
4) IF instead, your Edirol does NOT have a separate little program to use to change its settings, than you can do it from within Sonar, once you tell Sonar to use the Edirol and get the Sample Rate in Sonar to be what you want to use - make the Edirol Sample Rate match what you have Sonar set to use, and also get the Edirol ASIO Buffer Size set to 128, or the equivalent setting on the slider or whatever alternative mechanism for adjusting the buffer size it offers.
 
5), It is generally recommended that you power cycle your audio interface after changing either sample rate or ASIO Buffer Size, or if that is not feasible (like if the audio interface is on an expansion card internal to the computer), than reboot once you have made the changes and have clicked on Apply.
 
6) OK, so now after all the changes are made and you have either powered off/on the interface or rebooted, launch Sonar and before even loading up a project, I would ask you to go into the Sonar Preferences and post back to this thread the Sonar-reported latency values.  If things were set properly for a recording session in Sonar, your Total Roundtrip Latency should be reported in Sonar to be somewhere around 10-13 milliseconds (ms), or a little less.  
 
7) So load up either a new project, or one that doesn't have a bunch of effects loaded into the project.  Now try to do some simple recording without effects, and post back here in the thread as to whether or not you are able to record without a lot of latency/lag.
 
So, let's try the above and I'll circle back to look for additional posts from you once you perform the above steps.  It took longer to type all of this than it should to actually DO the steps.  Sorry for all the typing. :)
 
Bob Bone
 

So, this time because of the conflict with the Sonar/Edirol UA 25 ...coming from having the High Definition Audio Device "on"  ..I completely disabled the High Definition Audio Device in the Control Panel. I started Sonar, plugged a powered mic directly into Edirol UA-25 (rather then from my external mixer) ...loaded a basic piano/vocal track ,,no effects and it worked pretty well, with no noticeable latency. I tried with no input monitoring, with input monitoring and then with the track "muted" to kill the phasing sound... varied results ....So now the Edirol UA-25 is my only audio device, tracks play, Sonar seems to work better, ?? Very little latency...I can't see the point in having the High Definition Audio Device there at all,, unless you did'nt have an another decent audio device?