Working in X2 - Lost an hour's worth of work

It locked up. Had to reboot my computer.
 
Btw, why does it take 2 or 3 minutes for me to load my project. Then, of course, after that, I have to hit 'P' to open the preferences, and hit "OK" - otherwise I'll get no sound or MIDI.
 
Maybe I need a faster computer? I only have an ASUS i7 Windows 8 64-bit, 12 GB RAM.
 
Will someone please direct me to a stable DAW?
 

What's in the project? If I have Superior Drummer and a few large Kontakt instruments in a project load times can be slow. Otherwise its pretty quick.

If you have to set preferences every time you open a project there is something wrong.

No offense ml, but the only one to blame for an hours worth of work lost, is you. I'm honestly not trying to be harsh...but you don't lose work if you save often. I've had Sonar crash on me many times and have only lost work when I didn't save several times within the project. That's the only way you lose data in my experience.

As for your 2-3 minute load time, it could be a plugin. Especially if you are using Sonar 64. If it's a bridged plugin, it very well could take a few seconds for it to load up. I have one in my arsenal that takes 22 seconds to load no matter how big or small the project is. If I don't use that plug, I don't get the long load time. You may want to try experimenting with opening your project in Sonar's safe mode.

Just hold the shift key down while selecting and clicking on your project. This will make Sonar open in safe mode and it will ask you which things to include in your project one at a time. Try killing each one one at a time and then opening to see if the project opens any faster. When you see it open up as fast as it should, you know the plug that is giving you an issue is the problem.

Your pc is way fast enough, no worries there. Sonar is a VERY stable DAW for most of us. There are several issues you could be having here. Having to enter into preferences mode and pressing "ok" every time tells me something is not right with your soudcard or midi devices. I have used Sonar and Cakewalk products since they came out on floppy disk. I have NEVER had a sound problem even when using a SoundBlaster.

When I HAVE had a problem with sound or my midi devices, it was always the devices themselves that were at fault...NOT Sonar. So you may want to do a little research before you ask someone to "direct you to a stable DAW". You'll get quite a few responses like mine because though Sonar has its issues with some systems, most of the time (even though there are legit issues for people) it really is user error or a conflict within sound devices or other services you may have running....drivers may need to be updated....it can be anything.

Not to be a dik, but it's obvious you may need to do a little research and learn about this stuff before you just bash on Sonar. 4 quick lines of text doesn't give any of us enough information to help you really. The key to getting help on this forum is being as informative as possible with the issues you are having without blaming Sonar until you have grounds to do so. 8 times out of 10, when you give the right information on here, someone will make you aware that the problem is on your end and you'll wind up with your foot in your mouth with an "ahhh" moment. :)

-Danny

I don't like the idea of autosave but I've taken to hitting CTRL-S after every successful action I make. I do it subconsciously now. There is nothing worse than spending half an hour on some tedious non-fun editing task only to have to do it all again after a crash. Save save save. 

sharke


I don't like the idea of autosave but I've taken to hitting CTRL-S after every successful action I make. I do it subconsciously now. There is nothing worse than spending half an hour on some tedious non-fun editing task only to have to do it all again after a crash. Save save save. 

I've only started using autosave recently and I am SO GLAD I did!


It never overwrites your current project, it creates a new version for you

Bristol_Jonesey

sharke


I don't like the idea of autosave but I've taken to hitting CTRL-S after every successful action I make. I do it subconsciously now. There is nothing worse than spending half an hour on some tedious non-fun editing task only to have to do it all again after a crash. Save save save. 

I've only started using autosave recently and I am SO GLAD I did!


It never overwrites your current project, it creates a new version for you

+many. There are loads of myths circulating about autosave. Here's what it doesn't do............

It doesn't interfere with,  change, or touch your original project in any way whatsoever. It creates a separate completely independent copy of the project.
It doesn't take loads of hard drive space. It's just a cwp file which are usually no more than a few thousand bytes.
It doesn't autosave during playback or recording. If a save becomes due while the transport is running it will wait until the transport stops and then complete the save.
It doesn't stop you pressing Ctrl+S and saving as you normally would.

I see many users de-crying autosave some claiming they want to decide when a save is made. The point is you can still decide, autosave just takes an extra copy for you. I just can't see one downside but there are lots of upsides. Not least of which is you end up with an extra copy of the project that may or may not be more recent than your original if the system does crash. Whether it is more recent or not depends on how you have autosave set up and when you last saved the original.

Hi Freddie

I would suggest that you may have system issues if a save is causing dropouts and crashes. I've never had a dropout or crash from a save, auto or manual. Might be worth investigating given that you are having other issues as well, they may be related.

FastBikerBoy


Hi Freddie

I would suggest that you may have system issues if a save is causing dropouts and crashes. I've never had a dropout or crash from a save, auto or manual. Might be worth investigating given that you are having other issues as well, they may be related.

Thanks Karl but I'm sure it works without any glitch with my setup. I just doesn't prefer to use it as a security measure.
I know by my own experience working with friends in other studios how it works. Autosave are available in all common DAWs.
 
 
Hypothetical example of Autosave bad behavior.
1. You editing a plugin suddenly the mouse freeze... what? It autosave the project...
2. 10min later... you hit play...then suddenly the locater freeze???? its autosave-time again...?
 
 
No thanks I think I skip that!

I prefer the "tilde" for save (never have got used to control+s, don't miss the save icon anymore, use it in all programs that allow keyboard shortcuts)

control+tilde for save as

T

Swiller


my recommendations... go win 7. Sonar x2 does not have win 8 drivers. Turn autosave in x2 every 10-20 changes. Turn off ram and processor power saving in the bios menu. do all the usual pc optimizations in windows for pro audio. If that dont work, yer buggered tbh.

"Sonar X2 does not have win 8 drivers"? Funny Sonar X2 is running fine on my Windows 8. BTW X2 doesn't come with drivers. 

John

Swiller


my recommendations... go win 7. Sonar x2 does not have win 8 drivers. Turn autosave in x2 every 10-20 changes. Turn off ram and processor power saving in the bios menu. do all the usual pc optimizations in windows for pro audio. If that dont work, yer buggered tbh.

"Sonar X2 does not have win 8 drivers"? Funny Sonar X2 is running fine on my Windows 8. BTW X2 doesn't come with drivers. 

I'm not convinced about all the PC optimizations, either.  I do set my PC power setting to max, but that's about it.  A lot of the commonly quoted ones are no longer relevant in Windows7 and 8.
 
To be really controversial - I run Norton, am connected wirelessly, go on the internet, and still use my internal card for computer sounds and Youtube, etc.  I guess I must just be lucky, because X1 and X2 still run perfectly, are stable, no drop outs, even on large projects..
 
Here comes the tirade..

John

jb101

John

Swiller


my recommendations... go win 7. Sonar x2 does not have win 8 drivers. Turn autosave in x2 every 10-20 changes. Turn off ram and processor power saving in the bios menu. do all the usual pc optimizations in windows for pro audio. If that dont work, yer buggered tbh.

"Sonar X2 does not have win 8 drivers"? Funny Sonar X2 is running fine on my Windows 8. BTW X2 doesn't come with drivers. 

I'm not convinced about all the PC optimizations, either.  I do set my PC power setting to max, but that's about it.  A lot of the commonly quoted ones are no longer relevant in Windows7 and 8.

To be really controversial - I run Norton, am connected wirelessly, go on the internet, and still use my internal card for computer sounds and Youtube, etc.  I guess I must just be lucky, because X1 and X2 still run perfectly, are stable, no drop outs, even on large projects..

Here comes the tirade..

Not from me JB. I do much the same thing. I haven't run into the problems others seem hit either. I don't think its just luck. I think you know what you are doing. 

A computer is a tool with no purpose. It only gets one when we add a program to it. Otherwise its a blank box. Its up to us to use it wisely. 
 

And just to shake the hornet's nest:
 
I bought my PC "Off the shelf" from a computer store; just got them to add more RAM.
 
When I say I run wirelessly, I mean I'm connected to a router, and have a wireless keyboard and mouse.
 
I don't update the drivers for my "MOBO", video card etc., etc., every five minutes, as some suggest as the first port of call.
 
What I have found is that Sonar is very sensitive to settings.  Find the sweetspot for buffer settings (MIDI and audio, bounce settings etc.) etc.,  and it works fine.
 
That's been my experience, anyway.
 
And read all possible manuals.  Again and again..
 
And follow the posts on this forum.

jb101

John

jb101

John

Swiller


my recommendations... go win 7. Sonar x2 does not have win 8 drivers. Turn autosave in x2 every 10-20 changes. Turn off ram and processor power saving in the bios menu. do all the usual pc optimizations in windows for pro audio. If that dont work, yer buggered tbh.

"Sonar X2 does not have win 8 drivers"? Funny Sonar X2 is running fine on my Windows 8. BTW X2 doesn't come with drivers. 

I'm not convinced about all the PC optimizations, either.  I do set my PC power setting to max, but that's about it.  A lot of the commonly quoted ones are no longer relevant in Windows7 and 8.

To be really controversial - I run Norton, am connected wirelessly, go on the internet, and still use my internal card for computer sounds and Youtube, etc.  I guess I must just be lucky, because X1 and X2 still run perfectly, are stable, no drop outs, even on large projects..

Here comes the tirade..

Not from me JB. I do much the same thing. I haven't run into the problems others seem hit either. I don't think its just luck. I think you know what you are doing. 

A computer is a tool with no purpose. It only gets one when we add a program to it. Otherwise its a blank box. Its up to us to use it wisely. 
 

And just to shake the hornet's nest:
 
I bought my PC "Off the shelf" from a computer store; just got them to add more RAM.
 
When I say I run wirelessly, I mean I'm connected to a router, and have a wireless keyboard and mouse.
 
I don't update the drivers for my "MOBO", video card etc., etc., every five minutes, as some suggest as the first port of call.
 
What I have found is that Sonar is very sensitive to settings.  Find the sweetspot for buffer settings (MIDI and audio, bounce settings etc.) etc.,  and it works fine.
 
That's been my experience, anyway.
 
And read all possible manuals.  Again and again..
 
And follow the posts on this forum.

I'm not that crazy about doing every possible optimization either, but one thing that has reduced crashes immensely for me was to start running Sonar in a different user account that has most of my usual startup crap disabled. For instance I had Skype loading, as well as lots of Quickbooks services, Outlook sync tool, and Windows Live Mesh which automatically syncs files to the cloud. I would guess that none of that was doing my Sonar experience any good. I also disable Windows real time protection as well, since that was always one that gave me problems when I was using Pro Tools. All in all this stuff has helped a lot. I was crashing so often before, and oftentimes when just clicking around in the console or in automation lanes. All that's pretty much stopped. 

Lotsa good tips here!

I have my auto-save set to every 25 changes, no time limit.
No of saves= 20
I often manual-save as well by habit.

Never had to go back past 3, so 20 is plenty for me.

Once I hit a checkpoint (e.g end of day),  I Save As a different name.


Kinda SOP - once you get burned 7 or 8 times ....  

I should say that the main reason I posted this was because I was frustrated and felt the need to vent. Yes, it's my fault for not saving more often, but even if I lost a few minutes worth of work, it's precious inspiration down the tubes. The good news is, I'm not in the habit of saving often because X2 doesn't crash that much.