Keith Albright [Cakewalk]
Sorry you are experiencing this.
We'll look into it.  
 
Couple of clarifications/etc...
Firstly deleting the picture cache has nothing to do with general graphics.  The picture cache contains data specific to waveform overview files (wave pictures) nothing related to graphic images used by the program.
 
Second, are there particular image attributes that are in common with what's corrupted?  i.e. using 1024 x 1024 wahzoo files or something.  Not that we support a wahzoo format, but curious if it's any file or particular files.
 
Third, I wonder if there's something using up graphic resources (you can check the count of gdi handles in task manager).  Those types of issues exhibit over time (sometimes a long time).  In Win 8's task manager, click on the details tab, then right click the header Name, PID, Status, etc. appear and choose select columns.  Pick GDI Objects from the dialog that appears.  Now take note of the count.  Around 10,000 Windows will shut down a process.  Near that and things could start to get weird.
 
Best bet would be to coordinate with support.  However, these were a couple of quick thoughts I had about this.
 
Keith
 
 

I contacted Cakewalk support years ago about this.  They totally blew me off.

> This really smells of bad display adapter driver...
 
Why display adapter driver, why not Windows GDI or SONAR bug?
Just curious... Problem seems to exist in multiple systems and I doubt we share the same bad display driver.

I tried steps to repro #20 with \Track Icons\Drums\Snare Drum 2.bmp and could not repro.
 
> Why display adapter driver, why not Windows GDI or SONAR bug?
 
Because only some people seem to be getting this and I just followed steps and could not repro. It looks like corrupted memory in the display adapter, or memory being mishandled which is very often driver related. It's also very possible a windows update fix could sort it out as well (run it several times including optional updates).

Why don't you update your display driver to the latest to rule it out?
Maybe those who are experiencing this problem can tell us their display adapter models are driver versions (after they've updated and retested hopefully), and their operating system.
 
Thanks...

vintagevibe
 
I contacted Cakewalk support years ago about this.  They totally blew me off.

That was then...this is now.

panup
> This really smells of bad display adapter driver...
 
Why display adapter driver, why not Windows GDI or SONAR bug?
Just curious... Problem seems to exist in multiple systems and I doubt we share the same bad display driver.

That seems reasonable. As mentioned previously, Vintage Vibe and I have the same video card. He has video problems with Sonar; I never do. Maybe Sonar has some particular requirement that some systems accommodate but others don't. That's why I'd like to find the common element.
 
I tried to repro the "black snare pixellation" but couldn't. In fact I've never experienced this problem in any version of Sonar, but clearly it's not isolated to "corner cases."

Clearly there is a problem. But I don't believe it is a Sonar problem, it could be though. The reasons are listed above by Alex and Craig.  As I posted, I have never seen this, ever.  Nor can I recall others in the recent or distant past reporting this problem.  Again someone could have and I missed it. But a good rundown of ones system, the graphics card and drivers plus the OS and bit depth, how up to date the OS is and so on needs to be posted. 
 
In this case more information rather than less will be helpful. We need to start building a case file on this one.  

Here's an experiment that might be worth trying: Anyone who is experiencing this, go into the Advanced System Settings and under Performance, choose "Adjust for best performance" to uncheck all the graphics eye candy. If that makes the problem go away, then one of those checkboxes is causing the problem...

Anderton

panup
> This really smells of bad display adapter driver...
 
Why display adapter driver, why not Windows GDI or SONAR bug?
Just curious... Problem seems to exist in multiple systems and I doubt we share the same bad display driver.

That seems reasonable. As mentioned previously, Vintage Vibe and I have the same video card. He has video problems with Sonar; I never do. Maybe Sonar has some particular requirement that some systems accommodate but others don't. That's why I'd like to find the common element.
 
I tried to repro the "black snare pixellation" but couldn't. In fact I've never experienced this problem in any version of Sonar, but clearly it's not isolated to "corner cases."

I've had this problem through 3 video cards.

vintagevibe
I've had this problem through 3 video cards.

 
Okay, but I already said I didn't think it was the graphics card because we have the same graphics card and I don't have problems.
 
I'd just like someone who does have this problem to try turning off all the Windows eye candy, turning on all the Windows eye candy, and seeing if either one makes any difference. If not, then we can rule out those adjustments as a possible source of the problem. Maybe I don't have problems because I DO have all the eye candy enabled, except for "Save Taskbar Thumbnail Previews."

Hi all, i have had this problem all along as well since X1. Its not just with custom icons but intermittently with even Cake's original icons. The following are experiments i have done over but have no solution except to just re-load the track icons.
 
1. First is make to copy the Track Icons folder. Rename it or place the new folder somewhere else - this is so that you can get all your original and Cake's Original icons back after the experiment.
2. In the original Track Icons folder, delete all that is there. - leaving an empty folder.
3. Start up Sonar X(version) 
4. Load a project with distorted icons as seen from the previous.
5. Play as per normal and then save just once.
6. Go back into Windows Explorer to check the Track Icons folder.
7. All the icons used in "that" project opened will be saved into the once empty folder.
8. Notice the size of the "damaged" icons. they will not be 96 x 96 pixels. 
 
My conclusion - that Sonar has some form of Refresh issue when loading icons.

Why?... When changing or loading icons in Track View, the icons are not immediately updated in the Console View and or vice versa. You will need to click on another track in Console View before the change to "that" track happens.