My problems with the midi tracks that were not making a sound appeared to be restricted to several tracks on one project which was not executed well on my part. See? I have no quarrel with those of you who want me to quickly understand that it is user error, 99.9% pf the time. I KNOW it is...that's why I'm here.
 
Today I am attempting to do a simple small multi-track recording using some of the soft synth drums provided by SONAR. With no real warning and regardless of the load (which is very low indeed) on the system the drum track simply begins to distort. i.e.  there is nothing else on the machine at the time, no other trackcs, just a SoftSynth S1 Drum kit.
I have been able to reproduce this flaw using other midi-based instruments as well.
a) Is this a commonly know flaw' for which there is a patch?
or
b) am I a hapless nubie who is missing a critical detail?
 
Thanks for any help proffered.
 
Dave

Knowing your system specs and hardware can help us help you and we won't have to ask every time you have a question.
Putting that info permanently in your signature is a good idea and will save time and electrons.
 

so a simple line along the bottom as you have in your response is what's needed here? groovy! I can do that! thanks 57 Gregy.

Several possibilities come immediately to mind. It would be helpful to know which version of Sonar you are using and your PC specs (this is why many of us put those details in our sigs, it makes troubleshooting easier as well as pointing to common setups that work well - or don't).

The first possibility is that the MIDI buffers are set too low in Sonar preferences. The default is 250milliseconds, but that often causes problems with MIDI playback getting scrambled. It's worth checking and if it's lower than 500ms try setting it to 500. Sometimes going even higher can be beneficial.

Another possibility is you are on the verge of an audio dropout. Dropouts can happen on even a lightly loaded PC because they're not always caused by high cpu or disc usage. Try increasing the ASIO buffer (assuming you have an interface that uses ASIO drivers) and see if that helps. If it does but the lag between playing and hearing the note played is a problem, then it may be time to do some troubleshooting to see if it can be lowered.

Often dropouts and similar behaviour are caused by PCI bus latency (not to be confused with the different kind of latency caused by high ASIO buffer settings) when other devices in the PC (or their drivers) interrupting data flow to do their audio-unrelated thing. Wireless network adaptors are a common culprit, so if you have one try temoving it and going into Windows control panel/device manager and disabling it. Reboot and see if the Sonar problem has gone away. There are freeware programmes that can monitor PCI bus latency and report if it's likely to cause problems. Which app to use depends in which version of Windows you have.

Can Sonar play back audio tracks without problems? Does disabling effects make things better or worse?

Here is a first attempt at summarising my eqpt in a sig. Is this sufficient?

sh7t!    didn't do the sig...hang on
 

here ...
 SONAR X3 (X3a build 209); 6-port USB hub; M-Audio M-Track USB interface; Yamaha PSR E223 (midi trigger ONLY); HP Envy h8-1419 with hdwrs mods rn W8 stripped

Here is a more up ta date version pf the sig with some more bit ins the chain included. I also have a separate disk drive and some addition memory on this machine, so it's not wanting in any of those trad ways wwe used to suffer that I am aware of.
Let' s see whether the dig is included:
 

The first possibility is that the MIDI buffers are set too low in Sonar preferences. The default is 250milliseconds, but that often causes problems with MIDI playback getting scrambled. It's worth checking and if it's lower than 500ms try setting it to 500. Sometimes going even higher can be beneficial.
 
This buffer is not one I have messed with uey, meaning I was unaware of it. I shale have a look.

Another possibility is you are on the verge of an audio dropout. Dropouts can happen on even a lightly loaded PC because they're not always caused by high cpu or disc usage. Try increasing the ASIO buffer (assuming you have an interface that uses ASIO drivers) and see if that helps. If it does but the lag between playing and hearing the note played is a problem, then it may be time to do some troubleshooting to see if it can be lowered.
 
I am finding that I must make a balance between a lovely satisfied ASIO buffer and something else in there that slips my mind. The 2 seem to work in tandem,



Can Sonar play back audio tracks without problems? Does disabling effects make things better or worse?

Yes, I will give a qualified yes on that becaise I am such a perfectionist. Things are being played back.
 

SONAR X3 (X3a build 209); HP Envy h8-1419 - Tower - 1 x Core i7 3770 / 3.4 GHz - RAM 12 GB; Windows 8 Pro (64-bit 1st bld); 6-port USB hub; M-Audio M-Track USB interface; Yamaha PSR E223 (midi trigger ONLY); HP Envy h8-1419 with hdwrs mods rn W8 stripped