Hi - I get this any time I have a web page open that has audio or video, like youtube. It is annoying to have to shut down Sonar, sometimes several times & reconfigure it. Is there a way around this? Thanks.

Can you give us insight into what audio interface you are running?
 
It *seems* you may be running X1 in ASIO mode (which is preferred) so that it is locking drivers on you. WDM mode in X1 will allow drivers to be shared.

Thanks for the reply. I have an old Edirol interface - UA-5 & I am actually running WDM mode as i cd never get asio to work.

To avoid sharing my DAW interface with other windows apps, I use the internal sound chip for everything but SONAR. If you are trying to share the UA-5 among all your apps, you may need to "Share Drivers With Other Programs" in Preferences > Audio > Playback and Recording and make sure that the "Allow application to take exclusive control of this device" is not enabled on the advanced tab in the Properties dialog for the device in the Windows Sound Control Panel.

+1... in WDM mode, drivers should be shared by all devices, but the above info is good to check.

Allow application to take exclusive control of this device was enabled, I never wd have guessed. Thanks!!

much later...I thought it was OK but it happens if I'm multitasking & open a web page by mistake that has audio - Youtube or something. It takes shutting down & starting over frequently. i know it's my fault for multitasking but it helps ease ear fatigue when mixing. I did take scook's advice but still having problems. Thanks for any further advice.

Are you using onboard sound for other audio and your interface only for SONAR?
 
This is how I run my machine, and the only way I have found to force Win7 to comply is:
1) Start->"Change sound card settings"
2) Be sure the interface is connected and on (so both appear in the list). If one is not appearing, right click and "Show Disabled/Disconnected Devices"
3) Once in this state, the onboard audio must be explicitly assigned "Set Default," if the onboard audio already is, set the interface as default first, then set the onboard as default.
 
The above tends to override Win7 "dynamic allocation" of resources it sees, so it should leave your interface alone and allow SONAR to use it "unchallenged."
 

I do the same thing as scook, and I run Sonar side by side with whatever other audio applications I wish, as everything but Sonar and stand-alone synths use WDM drivers, and Sonar and the stand-alone synths use ASIO.
 
So, nothing ever conflicts with access to drivers.
 
Bob Bone
 

OK thanks...I use the audio interface for everything. I'm not finding "change s.card settings" from start. I use the classic shell in Win 7 so is that why??