hello everyone, good morning.
this is what's happening. when i'm recording audio or MIDI I hear strange (and annoying) noises. kind of like "static" "pops", things like that. there's no pattern, just kind of random.
does anyone know what i'm talking about?
thanks so much, if you need more information please let me know 

Are you using an audio interface? If so which model? Are you using ASIO driver mode?
 
This is likely a dropout issue meaning your computer resources are being overtaxed. There are system optimization tweaks within windows that can and should be done. You can also raise the audio buffers on your interface which will conserve system resources but may introduce latency.

yes, we all know of that at some point. :) What is your audio interface? Put that in your sig too.
 
Buffer sizes play a huge part in this behavior. Post up your interface specs and we'll take it from there
 

You guys bring a tear to my eyes :)
 
+1 on what they said.  Please post back with the following:
 
1.  Are you using a dedicated audio interface, or are you using the on-board sound chip?
 
2.  IF you are using an audio interface, please list the precise model and driver version, in addition to that, please list the Sample Rate and ASIO Buffer Size as found in the UI for the interface.
 
3.  In Sonar, please list the Sample Rate, Record Bit-Depth, and various latency values that Sonar lists in Preferences, and also list the Record and Playback Buffer sizes.
 
For whatever the worth, if you do not have a dedicated audio interface, you may find some relief to latency issues by downloading and installing a freeware program called ASIO4ALL.  This should be considered only a temporary solution, as you will almost certainly still hit the ceiling as to how much you can do with Sonar while using ASIO4ALL.
 
The better solution to not having a dedicated audio interface is to invest in one, if you intend to seriously pursue using Sonar to create music projects of any significant complexity, although if you are only doing small numbers of audio tracks, ASIO4ALL may possibly do the job for you.  (although I personally do not recommend it other than to buy time while shopping for a real interface).
 
A reasonable simple audio interface will start at around $150, and can go up in cost quite a bit, depending on things like: number of inputs/outputs, quality of converters, number of and quality of pre-amps, and that sort of thing.
 
In any case, a reasonable place to start with regard to settings for using an audio interface would be:
 
Sonar Driver Mode: ASIO
Sonar Record-Bit Depth: 24 bits
Sonar and audio interface Sample Rate: either 44.1 k pr 48 k (interface setting for this must match what is set in Sonar)
Interface ASIO Buffer Size: 128 (this can also be expressed in different ways, depending on the interface - if so, shoot for something that gives you at or just under 10 milliseconds of latency, if possible).
 
I hope this helps, I concur that the lack of an audio interface, or the settings of one, should you have one, is the most likely place to start looking.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

Considering you are using a laptop another question would be are you using the factory installed version of Windows or have you done a clean install? Prebuilt systems come with a ton of bloatware that can really bugger up a system, especially for audio. When (or if) you return let us know if that is the case. If so you can do a clean install of Windows or remove the bloatware using a program like CCleaner (because bloatware tends to be rather stubborn and sometimes won't be fully removed through the Win Add/Remove programs function) or simply disable those programs through the control panel.
 
There are many factors here but to pin down the problem more info is needed. Your system specs look fine though but another potential problem might be the hard drive speed. Many laptops come with slower drives that can cause issues. 7200rpm or faster is recommended for audio. If it has an SSD drive though then it should be fine.

I agree about the hard drive....that laptop most likely has a 5400rpm which is not good for any type of recording.

hello everyone, thank you all for answering, now I will try and answer your questions.
my interface is M-AUDIO MOBILE_PRE
i', using ASIO buffer size is 128
this just started happening, as per beeepster I have downloaded CCleaner (I paid for it). I will run that and see what's what.
the interface I have has always been reliable (sort of) ever since I started using X-2 however there seems to be problems.
again, I appreciate all your help and suggestions. 

increase your ASIO buffer to 512 and see if that helps. If that works, go to 256 and see if that also works. Buffer size will be the likely issue if your using 128 now.

Agreed. Up your interface buffers up incrementally until the problem goes away while recording. This way you get more resources for recording while introducing the least latency possible.
 
While editing and mixing you can crank them up as high as you want because it doesn't matter. The only thing that will be noticeable will be it might take a half second or so for playback to begin. This is important because as you add effects it will consume more resources which will contribute to dropouts.
 
You shouldn't run into this with the power you've got BUT if you need to record another part after you have already added a bunch of effects or have a bunch of soft synths running then use the Freeze button on the track which will temporarily bounce the track with effects and free up resources. Then turn down your interface audio buffers, record your parts, increase your interface buffers back up to mixing/editing levels and then hit the freeze button again on all the tracks which will "Unfreeze" them so you can adjust effects and synth parameters for mixing again.
 
Alternatively if you only need to hear a couple specific tracks to record your new part you can use the Archive button on all the unnecessary tracks which will silence the tracks and stop them from accessing computer resources.
 
Oh and be careful with CCleaner. All you want to use it for in this case is to remove unwanted programs. The Remove Programs feature is a separate tool from the actually system cleaner and disk defrag stuff. DO NOT RUN THE CCLEANER UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND IT!!
 
If you run the cleaner it will show a bunch of stuff it may deem unnecessary but unless you know what it is you may not want to remove it. It requires a bit of knowledge to use that function. However the default cleaner scan and removal generally won't remove anything important (usually just internet cache, missing dll's and other non essential stuff). Just something to be aware of. If something DOES screw up though CCleaner creates a restore point which is accessible via the Windows Recovery options. If you need to you simply use that restore point and your computer will revert back to the state it was at before the cleaning which should fix any problems. So make SURE you always let it create a restore point before letting CCleaner remove anything from your system.
 
Cheers.

Actually, I was referring to the ASIO Buffer Size of the interface, which is a different animal altogether from the Playback and Recording buffers within Sonar.
 
I would not recommend setting your audio interface ASIO Buffer Size to more than 128 - unless all other options fail, or you will have a pretty noticeable latency, in my opinion.
 
It was pointed out some time ago by possibly Craig Anderton that they had noticed a difference in the default size for the Playback and Recording buffers that Sonar sets up, where they used to be 512, and were now defaulting to 256.
 
It is THESE buffers that I think could be adjusted to 512, to see if they have a beneficial effect on your dropouts and crackles and sniffles and such.
 
You will find these buffers in Preferences>Audio>Sync and Caching, and then under the File System section there.
 
Bob Bone