I'm very confused. I was having playback problems in large projects, so decided it was time to upgrade my RAM; Went from 3 Gb to 7 Gb.
 
Nothing has changed. I am still getting audio engine stoppage and stuttering playback. I have done everything I can think to do. I'm mixing a 44 track song right now, and in order for it to play without audio engine failure (although still with quick drop outs every four or so measures) I have to set my ASIO latency to 2048, enable Read Caching and set that to 2048, and enable playback buffers of 2048. Everything is absolutely maxed in that regard. There is nowhere else to go.
 
Here's the real kicker for me though: I don't understand the Performance Module in the Control Toolbar very well, but I do see that it shows the disk space I have available--248 Gb (28%)--and then the system memory--2.6 Gb (18%). What I don't understand is why that latter number doesn't change much! I mean, it might go to 2.7 Gb, but it also drops down to 2.3 Gb. Other than that, there is no real change. Isn't this the amount of RAM being allocated, basically? If so, why won't it use what I'm offering? It isn't changing, and I'd think the caching and such would force it to transfer stuff to memory, taking the load off the main system.
 
Finally, my computer isn't the worlds fastest, but it is in good shape and I was able to run MC6, MC6T, Sonar X3 (the basic one) and Reaper all without any of this level of problem. I've mixed more than 60 tracks on Reaper and Sonar X3, and the only thing in the current tune is the number of tracks--no midi or other such things. I realize the processing of prochannels and such is more intensive perhaps, but I've also more than doubled my RAM.
 
What gives? I really am getting tired of hearing my songs stutter out and fail every few measures no matter how high or low I set everything in the Preferences. Following are my basic system specs:
 
AMD Athlon 64 X 2 Dual Core 5000+
Windows 7 64-bit
7 Gb RAM
Duo-Core
Onboard Audio is Realtek High Definition Audio
Interface is A.R.T. USB Dual Pre
 
I think that's the main stuff?
 
Any help is GREATLY appreciated! What am I missing or not understanding here?
 
 

Dropouts are about the CPU's ability to process audio and keep the buffer filled. RAM doesn't play much of role. I'm not familiar with AMD processors, but it sounds like yours is a little long in the tooth. You may just have to increase your ASIO buffer size to give the CPU more time to process. This will increase input monitoring latency, but that only matters during the tracking phase when there shouldn't be a lot of FX loading up the CPU at that point. Just playing back a bunch of raw audio tracks doesn't take a lot of processing power. In the mixing phase, you can afford to run a significantly larger buffer.

Hey, griz, how do you get 7Gb ram? usually you need matched pairs...then again, whadda I know?  
 
I agree with brundle, update cpu... I went from i7950 stuttering to i74930 smooth as silk with huge Diva patches... several, when just ONE instance of the mighty girl would squash my 950....Always ran into issues...and while I fixed many, CPU was the biggy.
 
AMD cpu's are sooooooo cheap these days and all use the same mobo... so, get the fastest u can afford and you'll b squeelin' in ectasy! best bang for the buck, at least with the very generously priced AMD line.

Hold the phone... please understand that having latency and buffers too high can be just as fatal as too low. While messing with Melodyne I kept jacking mine up and then one day opened the X3 demo project and it killed the audio engine religiously at the start of the 18th bar.
 
Please step back a second and start with the ASIO buffer at 128 (Preferences->Audio->Driver Settings->ASIO Panel...), and I/O buffers at 512 (Advanced Mode: Preferences->Audio->Synch and Caching), then: 

1. Set preferred audio buffer.
2. Start playback.
3. If it drops out or other issues adjust I/O buffers. Try 512 for both as a starting point.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3. Try adjusting buffers both up and down until happy. 256 jumps should do.
5. If after trying all sizes up to 1024 you still have issues go back to step 1 and increase audio buffer.
6. Repeat as necessary until you find the "magic" combination for your setup.

  I have found the X3 demo project is good for this... I mute the final mix-down track and play the rest of the song while making these adjustments. Edit: The reason I say this is because it gives everyone an "apples to apples" comparison... and rules out "system" versus something that may be "project specific"

Hey everyone. Thanks for all the quick responses and info.
 
Let me try to address a couple things in the hopes of clarifying and also understand better. Seems like you guys know your computer talk.
 
It seems that 2 among you concur that RAM doesn't play much of a role, and normally I would agree. But are you saying that even when using Read/Write Caching it isn't a factor? Seth Kellogg from Cakewalk told me that I should increase those numbers and consider getting more RAM because that's what it does. Buffers, in effect, info into memory and pulls it from there. This is why I'm confused.
 
Next, I realize that the CPU thing is at the heart of matters, but at the same time, I'm not sure I understand why going to X3 Studio from the Music Creator series and the regular Sonar X3 would cause this kind of an impact. I never had to increase my ASIO latency above 512 in those days--not ever. How does adding RAM not help a LITTLE, not make things worse?
 
Finally, to your points mettelus, I agree and am aware that the over-high settings could be the problem. In fact, just for grins I went to the simplest of all driver modes, MME-32, for some testing, and found that if I was right on the fence with a latency setting of 20 ms. Moving either to 30 or to 10 caused the problem to get worse.
 
I have messed with setting all over the place. I'll try using your specific instructions, step-by-step, but it seems that at this point I can't get anything to work, in the ASIO driver mode, below a latency setting of 2000 samples, with very high buffers along with that. I'll start super low though, and work my way up like you suggest.
 
Oh, and finally, as to the 7 GB of RAM, I have 4 slots in my motherboard. I already had a useable 1 GB stick, so I just added three 2 GB sticks to three slots and kept a 1 GB stick in the remaining one. Viola'! 7 GB.
 
PS: I froze about 13 tracks, and the problem has cleared up for now, but I've still got everything maxed in terms of latency and buffering/caching. This sucks.

Good point, Michael. I skimmed the original post, and didn't catch the giant buffers and disk caching, etc. In addition to your recommendation to start with more nominal ASIO and disk buffers, I would recommend disabling read/write caching. I would also recommend using Windows Performance Monitor in the Task Manager to see what CPU and disk loads look like in more detail.

Just to let you know good sirs, I followed the start low and work up plan. With 13 tracks frozen, I couldn't even get sound to play at all until I reached an audio buffer of about 756 and  I/O buffers of 1024. Things did not get smooth until I reached an audio buffer of 1280 and I/O buffers of 1024.
 
So there we have that. (Oh, and I did disable read/write caching also. Not sure I can detect any difference, at any setting level, with that. Again, that really surprises me; I figured that would be the game changer, especially with the new, improved RAM situation.) 

Hi,
do you have the chance to try an audiointerface?
For Daw´s like Sonar a good audio interface 
of focusrite, roland,m-audio aso is a must.
Onboard "realtek chips" cause often large latencies ,pops, crackles aso.
Your arte device is not an interface, it´s  an usb- (mic-) preamp.
 
Another question:
Are you sure running Win 64 bit?
I´m asking cause your ram (2,6 GB)available seems to be a sign for a
32 bit installation.
 
Have fun
Pragi

I am wondering if your CPU may be the key player in this whole equation. When you are freezing tracks you are freeing up the CPU load, and the buffers allow for the other devices to pace themselves while the CPU is "doing its thing."
 
I may have missed this some place, but was wondering how the CPU is loaded when you have been playing with this project?
 (The reason I ask is when my audio engine dropped from buffers, my CPU was only running 15%)

The fact that sonar indicates 2.8Gb ram usage is just normal. It displays the ram it uses and not ram available.
 
I also agree that 7GB ram is a bit weird. The goal with ram is to get equally sized modules to use the DUal CHannel feature.Most of time, for 8GB ram,you use 2x4Gb modules. Some mainboards have 4 ram slots,but only 2 are usable at once (DDR and DD2 compatible mainboard for example).DO NOT mix different memory types. Also check your RAM speed and get it maxed. Different module speed will force all modules to work at the slower speed (to get 7Gb,you should have 4 modules)
 
Also your cpu can be a bit slow.Just check CPU Usage. It seems to be an athlon 1 X2.You could check CPU compatibility and try to get something like a phenom X3 or X4 (or phenom 2 if compatible).They are very cheap on ebay. I have a phenom 2 X4 and I do not have any dropouts
 
Check if your soundcard drivers are the latest. Older USB interfaces drivers sometime mix not very well with x64 OS.
Check if you have background apps running.Getting a faster CPU,more cores, will leave some space for background services and should reduce dropout chances.
At last, check hard drives(hdtune is nice for that).SOmetime, HDD perfs tend to be spiky and can create dropouts.