Hi folks,
 
This is my third/fourth post regarding my Pro Channel EQ causing  momentary freezes and a glitchy 'buzz' sound as the audio pauses for a second. This happens when sweeping frequencies/hitting the HP or LP buttons and the dreaded 'Gloss' button.
I have struggled with this issue for 8 months and am yet to find the cause. I am unable to use X2 Producer and X3 Producer because of it. I recently upgraded to X3 Producer from X2 Producer in the hope that the problem might have been 'fixed' (last resort), but after a week of perfect usage, the problem came back. It is intermittent, which is the worst part of it.
 
I have lost count of what I've tried in order to narrow down the problem. Many of you have helped me.
I am so desperate to find the culprit and am again reaching out to anyone who might be able to help me.
 
The Facts:

1. The problem began in X2 and has continued into X3.
2. The company who constructed my PC have remotely accessed my machine twice and assure me my PC is tweaked and operating perfectly for Audio use.
3. LatencyMon/Checker found nothing to worry about after many scans.
4. The problem happens whether I'm going through my M-Audio Soundcard OR when I take it out and go through the on board Realtek sound - although the consistency of it seems to alter based on different buffer settings. This test has proven hard to rely on because the audio sounds horrific going through my on board sound anyway.
5. I have tried every buffer/sample rate under the sun with my sound card installed.
6. The problem is apparently intermittent. Some days, it is fine.
7. I am running nothing in the background - not even anti-virus.
8. The problem happens with 1 track or 30 tracks. Audio or MIDI. The problem happens whether i have 1 plug in active in a project or 50.
9. I have the most up to date drivers for my sound card.
10. I have tried X3(c) but the problem seemed to intensify so I did a system restore back to X3.
11. As far as I can tell, I have no other issues at all in X3 Producer, other than this.

• I would like to know if any of you have EVER experienced ANY momentary freeze/buzzing whilst operating your ProChannel EQ - perhaps whilst changing buffer/samples or settings? Perhaps if you've had something running in the background? Perhaps in a very plug-in heavy project? ANYTHING? 
• I would like to know what your gut feeling is regarding this issue?
• Do you think I should try a different audio interface? I'd have to buy one, but if you think it might fix things, I would be prepared to try it. I have no way of borrowing one.
• Do YOU have an M Audio Audiophile 192 sound card? What settings do you use in Sonar preferences?

Any help, as ever, is much appreciated.
Dave

What is your graphics card? 
 
When you say your machine is tweaked do you know what those tweaks are? What are your graphic and display settings?

Hey Dave!  I'm no PC expert but from what I read in your post I would not hesitate to try a new interface.   I feel your pain and hope that some of the heavyweights here will chime in again.  Best of luck!
 
I took a few moments to listen to your "stuff" and although I'm really not a dance music/electronica guy I really enjoyed your work and look forward to hearing more.....
 
Cheers!

Hi John,
 
My graphics are the inbuilt Intel HD4000 Graphics.
 
As for the tweaks, I believe they are stuff like disabling background processes, configuring Windows 7 and power management. Setting minimum processor to 100%, core parking etc. All things I know little about to be honest. RAIN are experts of their machines, so I trust they've exhausted everything. (they tell me they have).
 
Could you be specific about the graphic and display settings you require?
 
 
 

Thanks Cuitlahac
 

If it's a problem that exists solely with the ProChannel EQ and you've truly hit a dead end then I would be tempted to ask myself: is the ProChannel EQ important enough to justify the purchase of a new interface? Is there an alternative EQ I could use until I get to the bottom of the problem?

Hey Sharke,
 
That is something I've thought about too - but it's the 'terrible unknown' which keeps me determined to get to the bottom of this problem as soon as possible.
 
I'm not prepared to 'make do' when I've already plowed so much time and money into upgrading my studio. I used to make do - not anymore. What if there's something wrong with my Soundcard? Graphics? PC? Sonar? I need to know. My money is invested in this and so are weeks and weeks of my time, which should have been spent on making music.
 
Furthermore, the warranty on my PC is fast approaching its deadline date at the start of next year. If it's a system problem, I need time to be able to send the machine back in good time. But I'm doubtful that such an isolated issue could be machine related now.
 
I couldn't use Sonar X3 without the Pro Channel EQ - it really is one of the best features in there IMO. It would forever distract me if I couldn't use it. I don't think I could share my energy between 'using' Sonar and 'fixing' Sonar.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This still stinks of drivers IMHO...
 
When you ran X3C did you have 64 bit double precision engine disabled in preferences? If not that is worth a try. In fact try it will your current version. Frankly I would be running at least X3B and I'm still encouraging to run X3C as I'm pretty sure this isn't the cause of your issue... but this is your judgement call.
 
I know you explained that you had the latest drivers, but to be specific you are definitely running Delta Audiophone drivers ver 6.0.8?
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support&tab=driver&serie_ID=1&PID=3cd08875f11d39ab23a3a59667b367e8&OS=x107
 
THINGS TO TRY....
 
Please run chkdsk on all your hard drives.


When was the last time you ran Windows update? If not recently then please do it several times, please install the optional fixes to do with performance and stability as well.

Please run driver boost (pay careful attention to the instructions). At the very least it will give you a report of what drivers are out of date (find this out for yourself).

For fun, run a defrag.

After you've done all this, and if the issue persists, please check your Windows event viewer for errors, please paste any errors here.
 
Also at any stage have you every been asked to rename AUD.INI or run Sonar in safe mode? If not that is next on the list.
 
Hope this helps... BTW it seems the only person you can trust here to fix your issue right now is yourself... Thanks..

 
How old is your system ?  I can find very little on Rain Nimbus, only an SOS article from 2007, and nothing for a Z2 (except yours).  Which i7 ?
 
You're not overclocked are you ?  Some Rain systems apparently are/were.
 

It's a fair point that shouldn't be ignored but I doubt overclocking would cause just an EQ to be glitchy to be honest.... I would expect a lot more to be going wrong with something related to that.