1. Imported D'Angelo "Playa Playa"2. Hit play = No sound3. Edit > preferences > Driver settings > Playback Timing Master 1: ASIO Fireface Analog 1 (1) 
Still no sound. I can listen to songs in Itunes, Spotify & YouTube tho.Sorry haven't tried to figure out the screen shot thing yet.
Tried rotate the last 2 pics

I see little tiny picture placeholders, but no images.  Not sure why that is.
 
So, please list the following:
 
1.  Driver Mode (from Preferences>Audio>Playback and Recording)
2.  Record Bit-Depth (from Preferences>File>Audio Data)
3.  Playback Timing Master (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
4.  Record Timing Master (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
5.  Sampling Rate in Sonar (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
6.  ASIO Reported Latencies (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
7.  Input Drivers - the selected ones (Preferences>Audio>Devices)
8.  Output Drivers - the selected ones (Preferences>Audio>Devices)
9.  Sample Rate as it is currently set on your audio interface
10. ASIO Buffer Size as it is currently set on your audio interface
11.  The exact model of your audio interface
12.  The version of your audio interface drivers
 
You say you are able to listen to other songs - are those played through the same single audio interface?  I just want to make sure that the interface itself is able to play songs outside of Sonar.
 
Also, when you did your testing, did you have your other interfaces completely disconnected?
 
I really do not understand why this interface does not work in X3.
 
By chance, did you perform the same test with the same single interface and same settings, in X2?  I would like to try to isolate the issues to a Sonar X3 thing, and if the same settings and interface hardware hookup works with X2, than that would be helpful to know.
 
Thanks for your patience - I am hoping someone else can jump in with some ideas on how to figure this out, as well.
 
I tried to send you a private message with my email address, so you could send me the screen shots you posted that I cannot seem to see, but the system said you either cannot or will not accept private messages, so I guess that option's out.
 
Anyways, I will try to help you figure this out.
 
What happens if you use one of the other audio interfaces instead - just for testing in the same manner.
 
 
Bob Bone
 

That's weird they're huge pics on my screen so huge I was thinking of re-sizing. I will email them to you 

robert_e_bone
 
So, please list the following:
 
1.  Driver Mode (from Preferences>Audio>Playback and Recording)
ASIO
2.  Record Bit-Depth (from Preferences>File>Audio Data)
32
3.  Playback Timing Master (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
1. ASIO Fireface Analog 1 (1)
4.  Record Timing Master (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
1. ASIO Fireface Analog 1 (1)
5.  Sampling Rate in Sonar (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings)
44100
6.  ASIO Reported Latencies (from Preferences>Audio>Driver Settings) 
Input 6.8 msec, 301 samples
Output 8.0 msec, 352 samples
Total Roundtrip: 14.8 msec, 653 samples
7.  Input Drivers - the selected ones (Preferences>Audio>Devices)
ASIO Fireface Analog, Spdif & ADAT only the left & odd numbers tho??
8.  Output Drivers - the selected ones (Preferences>Audio>Devices)
ASIO Fireface Analog, Spdif & ADAT only the left & odd numbers
9.  Sample Rate as it is currently set on your audio interface
44.1
10. ASIO Buffer Size as it is currently set on your audio interface
256
11.  The exact model of your audio interface
RME Fireface 800
12.  The version of your audio interface drivers
 Driver version 3.080
Driver date: 10-09-13
Harware Revision: 2.77
Enable MMCSS for ASIO?
You say you are able to listen to other songs - are those played through the same single audio interface? 
Yes
I just want to make sure that the interface itself is able to play songs outside of Sonar.
Yes
 
Also, when you did your testing, did you have your other interfaces completely disconnected?
No
 
I really do not understand why this interface does not work in X3.
Nor do I. It should
 
By chance, did you perform the same test with the same single interface and same settings, in X2?
No, Everything works in X2 so I had no need to change any thing. When things are working well I'm extremely hesitant to change anything fror fear of messing something up.
I would like to try to isolate the issues to a Sonar X3 thing, and if the same settings and interface hardware hookup works with X2, than that would be helpful to know.
 
Thanks for your patience - I am hoping someone else can jump in with some ideas on how to figure this out, as well.
 The more helpful input the better.


I tried to send you a private message with my email address, so you could send me the screen shots you posted that I cannot seem to see, but the system said you either cannot or will not accept private messages, so I guess that option's out.
Changed.


Anyways, I will try to help you figure this out.
Thank you sincerely!
 
What happens if you use one of the other audio interfaces instead - just for testing in the same manner.
Trying to change my interface to the FW-1884 now. Didn't save.
 
 
Bob Bone
 

 

I really do not understand why you are not getting sound playback through Sonar using the 1 interface.
 
I do not know if there is an issue with there being the other interfaces present because you did not temporarily disconnect them (I was wishing you would, just to get it TRULY down to 1 interface connected to your computer).
 
If you for the moment discard the testing I was trying to get you to do, and go back to your 3-interface setup with WDM drivers, perhaps there is a way to get it to work better on the dropouts.
 
I did notice your Playback I/O and Record I/O Buffers were set to 256 each.  I believe this has been reported as being too small - it apparently used to be larger and at some point was dropped back to 256 for some reason.  (I think this to be the case, but my brain is quite fuzzy on this point).
 
I suggest you go to Preferences>Audio>Sync and Caching, and adjust the Playback I/O Buffer Size and the Record I/O Buffer Size to both be 512.
 
Here is the relevant text from the Sonar documentation on these 2 parameters:
 
I/O Buffer Size. This value determines the buffer characteristics for transfers to and from the disk. Changing this value does not affect audio latency, but will affect the disk throughput for audio tracks. The default setting is 128. A higher value causes more audio to be buffered from the disk ahead of the playback cursor. If you are hearing consistent dropouts/clicks in your audio and if your project contains high bit depth (32/64 bit) or high sample rate audio (88.2K or higher), it may be indicative of a too small I/O buffer size. If so, try a higher I/O buffer size like 256 or 512. If audio problems persist, reset to 128 and try a different remedy.
Also, if you are playing a large file, and using maximum latency, a too-small I/O buffer size may cause dropouts or crashes. Try increasing the buffer size by blocks of 128.
 
Here is the link where I got the above text snippet from: 
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Dialogs2.056.html
 
Here is a link to a forum thread that talks about making the switch to 512 for these buffers:
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-buffer-size-is-512-good-m1264520.aspx
 
Also, please detail the exact FireWire card you have installed for this interface.  I am primarily interested in the chip set that it uses.  Lots of folks have had lots of troubles over the years due to FireWire being quite sensitive to the chip sets on the cards.  I believe Texas Instruments chip sets seem to be the preferred ones that I keep seeing posted in forum threads.
 
I would suggest you record with 24-bit record bit-depth, at a sample rate of either 44.1 k or 48 k, and try to adjust things so that your total roundtrip latency is at or less than 10 milliseconds.
 
(As a separate note, regarding your settings when you tested using ASIO, you had additionally reported using an ASIO Buffer Size of 256 - I found when using ASIO that I could go as low as 64, but that ran a bit too close and some dropouts would sometimes occur, so I raised to 128.  I think if the ASIO Buffer Size is too high, that this too can cause dropouts to occur)
 
By the way - I checked your driver download version against the latest released version on the RME web site, and your drivers are NOT the latest ones.
 
You reported using driver version 3.080, and there was a newer one released on 11/23/2013, which is version 3.081.  PLEASE NOTE that this also requires you to be on the latest firmware version.  I do not know if you not having the latest drivers affected your ability to hear sound through Sonar in the testing I had you do.
 
IF I have the right interface located on the RME site, here is the link to the driver downloads page for the RME FireFace 800:
 
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_downloads.php?page=content/downloads/en_downloads_driver&subpage=content/downloads/en_downloads_driver_fireface
 
 
It MIGHT be worth updating to the newer driver, and repeating the tests I had asked you to do (and this time if you do it, please temporarily remove the other interfaces completely - meaning physically disconnect them).
 
Bob Bone
 
 
 
 

Jumping into the fray a bit late...
 
So if you are hearing sound through that same interface while outside of Sonar from places like Youtube, that means you must have it set as the default sound card to use for Windows sounds.  Correct?
 
How about you change that to either point Windows to the onboard sound or None while you try to figure this out.  Sounds like Windows might be hogging the driver up and preventing Sonar from using it.

Hi...in the mixer control pannel view, on the "master output", what device output is selected?...as I have noted here at times, that sometimes it is not set correctly and needs to be done there as well sometimes...
Just trying to be helpful...

Thank you folks for jumping in to help on this.
 
I have to believe this is most likely from some kind of local environmental cause, and hopefully as such, it can be reasoned/tested through to a positive resolution.
 
I have never dealt with multiple audio interfaces running WDM, although as I am typing this I just realized that anyone who has left their on-board sound chips enabled while running WDM drivers in Sonar is pretty much doing something quite similar, and there have been other posts where folks have run with 2 interfaces and WDM.
 
I just do not for the life of me understand why a single interface running ASIO would not produce sound in Sonar, but would do so playing song files outside of Sonar.
 
At the same time, however, the test did NOT involve a single audio interface, as the other 2 were also left connected, so we thus far have not had a pristine test of the single interface running ASIO approach.  
 
(I would like to see that test run with the other 2 interfaces physically disconnected from the computer, because quite frankly all kinds of folks have posted over the years how switching from WDM to ASIO magically made dropouts go away, and sine he is having dropouts while using WDM, testing under ASIO seems logical to me).
 
I had thought of the Windows default audio device question, but as it was around 4 AM, my brain and I were not on speaking terms, and I forgot to inquire.  :)
 
And Sir Les, that was a good idea to ask about the selected output for Master in the console.
 
Bob Bone
 

Blades
Jumping into the fray a bit late...
 
So if you are hearing sound through that same interface while outside of Sonar from places like Youtube, that means you must have it set as the default sound card to use for Windows sounds.  Correct?
 Yes
How about you change that to either point Windows to the onboard sound or None while you try to figure this out.  Sounds like Windows might be hogging the driver up and preventing Sonar from using it.
I changed it to one of the other interfaces (Motu). So back to trying to figure out why I'm getting no sound from the RME.

Sir Les
Hi...in the mixer control pannel view, on the "master output", what device output is selected?...as I have noted here at times, that sometimes it is not set correctly and needs to be done there as well sometimes...
It is set to the RME Fireface Analog 1 (1)


Just trying to be helpful...
Please continue to chime in! Never know when something may click.