Well Noel is the main man behind the code for SONAR, so when he chimes in, I pretty much ask him how high to jump.
 
Lance

RE: Rain Computers.
 
That sounds like a really cool set up. I haven't really perused Rain stuff although I've seen the systems mentioned here quite a few times. Not that I can afford anything fancy like that (yet) but I'm always curious to see who's doing what.
 
Other than that I've really got nothing else to add except you really should follow up with Noel and support in general to isolate the issue. Those dudes be smart, yo.

First off - Spacey - I have toyed with this idea LOTS. But it's not so much 'the cost' but 'the principle'. But it's still about cost too! But then, the joy of having this problem cured or narrowed-down would be worth the money IMO. 
 
Brando and Stevec - Again, I've wondered about this too. I will contact the guys at RAIN regarding this. 
 
Noel has kindov gone quiet on this one - I hope he's still watching. 
 
I should also point out - I HAVE already gone through weeks of support with Cake - and nothing worked. I even contacted RAIN and yeah they said it wouldn't be their machine causing an issue. Both RAIN and Cake helped me lots, but nothing worked out. As I didn't fully understand LatencyMon and DPC Latency Checker the guys at RAIN studied the results I sent them and they said they didn't show anything up as being an issue with the machine. I had to trust what they were saying I guess.
 
Beepster/Noel/Cakewalk team -  I will try whatever it takes, however I'm really not knowledgeable about the inner-workings of PC's so I would need step by step assistance on some things that could be potentially tricky. Noel, please see my previous post for why I've not been able to attempt automating the parametres as you suggested.
 
Thank you for all of your generous input so far guys - very much appreciated.
 
 
 

Daylaa, you've probably already tried this, but what about going into msconfig and checking normal startup. I've gotten myself into trouble before by stopping services that were somehow needed by the application. I know your computer was specially built and everything, but it would be worth a try if you haven't already tried. I hope you get it worked out. :)

Leadfoot
Daylaa, you've probably already tried this, but what about going into msconfig and checking normal startup. I've gotten myself into trouble before by stopping services that were somehow needed by the application. I know your computer was specially built and everything, but it would be worth a try if you haven't already tried. I hope you get it worked out. :)

Thanks Leadfoot - could you just explain to me what msconfig is and normal startup? Sorry!

Or can anyone?

msconfig is a utility to setup Windows startup. You can run it by typing msconfig in the search box in the start menu. "Normal startup" is an option on the General tab.

Sorry Daylaa, I was offline for a while. I see scook explained it for you. He's light years ahead of me as far as troubleshooting. Have you tried doing a normal startup?

Scook and Leadfoot: Could you explain to me what the purpose of doing a Normal Start Up would be? How will I know if something is wrong etc?

FWIW:

Today the problem is non-existent (but it will return as I've changed nothing)...

My settings/readings:
Sample Rate in Sonar: 44100
Record Bit Depth: I'm unsure where this is. But the 'Audio Driver Bit Depth' is greyed out.
Reported Latency Value in Sonar: Total in 'ASIO PANEL' reads: 13.2msec and 583 samples.
Driver Mode: ASIO
Sample Rate for my Soundcard: 44100

My CPU readings in 'Task Manager' whilst a project is playing in Sonar reads an average of 3% CPU Usage, 47 processes and 9% Physical Memory.

Also, I just ran DPC Latency Checker and LatencyMon for around 5 mins without Sonar opened. All was fine but then LatencyMon found a problem and jumped to 3024 Highest Measured Interrupt. However, DPC did not register as having found any issues.

Is anything jumping out at anyone with any of this??

Audio Driver bit depth is controlled by the device... like my RME works at 24 bit... ALL THE TIME. It never gives 16 bit data...
 
Now, that said, I can choose to use that 24 bit feed to write 16 bit files.
Under Preferences > File > Audio Data... you can pick the bit depth of the files you wish to write. If you write 16 bit files then you are throwing out the additional bit precision that you are getting from your interface but you get the benefit of writing less data per track to your hard drive.
 
I choose Record Bit Depth of 24 bits at the level and Render Bit Depth of 32 bits. Now... when I used an old laptop, I used render bit depth of 24 bits because otherwise I would have trouble reading and writing the number of tracks I required. For most of us, there is no advantage to using a Record Bit Depth of 32 bit if your interface only works at 24 bit.
 
13 Milliseconds of latency -- that you report -- is a fair amount. It suggests that your Sample Buffer is pretty high which is appropriate when troubleshooting. My understanding is your still having trouble with dropouts, so sticking with high buffers until you get this worked out is a good idea.
 
You should be able to rule out hard drive trouble by decreasing your File Audio Data write size (described above). This should remove pressure from the drives. It's a useful step in troubleshooting. It's not sure to help, but it might.
 
When I use Latency Mon on my computer
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
My worst reported driver is tcpip.sys (I'm streaming a Craig Anderton Video) is 0.17ms. I recommend you give this tool a try and see what your worst reported is...
 
I hope this helps. BTW, I'm pretty sure I've typed a response very close to this one to you in the past. I'm not being redundant because I'm forgetful. I'm being redundant because I'm hopeful it will help.