In driver settings, this property is grayed out, which should mean that it is fixed in the hardware. But the info in the Transport module indicate 16 bit. So - what bit depth am I really using? The wav files automatically stored by Sonar, are 16 bit. But what if I want 24 bit? Where can I change this? 
 

 
Ingvar

Go to Preferences->File->Audio data and set the record bit depth there.

Hi, thanks! You really are a fast biker boy :-) Wonder how I managed to overlook this setting..
Here is the screens hot to help others:
 

 
Ingvar
 

Ingvarius


Hi, thanks! You really are a fast biker boy :-) Wonder how I managed to overlook this setting..
Here is the screens hot to help others:
 

 
Ingvar
 

No problems. I was fast once, I'm slowing down with age, or is that growing up? LOL...... Only place I'm reasonably fast nowadays is a race track.........

Record bit depth- 24
Render bit depth- 32
Import bit depth- original <--- that's why it happened. Why import a 16 bit Mp3 into a 24 bit wav project?
Did you try to set the import bit depth at 24 bit?

Thank goodness for this forum....been bangin my head on this for awhile now... :-/

There is nothing wrong with leaving the import bit depth set to original - in fact it is the default. All you are doing by forcing it to a higher bit depth is wasting disk space with dead bits :) You aren't getting a higher resolution file if the source file doesn't have the higher order bits. 

SONAR manages multiple bit depths so it can handle a mix of 16/24/32/64 bits all within the same project. The mix engine upconverts everything dynamically to float (32 or 64) and then finally converts to the driver bit depth at the end of the signal flow.

The number you see on the toolbar is the Record bit depth. Its telling you what newly recorded files in that project will be saved at. Normally you would want to match that value with the audio interface bit depth in Preferences | audio data.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
 
The number you see on the toolbar is the Record bit depth. Its telling you what newly recorded files in that project will be saved at. Normally you would want to match that value with the audio interface bit depth in Preferences | audio data.

You probably mean in Preferences | Audio - Driver Settings...
 
Why is the Audio Driver Bit Depth (in Audio - Driver Settings) always grayed out and fixed to 24 when using the ASIO drivers of an interface? Is this part of the ASIO standard? If I use WDM, the option is not grayed out...

Yes, ASIO is only 24 bit depth. WDM/KS windows drivers can be 16, 20. 24 bit depth. There are usually two places where bit depth makes a difference. One is setting up to record (which is grayed out because ASIO is only 24 bit depth) and one where you import a wave file, where you usually use the "original" depth it was recorded at, but you can change that if needed but like said in a previous post........................it would depend if adding tracks to what is imported whatever the song is going to turn out to be recorded in. (or added tracks if adding tracks) (otherwise not needed except "original" bit depth, but of course the recording part in Audio has to be the same, or all tracks have to be the same as the recording bit depth (and when importing to the project).
 
 

No that is not true. ASIO can be 16,or 24 bit the same as WDM. Some drivers may have two different drivers for the different bit depths, though I haven't seen that in a long time.