Hi. I was having some conflict issues with my Realtek onboard sound on my motherboard with Sonar, so I upgraded my soundcard with a Creative Labs Soundblaster Z. Ever since, even enabling Cakewalk TTS softsynth, I can't get any midi playback, including attempting to run it through my Yamaha S90XS keyboard. I was using Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.0, (yeah I know, 12 years later...) which suited my midi needs up until now. I'm a little new to using Sonar, having recently purchased it over using FL Studio, which was limiting me based on what I was trying to do with my musical composition. I was loving the features that Sonar had to offer, but now since I can't get any playback, I'm at a loss as to what to do.
 
Any help would be most appreciated!

got to aske a few questions here
 
1: what drivers are you using with sonar, from what i can remember you need to use the creative asio
2: have you went into preferences/midi/playback and recording, and checked the buffer size the default should be 500 ms
3: refering back to question one, have you got asio set up in preferences/audio/playback and recording
4: computer specs
5: if you have it set up as creative asio, what is the buffer settings at
6: do you have the creative sound card set up in windows, control panel, sound, playback and recording

Solution #2 solved it, thanks! If you still would like the other info, I can post it. Thanks for your assistance!

anytime you have an issue, post your computer specs, please

ASUS Maximus V motherboard
Intel I7 3770k CPU overclocked to 4.4ghz
Corsair Vengeance 4x4 16gb 1866mhz RAM
Samsung 840 Series 256gb SSD HD
Samsung 830 Series 128gb SSD HD
Toshiba 7200rpm HD 1tb HD
Western Digital 5400rpm 500gb HD
ASUS VG248QE Monitor
Yamaha S90XS Synthesizer
 

EVGA GTX 560 TI 2gb DDR5 DRAM video card
 

Okay, now it seems I've royally screwed something up... I'm getting general midi crap sounds out of Sonar rather than the default Cakewalk TTS sounds out of midi.

Well, at least it's something coming out. :)
 
Let's see if we can get it working for you.  I will ask below for several bits of information, which I would like you to review and provide back in a reply post.
 
1.  In Sonar, hit the letter 'P' on your computer keyboard, which is a shortcut key to get to Preferences.
2.  Once in Preferences, click on Audio, then Devices, and make sure you are pointing to your desired audio interface (Sound Blaster Z I think you said earlier?).  List the devices (both Input and Output) you have your system using, as noted in Preferences>Audio>Devices
3.  Still in Preferences, go to Preferences>Audio>Playback and Recording, and list the Driver Mode being used.  (if you installed the Sound Blaster Z drivers, you will likely get the best results by using a Driver Mode of ASIO, rather than WDM).  IF it is not set to use ASIO, go ahead and change it to use ASIO and then you will also want to click on Apply.
 
Let's start with the above.  I will look for your post back with the requested information.
 
Bob Bone
 

Alright, as listed per request, here's what I have:
 
Input Devices:
Nothing, since my yamaha keyboard is currently off
 
Output Devices:
Friendly Name                                                  Driver Name
Creative Sound Blaster AISO Front L/R               Creative Sound Blaster AISO Front L/R
Creative Sound Blaster AISO Rear L/R                Creative Sound Blaster AISO Rear L/R
Creative Sound Blaster AISO Center/Sub            Creative Sound Blaster AISO Center/Sub
 
Playback/Recording:
Driver Mode: AISO
Dithering: Triangular
Share drivers with other programs: unchecked
Use Multiprocessing engine: checked
Use MMCSS (Windows Vista/7): checked
Play effect tails after stopping: unchecked
Always open all devices: unchecked
Remove DC Offset during record: unchecked
Disable input Monitoring during playback: unchecked
Command Audition length (seconds): 3
Record Pre-Allocate file (seconds): 0
Fade-on start (milliseconds): 0
Fade-on stop (milliseconds): 0
 
 
I appreciate any assistance!
 

will you post up your midi devices, preferences/midi/devices