Well,I finally moved to Windows 8 and amazingly it's been pretty painless in terms of compatibility issues with my aging hardware. Until today! I have noticed that Sonar doesn't respond as quickly when I hit play but figured I could live with that. But today I tried to record and it won't. All I get is static. Sonar loads faster and playback is fine other than the sluggish starts. I've adjusted and tweaked to the best of my ability, (which I confess is somewhat limited). I've swapped ASIO to WMD and back (WMD is the preferred). I've reinstalled drivers. I've re-profiled more than the IRS and nothing seems to help. Just loud static. Also the track meter doesn't show activity even though mic is audible but it will record the static... I just assumed that it was a driver compatibility issue because I'm running Windows 7 drivers for this ol Wami Rack. But I was told by others they work fine for them. Then I decided to reinstall Studio One Artist and lo and behold it's snappy and record works fine. Having narrowed it to a Sonar issue I figured it was time to consult the experts. Any ideas (besides upgrading to S2:)?

Check your playback timing master and recording timing master.  Verify that your project bit depth and sample rate match what your hardware is set to.  Be sure to run the 'Wave Profiler' from the preferences after each change to WDM/KS.

Glen

Glen thanks for the help. I took a closer look at playback and recording timing master and they are both set on 'wami rack 192 audio 1 and 2. Bit depths and sample rates all match with hardware. A few minutes before noticing the record problem I noticed that in the piano roll only one midi note would play. Even if there were many there just the first would play. I lowered buffer settings and it seemed to correct the problem but was concerned because the problem came out of nowhere. Then when I went to record I had this problem. I'm considering re-installing Sonar.

Hi junedrive,

 look at the ESI website and it appears that, on their drivers page, the latest driver is dated 30th November 2009. I know others have told you that the Windows 7 drivers work fine, but it may be that a combination of your WaMi Rack, Windows 8, Sonar and your computer hardware.

I'm wondering if it is worth an e-mail to ESI? Are they still a going concern?

Yeah Synkrotron, that's what I'm thinking, that it's likely that Sonar doesn't play nicely with the ESI Windows 7 drivers. ESI is still in business but to call their support, support would be overly gracious. Particularly for the older stuff. Some time ago I asked on their forum if they intended to release Win 8 drivers. The company didn't respond but one owner did. He was the one that said Win 7 works great for him. Having said all that, when I first installed X1 after installing Win 8, it worked. Sonar was sluggish but the midi playback worked fine. But I hadn't tested record. Then midi playback failed and I tried to record and it was all downhill. That initial functioning and rapid decline in performance is the reason for considering the reinstall.

I believe there is a Windows 7 compatibility mode for applications in Windows 8 - have you tried that?

(I am grasping there - if drivers are not available for Windows 8 you are most likely out of luck, which is why folks should really do their homework prior to upgrading to Windows 8).

Sorry for your difficulty, in any case, and I hope there is a solution for you.  I do not recall seeing any such solution though, for anyone so far who has posted similar issues with non-supported interface drivers on Windows 8.

For whatever the worth, Windows 8 seems to work well with Sonar X2a, as long as the interface drivers are up to snuff and the system meets the stated requirements for Sonar, as found on the Cakewalk site.

Bob Bone

I've been lucky with Windows 8 thus far, although I've not pushed at any boundaries as of yet so there is still chance for things to fall over. As Robert says, we need to do our homework before upgraded our OS, and I was fortunate that Roland updated their drivers for the QUAD-CAPTURE otherwise I don't think I would have bothered.

I would understand your feelings if you were miffed about your WaMi card not working with Win8, nice looking card that and I've just had a look at the SOS review of it and it gets a reasonable write-up.

May be that you will either need to stick with Win7, or, as you've said, try another DAW, providing the price is right of course...

Thanks Bob. I purchased 8 pro when it was 40 bucks and planned on installing it when/if esi developed drivers for it. When the fellow said the 7 drivers worked for him I figured what the heck. Cakewalk was leaving XP in the dust and MS was ending support for it, a problem because I use the computer on the internet. I figured if it worked, fine, if not, I'd upgrade my interface. Since it works in S1, if I can't get Sonar running I'll most likely move on over there as it's cheaper than a new interface. But I don't look forward to the whole process and though Sonar isn't perfect, no daw is, at least I know where things are. Plus I have tons of projects in Sonar.. I do have an install question though. If I reinstall Sonar are there any registry items I need to delete or is it a straight forward process? Mike

Synkrotron, yeah that is the problem because though the card is older it's served me well and has decent specs. I really didn't have much choice with exiting XP, probably should have gone with Windows 7 though but man that 40 bucks was hard to pass up!. I suppose I should consider windows 7. It would be cheaper than Studio One and less involved in changing over..Bob, I failed to mention that I have the Windows 7 compatibility mode checked.

Use ASIO mode, not WDM.