Hi guys, and thanks again for all the replies
 
The song I've been working on was set at 44.1/24, would that take the resetting of my soundcard by X2 out of the equation I wonder.
 
Anyway, I finally managed to get a System Restore to work and it's cleared the problem as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, and for some reason, it wouldn't allow me to restore to just before the X2a update, I had to go back and set a restore point that took out about eight Windows updates.
 
So, I'm none the wiser as to exactly what was causing the problem. I'm just glad all seems back to normal.
 
Cheers again.
 
 
 
 

Steve, I had the same problem a few weeks back. At the time I had no recent updates on Sonar X2 or any of my DAW software, VST's etc. I fortunately noticed the night before, Windows (Win 7 64-bit) was running about 7 to 8 updates as I closed down my DAW (I leave it connected to the internet, I get 3ms latency and never had a problem tracking etc) So, I immediately ran a system restore back to before the Windows updates and problem solved !

So, empirically if not categorically, I can say that it was very likely a Windows update that caused the problem. I searched a couple of Windows forums too, and found others had this problem. I have had my DAW eat up all other Windows updates since, and can only conclude from this that Microsoft got wind very quickly and hotfixed the problem, or perhaps it was a reverse fortuitous set of updates that threw out the soundcard.

Anyway, I am pleased you got it sorted Steve.

Garry

 
Thanks Garry
 
These are the updates that the System Restore uninstalled:
 

 

Steve,

There's definitely something screwy with Windows updates all of a sudden. I think that may be the issue as well. However, I don't see how they could really cause the problem with audio, then again, ya never know. I would think if Sonar is working and you have audio, closing Sonar shouldn't stop audio from working unless it's hanging in the background some how.

Also, I believe if you installed the hot fix you need to remove it before putting on X2a. Not sure how much of that matters really...but you definitely were visited by Gremlins.

Incidentally, Mike Mccue mentioned minimizing Sonar and running some other audio. I don't know about you or anyone else, but I cannot run ANY other audio applications when Sonar is open. I must kill the audio engine in order to have audio in other places. Just a heads up if you were to try his test and fail. That test wouldn't really be valid for all users....especially me. :)

Glad you got it fixed though. There are definitely a few Gremlins in X2 that I've never seen in X1 and below...so hey, anything is possible...but as long as you fixed it for now, that's all that matters. I hate when stuff like that happens. Especially when you have a well-oiled machine. I had a Windows update mess me up so bad, it sent my machine into a continuous loop and would not finish configuring. So they definitely mess things up from time to time. The latest ones seem to run one of my machines higher in RAM all of a sudden. I'm usually at 1.45 gig of RAM at idle before opening up a program. Now it's at 2.53 and it all happened after the last update. I don't put that box on the net other than for Windows updates. It makes me not even want to do them anymore I tell ya. :(

-Danny

The only thing I'm thinking is that when running Sonar with share driver running, a problem is found that when it closes it's not properly resetting driver access as it's own is closing down...

I don't know the code involved, but it wouldn't surprise me...

A "stupid", but temporary solution? If all is well while Sonar is running, of course, until it can be determined, leave Sonar running minimized once opened? Sorry, a bit like "Doctor it hurts when I do this..." I know, but I thought it was an obvious...

In the meantime I would report that to the Problem Reporter as it does sound like Sonar not releasing the driver correctly when closed....

Keni

Danny, Keni, thanks for your help and advice gents 

I like to stay up to date with Windows, so I think what I'm going to do is re-install those Windows Updates one at a time to see if the problem re-occurs. But to be honest, I didn't have a single audio problem when they were originally installed - not until I installed X2a in fact.

If that goes OK I'll stick as I am and just wait for X1b.

Cheers again.

"Incidentally, Mike Mccue mentioned minimizing Sonar and running some other audio. I don't know about you or anyone else, but I cannot run ANY other audio applications when Sonar is open. I must kill the audio engine in order to have audio in other places. Just a heads up if you were to try his test and fail. That test wouldn't really be valid for all users....especially me. :)"




FWIW, I do this all the time. I can have SONAR open and minimized and play music with Adobe Audition and or Foobar 2000... and I've always imagined it will work with anything else I might try.


I am not suggesting you can't can't do it but I can surely do it on my system and would be disappointed if I couldn't. 


It is routine for me to trim up, tag, and listen to two track exports before I shut down SONAR.


24/44.1 ASIO drivers with a MOTU firewire setup.


all the best,
mike

mike_mccue


"Incidentally, Mike Mccue mentioned minimizing Sonar and running some other audio. I don't know about you or anyone else, but I cannot run ANY other audio applications when Sonar is open. I must kill the audio engine in order to have audio in other places. Just a heads up if you were to try his test and fail. That test wouldn't really be valid for all users....especially me. :)"




FWIW, I do this all the time. I can have SONAR open and minimized and play music with Adobe Audition and or Foobar 2000... and I've always imagined it will work with anything else I might try.


I am not suggesting you can't can't do it but I can surely do it on my system and would be disappointed if I couldn't. 


It is routine for me to trim up, tag, and listen to two track exports before I shut down SONAR.


24/44.1 ASIO drivers with a MOTU firewire setup.


all the best,
mike

You may have to check the status of 'Share Drivers with other Programs' in the advanced audio settings for this to work.
It dictates whether Sonar gives up the driver when it loses focus.
 
Mine is set to off 'Unchecked' because I often use Rewire and so I want Sonar to retain control when switching between programs.
 
If Sonar is using the ASIO driver it may be that you can't use that driver elsewhere as ASIO by it's own standard only provides for a single instance of the same driver to be running at any one time, but you will still be able to use audio applications that are using Windows system drivers even on the same card.
 
So there are just a few variables that will make this behaviour different on different setups.

Steve had said that he had checked that the 'Share Drivers with other Programs' option was checked in his OP.

In other context, such as the one you have described, it does indeed work differently.

best regards,
mike

Hi Jon, Mike is correct, I have that boxed checked at all times. And I just tested it out - I can indeed play a project in X2 and a song in Windows Media Player simultaneously.

It actually made my tune sound better