Recently my sonar has been cracking and popping out of the blue (not horribly but noticeable). It didn't use to pop but for some reason just started one day. Anyways I naturally went to adjust the buffer size, and the problem was fixed. However having a higher buffer makes the music uncoordinated and not synced! Like some sounds are faster than others while others are slower! Is there anyway I can lower my buffer size, and not get snap crackle pops! this problem is killing me! BTW I'm using Sonar X2 Essentials on a 64-bit operating system with an AMD Phenom(tm)9850 Quad-Core Processor 2.50 GHz and 8 GB of Ram. Any Suggestions?!

Are you using any plugins or softsynths that might be memory/system  intensive ?
If so, you could try freezing or bouncing the tracks to see if it frees up any system resources.
Does this happen in all projects, or just one ?
Would need to know more about how your project is set up to comment further.

Thank you for replaying! I'm Using Z3ta+ 2, and that is it. And it seems to be happening only on the tracks that contain an audio track like vocals?! When I bounce my track (I always use the 'real-time audible' option)if the track cracks or pops during the bounce it still remains on the WAV file. What is freezing and how do I do it? also usually when the vocals start to play the disc load icon turns yellow. what does that mean? Thanks in advance.