Greetings All,
'Just had to rebuild the DAW PC after Windows Update corrupted the registry...

Rebuilt using a manufacturer's (ADK) restore disk and reloaded all software and drivers.

 Everything looks to be working - EXCEPT -
I'm using Audiosnap (Audio Transients clip edit mode) on two backing vocal tracks, trying to tighten them up.

I get so far, and the system hangs, gives me the white screen, I hear a warbly tone, and Cakewalk Sonar X2 has crashed.

I cannot stop the out of control tone until Windows kills the session.

This happens every time.

Is there a buffer, or hard disk setting in Windows somewhere that can help alleviate this?

Thanks to all,
MG

And this only happens using Audio Snap ? Everything else is solid ?

I have trouble accepting that a windows update could corrupt your registry.
Seems to me that would cause a worldwide disaster.

You have an awful lot of processing power available. Has your system always been stable ?

So far?
Yup.
Everything else appears solid.

I had weird audio driver issues - Windows would not see the Lynx driver - only Sonar would see it.
This meant that editors like RX2 Advanced and Sound Forge 10 Pro would not see it and could not play the audio that Sonar passed to them.
(Windows and the others have to use the WDM driver, whereas only one program can use the ASIO driver - it's a Lynx thing...)

Also - a cassette tape dub for a friend had one long 10-minute track out of 19 other tracks that would hang before reaching the end. With an error window from Sonar stating the audio engine dropped out.

Played with buffer settings, played with system settings, Re-installed the Lynx driver, cleansed the registry, then re-installed the Lynx driver, scoured the web... Talked with Lynx - then called ADK.

ADK recommended at that point to return it to the state when I received it. (they have the disk restore on the HD to make it easy.)  Loading everything back in and re-authorizing was the fun part...

So apparently, there is still an audio engine issue...

If I adjust the transient markers in Sonar X2PE without actually playing the audio (engaging the audio engine), and then bounce the clips... everything plays.

If I make a transient marker adjustment on either of the two tracks, then replay to hear the audio, I can do that once or twice, but then on a subsequent pass it'll hang.

Mucho weirdness with AudioSnap in the past - even on my previous machine.
It pays to bounce down before listening critically...a shame, really...but I'm sure the "temporary rendering" is the best that the Cake bakers can do...
(That seems to be part of this issue - the low-rez rendering portion is hanging during an AudioSnap edit session.)

Call up a new project I just started - it plays fine.
Though...it's still fairly barren of plugins, unlike the other project that's giving me grief.
(Loaded, yet the CPU meter shows core 1 at around 25-30% and the other cores barely flickering...!)

Processing power does not a stable machine make...er...something like that.


I've had issues with the Lynx driver, but now have the latest version installed.
I'm getting far fewer (if any) dropouts showing up in the Lynx mixer, so that tells me it's something more to do with Sonar and/or Windows.

I'm planning on calling ADK tomorrow, as I've experienced blue screens before on this machine.
I'm starting to think it's the video card and/or driver. (a fanless AMD Radeon HD 7700, but yes - the latest driver is loaded.)

After ADK - a call to Lynx.
Then a call to Cakewalk.

I'll figure it out, but was hoping that someone else had already ran into this one...

'Sorry for the ramblin', but it's been a long week...

Cheers,
MG

I for one appreciate the rambling :-)

"Processing power does not a stable machine make..."

Actually I was thinking the opposite.
I'm kind of fightened thinking about how much horsepower you have and trying to keep things smooth.
But if it is, things must really fly.

Did you work on these two tracks before you had problems with your system ?

Is this reproduceable in a new project ?

Thanks Paul.

"Did you work on these two tracks before you had problems with your system ? "
The tracks had been recorded, but I hadn't started editing them.

We had issues one night when the client had put down multiple MIDI string parts with Dimension Pro for "vocal harmony guides" but as we made multiple passes over them, the audio engine would drop out.
A click on the MIDI reset and a click on the Start Your Engines button, and it would play for a few more passes. 


Upping the MIDI buffer seemed to remedy that one.

"Is this reproduceable in a new project ?"
No, I cannot replicate it within the new project - great question.

As mentioned, the only new project is just starting, so it has some rough tracks and a few FX dropped in, but mostly bare tracks.

The other one is up to 72 tracks with multiple MIDI tracks, and plugins-a-plenty.

I tried to alter the guide vocal in the new project using Audio Snap, and I just got the usual stutter/Max Headroom kind of thing. (That stuttering goes away after a quick Bounce To Clips.)

The old project hits that AudioSnap low-rez rendering, starts stuttering for a fraction of a second, then morphs into a continuous tone... and that's all she wrote - it's locked up, and the fuzz tone is stuck on until Windows wakes up and realizes that Sonar's gone rogue and asks if you wish to shut it down.


I can feel the ramblin' starting again, so I'm going to call it a night and start making some calls in the morning.

Thank you for throwing some thought into this one Paul - your time is truly appreciated.

Kudos,
MG