Hello, wonderful helpful folks.
I'm having difficulties with Sonar X2a Producer (64 bit) and 32-bit VST soft-synths.
I have 4 stereo wav files, about 10 MIDI tracks playing drum & percussion parts to a BOSS DR-660 drum machine, and could get one of these VST's to work..... for a while. Crashed.
Got things up & running again, and added a second 32-bit VST. Worked for a short while, then havoc attacked.
Restarted computer & Sonar, muted the first 2 VST's, and added a third 32-bit VST synth. Was able to record the MIDI track for that, but when done, the song would play for about 4-5 seconds, then havoc attacked again....
Define havoc? the wave & MIDI tracks always played just fine... The NI Pro-53 VST soft synth would chirp and stuff, The Arturia CS-80VST would chirp as well, and the Arturia Minimoog VST would just mute/die. Those 3 instruments are 32-bit, and might be considered too old for a 64-bit DAW...?

SYSTEM & SETTINGS:
PC - AMD Phenom II CPU, 4 cores, OC to 3.7 Ghz
16GB RAM at 1600 speed, 1GB 7200rpm SATA II HD (SATA II motherboard), 32GB SSD SATA 3 (attached to SATA 3 card) - fully allocated to Windows Virtual Mem
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit, Sonar X2a 64-bit
Soundcard - EGOSYS Waveterminal 192L - loaded with latest 64-bit driver and controller software - MIDI and 4x10 audio (including S/PDIF) (The driver is current, but the hardware dates back to 2001 or so...)
I had the Sonar driver set to ASIO, and reasonable buffer settings.

I did some research, found something on ASIO4ALL, loaded the latest beta of that, changed settings, etc......, Had the same problems.

I then figured, perhaps it's my ancient audio card. So, I purchased a Lexicon Omega, plugged that in, installed the latest driver for it from Lexicon, removed ASIO4ALL, and disabled the Waveterminal card. Changed what I needed to in Sonar for the Omega, and.... Exact same crap happened!!!!

SOOOOO what's the story? Do older 32-bit VST soft-synths crap out when you try to load more than one in X2a 64?

I ALSO had issues recording the drum machine output as audio. Seemed the more tracks there were, the more it crashed.

Another note: When Sonar would crap out, you had to COMPLETELY shut down the PC in order for audio to start working again when you restarted everything. What's up with that?

I'm in serious need of help...... What should I do/try? ASIO4ALL again (which would lock up with the Omega....)? Sonar X2a 32-bit? I have lots of the older 32-bit VST soft-synths... that I would hate to not be able to use...

Please help.......
Thanks everyone!!!

If you want to use your 32 bit plugins in 64 bit Sonar there is Bitbridge (included with Sonar)
and JBridge (a purchased add on). Generally, I use mostly the 64 bit plugins that come with Sonar
and have had no trouble with crashing.

My audio card is ancient as well, but the Win 7 drivers work great.

Others here seem to report best results with JBridge for keeping their older 32 bit plugins alive.

The softsynth plugins you mention, NI Pro-53, Arturia Minimoog and Arturia CS-80 . . . I haven't used these,
and am not familiar with them.

If you need to run (and have spent that money) mostly 32 bit softsynth plugins, perhaps Sonar 32 bit is best, but your system specs indicate that your 64 bit option is a far more powerful system.

Thanks, bud.
I forked out $20 for jBridge, did what I was supposed to with that, and, same problems!!!! 
Question: Can I install BOTH 32 AND 64 bit versions of Sonar X2a on the same machine?

Yes, you can have 32bit and 64bit versions of SONAR installed on the same machine. They occupy different locations on the hard drive and registry.

Hi JTMusicVA,

This is a common problem with 32bit VST's.

I recently changed some settings and got good results.

Try this ...

Do a search on your system and find 'Bitbridge.exe'. Right click on it and go to properties. Set it to 'Run as Administrator' and set Compatibility mode for 'Windows XP Compatibility'.

Doing that helped a lot on my system.

I never used Jbridge ... so I don't know how that works so I would try what I suggested with Bitbridge first. If that doesn't help, find the Jbridge executable file and change the same settings.

Please report back if you try this and let us know how it worked out. I had good results doing this and would to know if it helps in your case as well.

Thanks,

Good luck.

Bub

Cool, Bub, I'll try that, and THANKS!!!!
Will let you know how it goes.....

I still have issues with 64-Bit Waves plug-ins frequently crashing Sonar X2/X2a

Alright -
Did your suggestions - set BitBridge and jBridge to Windows XP Compatibility and Run as Administrator.
That helped solve the audio crashing on the VSTi tracks. And when I added the rest of the (5) audio tracks and (dozen) MIDI tracks, it worked for a good while, then, the audio crapped out.
Got the little window that says the audio engine has suddenly stopped....
The pain with this is, there's no way to successfully reset things..... I tried the buttons in X2a, went to the list of processes in Windows Task Manager, stopped and restarted WindowsAudio there, unplugged the Lexicon Omega, and, when I try to go back in Sonar, nothin' doin'. Also, when Sonar crashes, you can't start your browser (Google Chrome) nor Mozilla Thunderbird (email program).
You HAVE to shut the machine down (power down) and start up again.
Is there a way to properly reset something somewhere so you don't have to power down?

Also, should I disable my internet connection and anti-virus stuff while using Sonar X2a x64? Do those processes interrupt/interfere Sonar's audio engine? (I thought my system was robust enough here.....)
I'll see if that makes a difference, and then I guess resort to also installing X2a 32-bit and restrict my older 32-bit VSTi's to that, export those tracks to wavs, and import them to X2a x64.........

Thanks for any help!

JT

JTMusicVA



You HAVE to shut the machine down (power down) and start up again.
Is there a way to properly reset something somewhere so you don't have to power down?

Try 'Logging Off' instead of restarting. Works for me and is much quicker. 

Thats not always the solution. For example, when Sonar and the Delta1010 go head to head and crash Sonar, it takes a full reboot to release the driver from the process....

This leads me to believe its a driver issue and SONARDPR.EXE having a hissy fit....

JT, i assume you have the latest drivers for your card? If so and its still crashing, try some previous versions of the drivers (Just a stab in the dark on that one)

Also, as far as JBRIDGE is concerned, are you sure that JBRIDGE is now running your 32bit plugins and its still not Bitbridge (which runs automatically unless you specifiy in Plug in manager in Sonar)

I find that Jbridge is great for some and Bitbridge great for others. You have to have a tweak to get everything stable.

SilverfoxUK

JTMusicVA



You HAVE to shut the machine down (power down) and start up again.
Is there a way to properly reset something somewhere so you don't have to power down?

Try 'Logging Off' instead of restarting. Works for me and is much quicker.