Hi,
 
I recorded a simple audio demo today just vocal and guitar.  The waves looked fine as they appeared on the screen but when I went to play it back, the audio was choppy.  I am able to play previous demos I have saved in Cakewalk projects that I recorded on previous versions of Sonar without any issues.  This is the first time I started using X2 for a new scratch demo so I don't know what I did or what isn't set up right.  I tried adjusting the driver settings, the audio driver bit depth which is set to 24 as a default, to 16 and bffer size to safe.  That didn't work so I set it back to where it was.  Does anyone have any thoughts?  My dell is the XPS 8300, 12Gig DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz. The Creative card is SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium.  I know it's not the card anyone would use for demos but it was what I was able to afford.  For playback I have the driver mode set at MME32 bit Dithering is set to Triangular; Use Multiprocessing Engine is checked and Use MMCSS (Windows Vista - Win 7 is checked.Command audition length is set to 3.
 
One other thing I noticed and this might be a root cause is when I armed the track, I noticed the microphone level was high but when I went to Creative Launcher to adjust it, the levels would not lower. I wasn't sure where else the source for the mic would be, the mic is Creative also. It's the one that they send you with the card.  I have an Audio Technica that I bought several years ago that I will switch to but I wanted to resolve the issue with the choppy audio.
 
If anyone can help me with these 2 issues, the choppy audio and how to figure out the level control on the mic, I would appreciate it.
 
Thanks!
 
 

Use ASIO or WDM drivers instead of MME. MME is a very old driver protocol and doesn't provide optimal performance. SONAR usually prefers ASIO, but it really depends on the sound card drivers.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
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What Scott said ^^^

Or, just bump up your buffer size / latency setting until the choppiness goes away.  It's not necessary to have low latency during playback/mixing.

I noticed the microphone level was high

So far advice for dealing with "choppy audio" is good for "dropouts" which will certainly produce what could be called choppy audio, but might also flash the dropout indicator to help with that diagnosis.


If your choppy audio is not dropouts but "clipping," which is not exactly "choppy," then you need to fix the input level, and you should be able to see the clipping indicator and see your waveform hitting the top and going flat.

 noticed the microphone level was high but when I went to Creative Launcher to adjust it

So you're using one of these horrid cards. You can do a way better than a creative card. I would look into getting at least a decent audio sound card.
 
You should think about throwing that creative into a busy street or even a highway like I-95. Preferably when a convoy 18 wheelers are passing by. It would be nice if you cans end the the photos of it as there being crushed into millions of pieces with each gigantic wheel of every 18 wheeler. :)
 
 
Cj

Agree with everybody here. Also update your drivers, firmware, run windows update, run scan disk and then finally defrag your hard drive. If you have a virus scanner make sure you exclude cake folders from any real time scan.

Hi,

Thanks for everyone's input, I will try all.  CJ!  Thanks so much for the laugh!!!  I think I will try that too if all else fails. Maybe I'll video tape it as the convoy drives over the transistors!

Ok, this might have to be a new thread and I think I posed this question a while back I don't remember. Should I look at M Audio as a better sound card or are there any other cards? I have one available PCI Express slot or I can do external. I used to have an external Audigy card that had RCS jacks in back and 1/4" jacks for the in the front. If I am going to do this seriously, then I need better hardware! I'm still laughing at the throwing my card on a busy street! I would probably get pulled over and ticketed but not for littering but for having the audacity to throw a mediocre sound card into the street!

Buy your audio interface from a Music Retailer,,, not a computer store. Computer sound cards are for gaming. Audio interfaces are normally an external USB device $100 and up. You can't expect to run DAW software on anything less. Soundblaster is the very worst card for Sonar ever. I'm glad CJ pointed that out as that's the best advice so far.

Buy your audio interface from a Music Retailer,,, not a computer store.

Your point is well taken, but your method is suspect. You can find soundblaster cards at many music retailers and pro and prosumer interfaces at "computer" stores. 


You need to do a fair amount of basic research into what you actually need, rather than depending on the nice guy at the store to recommend whatever he thinks he understands or what brings the biggest commission. 


Begin your search by defining what you intend to use the interface for over the next 3-5 years. If you plan to individually mic a double set of drums for your band, you are going to need a lot of inputs. If you are mainly using midi driven soft synths, then your onboard audio chip/card or a soundblaster will work, if you learn how to use them. Any interface requires some sorting out in order to use it the way you want. Buying your way out of ignorance is a potentially expensive process, as I for one have learned by experience.


A search of this forum will bring a gazillion hits about what various users have found useful.

google: recommend audio interface site:forum.cakewalk.com