Tom Riggs

John T

I think X2 is currently a bit cranky. Here's my favourite current one: pressing the expand button to show ProChannel on a bus. About 50% of the time, that's a total white out, restart-the-computer crash for me.

Don't blame cake for this one. It is more likely to be related to the video card, driver or ram. 

I was seeing this every once in a while till i figured out I needed to increase voltages to my ram to get it stable. I could also have been my video card drivers but while researching display problems in Blender (3d design software) I figured out my problem. With that issue corrected no more video related issues with sonar so far. 

you can also check the sonar preferences/display setting to see if the use hardware acceleration is enabled. try togging that setting.

Edited for clarity.

Raising your RAM voltage is called Overclocking. You are sending your RAM to an early death doing that ... unless you had it set wrong in the first place and raised it to where it should have been. But hey, if that's what you have to do to get Sonar to run right on your system, I guess that's what you have to do.

This "sonar preferences/display setting" and "hardware acceleration" ... where is that located? Is that something in Sonar or your video card driver? I'm running Sonar X2a and when I go in to Preferences/Display I don't see a setting for "hardware acceleration"?

thebiglongy

Quick question, do you have windows Aero enabled or disabled?

I don't have the problems you have mentioned as i've yet to upgrade. But I know this was a problem for some in the past.

There's been a lot of discussion about that.

Basically from what I've gathered from the forum here is, now days you should be able to just take a PC off the shelf of a box store (Cakewalk recommends HP) and run Sonar without tweaking it. No more need for specialty built DAW's by dedicated DAW makers any more.

You shouldn't have to touch Aero, Swap File, or any of that stuff other than turn off Power Management.

The only ones I would still do are setting your USB ports to never sleep and turn off your power management. And even the power management can be used a little, such as turning your monitor off after a certain amount of time. And I'm not sure you have to touch the USB setting any more. Seems to me, the last time I did a fresh install of Windows 7 and then did all the updates, all my USB ports were already set that way. But I'm not 100% sure on that.

You should be able to run Sonar fine on a stable and well configured computer. Sonar will NOT optimise your system out of the box. Sonar will not ensure your hardware (firmware) or device drivers or power management are stable. Folks it may be 2013 but HAL does not exist and will not configure your PC for you. Nor will HP or Dell or what will do a great job. Games and office apps will always work out of the box because 99 percent of the customer base demands it. Most people do not use DAWs.

@Bub, 

I attach no 'but' to my assertion that on my system, and on several prior systems, I simply do not lose data, nor do I have or did have crashes with Sonar - for several years now.

I am sorry you (or anyone) have had different experiences, and I am sorry that there are indeed bugs out there that folks run into.  I too run into bugs, and find workarounds or for that particular thing put trying it aside until a fix is indicated through a maintenance release, such as what happened with X2a.

None of what I have posted is 'made up', nor is it 'outlandish'.  It is simply a reporting of my particular experience.  I reject and resent your assertions that postings such as mine are 'bull poop' or whatever you called it (frequently).

Do things in X2a aggravate me?  Yes, some things certainly do, and I hope Cakewalk addresses some of the things that cause me extra work.

The fact of the matter is that I built a nice computer (while I paid more a year ago, when I built mine, I just bought all the same parts for someone else two days ago and they have an even better system than mine for less than $1000 - though they have 16GB of memory instead of my 32GB - but they have a faster CPU).   I have a reasonably priced interface that meets my needs for ins and outs, and my work flow involves mainly MIDI, with some vocals and guitars.  In MY situation, things work well and are completely stable, with regard to Sonar X2a.  

I AM having an ongoing issue with Presonus over a problem with my audio interface, but have a workaround that allows me to continue to work without crashing.  Even there, they gave me some steps to do that I have not been able to get to yet - I have to go pick up a smaller flash drive so that I can format it for Fat32 to do a BIOS update for my motherboard - so I cannot even really complain about the interface until AFTER I get the BIOS update completed.

I quite frankly find your repeated slams offensive, unfair, and unwarranted.  Please adjust your posting content to refrain from things like effectively calling those of us with functioning systems 'full of crap' and 'liars'.  

There are other posts where you provide either legitimate questions, or helpful solutions, and I appreciate those - I do not want to have to go the route of reporting you to the forum moderators, so please again adjust your posting content.

Thank you, 

Bob Bone

CakeAlexS

You should be able to run Sonar fine on a stable and well configured computer. Sonar will NOT optimise your system out of the box. Sonar will not ensure your hardware (firmware) or device drivers or power management are stable. Folks it may be 2013 but HAL does not exist and will not configure your PC for you. Nor will HP or Dell or what will do a great job.

Hold on there a sec pardner' ... Cakewalk says you can buy an HP and a Dell right off the shelf and be up and running.

All models listed have been certified by Cakewalk's DAW Labs

HP Z800 Workstation
HP Z210 CMT Workstation
HP Z Series Workstations
Dell T3400

http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/buy.aspx?Type=Desktop

robert_e_bone

@Bub, 

There are other posts where you provide either legitimate questions, or helpful solutions, and I appreciate those - I do not want to have to go the route of reporting you to the forum moderators, so please again adjust your posting content.

Thank you, 

Bob Bone

I highly recommend you block me, or ignore me Bob.

It's not your forum to police ... If you feel that I'm that out of line, report me, but don't ever tell anyone what they can and cannot say on a public forum. It's not your call to make.

DigitalBoston


and just for the sake of saying it, there are many work arounds these cakewalk pros know about
 and learning about .things you cant do like run vvocal on a track without bouncing( crash everytime) screen sets)crash
 and many more.
 funny how they alway say in a kind way .where stupid and run  battlefield 3  with origin and steam and 3 other apps when we record, i too have a clean install on arig with nothing but sonar on it
 i play games on my home computer not my daw. so please quit the sonar is perfect and all the other posts that rub it in how you have a 5 thousand dollor gold sound capture device that makes coffee for you as it records your tracks from bed. its a fact sonar runs like crap on the basic computer
 i run all those other daws flawless with my rig sonar is the only one that crashs every day drops out every 20 min. yes if you have the money to throw at it you can get it solid, but its not easy or cheap
 and x1 expanded was better than x2 bit still alot of the same stuff is broken on x1 and x2

your from boston,so am I.
i suggest you go down to microcenter in cambridge and sepend 400.00 bucks like i did
and build yourself a 6 core AMD phenom2 black eddition with 8 gigs of ram in a insulated case.
im not saying this to be a dungho.
im saying it because i feel bad for you.
ive read alot of what you have to say and if your spending a ton of money on a brilliant computer maybe
 a middle of the road one will do better.
im not saying i have no problems,because ive had a coulple crashes at key times,more often than not i was stupid and didnt save my work.
one time i also had a project i though go corrupt on me.turns out it was a third party plug in that was messing everything up.
i uninstalled it and was fine to complete.
and ive had pretty good luck since.X2 has been pretty stable for me and like i said,im out of the box,no mods.
i am a big believer in what BUB says,you shouldnt need to make any tweaks,leave aero on,and so on.he's right.
 
im using a cakewalk interface,sure tht probably helps out.
and more often than not may be the underlaying problem,that or a vst.and sometimes sonar as well.
but not all sonar.you sound upset at sonar.im sorry for your problems.
hope it gets better.
 
 

Bub

CakeAlexS

You should be able to run Sonar fine on a stable and well configured computer. Sonar will NOT optimise your system out of the box. Sonar will not ensure your hardware (firmware) or device drivers or power management are stable. Folks it may be 2013 but HAL does not exist and will not configure your PC for you. Nor will HP or Dell or what will do a great job.

Hold on there a sec pardner' ... Cakewalk says you can buy an HP and a Dell right off the shelf and be up and running.

All models listed have been certified by Cakewalk's DAW Labs

HP Z800 Workstation
HP Z210 CMT Workstation
HP Z Series Workstations
Dell T3400

http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/buy.aspx?Type=Desktop

You see he's using a Dell, right? (Check his sig). I think you missed the point of his statement, Bub.

Up and running yes. Stable no. Does Dell supply device drivers or test your audio equipment? Does HP test sonar on their machines? Why do Dell and other manufacturers issues firmware and BIOS upgrades? Why does windows have registry tweaks? Why does MS supply windows update? why do people leave stability and optimization tips?

There's one common factor here. You've got to sort this mess out or hire somebody to do it.

CakeAlexS

Up and running yes. Stable no. Does Dell supply device drivers or test your audio equipment? Does HP test sonar on their machines? Why do Dell and other manufacturers issues firmware and BIOS upgrades? Why does windows have registry tweaks? Why does MS supply windows update? why do people leave stability and optimization tips?

There's one common factor here. You've got to sort this mess out or hire somebody to do it.

Sorry Alex, according to Cakewalk, you should be able to take one of these boxes off the shelf and use their product.

Direct quote from Cakewalk ....

All models listed have been certified by Cakewalk's DAW Labs

HP Z800 Workstation
HP Z210 CMT Workstation
HP Z Series Workstations
Dell T3400

You should be able to go online, order one of those PC's, install Sonar and be on your way. The only thing I can possibly think of that you would have to do is turn off some of the options in Power Save mode. Other than that, you should be able to plug in one of the Cakewalk recommended USB or Firewire devices and start using Sonar.

I'm being serious ... I'm not busting on you. If Cakewalk is putting out there that their "Labs" have "Certified" these PC's to work, they should work right off the shelf. I believe that is the point they are trying to make when they emphasize they have had their "Labs" "Certify" these products.

EDIT: It's been repeatedly stated here that the days of tweaking your DAW are over. If you have to tweak your hardware to get software to run, there's something wrong in the software.