sharke


Also try disabling the antivirus when you are using Sonar, that's a common piece of optimization advice given for most DAW's. 

Indeed, however depending on the system using Microsoft Security Essentials as your AV you should be fine. Cakewalk tech support said that on my system I should have no problems leaving it on. Doesn't seem to cause me any problems at all. It also scores better than most AVs out there anyway as far as protection.

That said they say you don't need to isolate your DAW from the internet anymore but I do it anyway. I only go online to download updates and new programs I've purchased from qualified vendors. Even then I make sure I update MSE beforehand and use strict script/ad blockers only allowing the elements necessary for the downloads to go through.

That's another topic altogether though.

Don't be too quick to assume that your pops, clicks, and static sounds are being caused by your RealTek soundcard.  I used mine for a couple of years and was able to get acceptable performance from it by going through most of the items that you have listed.  I found that I had to really back off on what effects were in the chain while I was tracking to get low latency, but for mixing I could bump the buffers way up and make things work well while mixing.
 
In the process, I found that a lot of the noises that I was dealing with were the result of
1) having tracks with different bit depth and sampling rates
2) not having the "Playback Timing Master" properly set
3) most common problem that I encountered (particularly with soft synths) was over-driving the signal, but not noticing it because of compressors or limiters down stream from the overly loud signal.
 
I also found that on some projects the performance was better using WDM/KS than ASIO.
 
I do have several USB interfaces now and have not had to fall back on the internal sound card.  I bought a real inexpensive Behringer UCG102 for my laptop as the last replacement for using the internal card.  It cost me all of $30.00 on Amazon and easily fits in my laptop bag.  Using purpose-built audio interfaces ("instead of sound cards") has let me stop putzing with buffer sized and interface settings.  Life is a lot easier without having to go through these contortions.  YMMV, but look at what other issues may be causing you problems.
 
Glen

Beepster thanks for the tips on the sound cards. I like the idea of an external USB sound card like the scarlett. Funny thing is that a guy was trying to sell me one back when I was buying a new controller and some monitors - I guess I should have listened.

No problem. The DAW world is big and confusing and you were wise not to just jump on the first thing offered to you. I only invested in the Scarlett after extensive research and harassing Cakewalk AND Focusrite to make sure it would work. You can email Focusrite tech support with your system specs and let them know that you intend to use Sonar to see what they say. Same with Cakewalk. However if you search this forum you'll find a lot of happy Scarlett users here. Be sure to snag updated driver though if you go the Focusrite route. There were some driver issues in the past but they have been resolved. There was even a photocopied note in the packaging urging to update the drivers/firmware. Very important.

Cheers.

> Also try disabling the antivirus when you are using Sonar
 
Nope do not disable antivirus, exclude cakewalk project folders etc and folders Microsoft recommend to exclude from realtime scan:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158/en-us   (this can go for all versions of Windows, not just enterprise environments stated here).
 
Cheers...