HELLO THERE
 
I hope some one can help me along this new pathway?
 
I was using Acid Pro 7.0e, with some good results over the years with XP....But... when recording upto 16 tracks at once in win 7 64bit on my newer system..I would get the occaisional software crash...which got worse the more I played with it, to get it to work on this newer build...with win 7 64bit and the large amount of memory Acid 7 does not address....
Not to mention, just leaving it alone after a long 2 hour recording session...it would crash...doing absolutely nothing at all, just being open , and waiting for input or activity....while taking a coffee break....and during recording twice this happened...(what does that do to harddrves?)
 
This brought me to Pro tools 9.0...which made my computer lean, and mean??? but as we all know, buggy as hell...and I do not want to play the steinberg game with Avid...pay and pray...for the ver 10, or 11, 12, ..etc.. just released soon after ver 9 was ...too soon I think,... to pay and pray with them big boys.
 
So..something is causing a issue or is affecting my DAWS..or is running in the background with Win 7 64bit,  that causes the performance meter to spike, which is what I believe is now happening in Sonar x2, as I can see this happening with the performance metering window in sonar, when playing back a session..or just leaving it alone, and watching......on this system, which has been tweaked and castrated to almost nothing running in services...and internet network disabled in device manager...(Allen and Heath recommend doing) ...and most all AVID tweaks done..even disabled the Vurtual stuff in BIOS on the CPU....I also can turn off the network device in BIOS...which I have tried, but does not solve the problem.
Also, turned off graffic excelleration...which makes for a plain jain outlook on things...and set the performance background thingy...may have also turned off Caching on drives...Avid protools..recommended...
 
So Now I want to try Sonar X 2...As I hate Steinberg for ripping me off, And treating me like dog doo on the phone many years back.....I will not go back to them!
 
So now I have this...Sonar x 2..producer..
 
My System specs.
 
Allen and Heath r16  firewirer mixing console.
Asus Sabertooth x58 1366 cpu i7 990x.
12 gb memory coursair vengance 1066 (?)
Lacie Firewirer 800/400
5770 ati video card
M4 ssd 256gb main drive.(sata 3 port)
Cousair Performance 128gb SSD. (sata 3 Port)
WD black x 3 1tb sata 6gbs...(3 drives are on sata 2 ports.)
2x usb WD 2tb external mybooks.
Win 7 64bit...
 
I am building a backup system also...
 
Asus Sabertooth 2011 cpu i7 3930k .
32gb 1600 memory Kingston.
Ati video 7870
firewirer 800/400 TI card.
SATA 3 PCIe Card
M4 256gb SSD
Coursair Performance 128gb SSD.
Win 7 64bit
 
So where does one start?
 
1. Do I undo what has been done to castrate the first system?
 
2. What system tweaks are necessay to do in Win7 64bit to get this working with no clicks pops, or anomolies?..as I am now witnessing before using Sonar x 2 producer..
 
2a. a defined list of services, and or system drive caching, video excelleration settings to make or turn on or off...as I might have turned off things necessary for a better performing system...in tweaking for DAWs.
 
3. Buffer setup in software and drive for allen and heath r 16...to make the best recordings, and playback...
Do I have to set or change accordingly?...do i increase for recording and decrease for playback?....I am puzzeled on this concept..perhaps a explainantion would help.?
 
4. Once one has a long session of recordings done...relitively well...if someone could point out where in the manual one would find the rendering section... and how to select sections of the session to render only that part ...(markers?..Loop region?)
 
The last Question is only because, I am posting this up with hopes of someone answering before I read the manual...
 
Thanks and regards  to all..
 
Sir Les.

Hi and welcome to the forum. That's a lot of stuff. lol

I'll just toss a couple general ideas your way and maybe the pros will show up to help you more. 

I notice you have an ASUS motherboard. Check to see if there are any driver updates for it... particularly the BIOS. May not apply to your board but lots of ASUS MOBOs shipped out with bad BIOS/firmware programming.

Second... does your motherboard have the appropriate Texas Instruments Firewire Chipset? If not that can cause a LOT of problems with audio. This problem can be solved by buying a firewire card with the correct chipset. Just google Pro Audio Firewire Texas Instrument Chipset and you should get quite a few hits.

Third... there is a program called DPC Latency Checker that is a free download. It can find resource leaks and spikes and is recommended by Cakewalk and pro DAW builders.

I would also say take a look at something called the Sweetwater System Optimization Guide (google it) and go through all the steps to make sure you have indeed disabled everything that might interfere with Sonar. There is however one step within it that should NOT be done with Sonar. I think it's page fileing or some such... I forget but I think there is a blog post about it here on site so again google it. System Optimization Cakewalk should bring up some threads and the blog.

As far as "rendering" I believe what you want to read up on is Export. That's the mixdown process and there is a short section in the Tutorial section of the manual (definitely work through the tuts) and more in depth info further on in the manual.

You should also take a look at the Sonar University links on this page for free vids on Sonar. They are quite helpful. Also if you can afford it look into the X2 Power book by Scott Garrigus (not sure if it's released yet). He posts on here sometimes and his books are a lot easier to read than the manual. He also has a bunch of free vids up at digifreq.com (I think that's the URL). There is also another fellow here, Craig Anderton, who writes for SOS. He's got lots of articles up over there and has some vids for sale in the Cakewalk store. Finally there is FastBikerBoy who is another member here and has a yotube page filled with sonar vids. He also put together 9 hours of X2 instructional vids which can be purchased in the Cakewalk store as well (I think it's only $40 for the whole lot of the).

If you happened to buy X2 at the right time you might also have a free month pass to Groove 3 where you can view even more vids on Sonar and other audio topics. Just check your account and redeem the code.

Whew... okay that was a lot of typing. Hope some of it helps.

Cheers.

Hi,
 
I being fairly new to this forum but not to cakewalk am going to suggest a simple clean install.  Your specs indicate that you have the raw horsepower and if the tweaks that were done did not help, I'd say you need a clean slate (trackable) anyway.  That way you have some idea on the step taken and next steps to take.
 
Separate content from the application and OS. Use a minimal virus engine (MS Essentials) is free. If this is a primary DAW workstation and you have other machines that have access to the internet, consider not connecting.  I have the ATI graphic chipset and have not had any issues with it.  Update your drivers. This is where I would start and then evaluate your next steps if any.
 
I am considering the R16 as a purchase and have spoken with another member about it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this board.
 
Good luck and Welcome.

Oh and you can always call Cakewalk at 1-888-CAKEWALK (toll free if you are in the US) and they'll help get your system running up to speed. Best bet is to send tech support and email first including all your system specs and what problems you are experiencing. You will receive a support ticket. Then when you call them tell them the ticket number so that way they have all the info on their screen and you don't have to waste time explaining everything over the phone.

Cheers.

Your backup system seems to be more powerful than your main system.

I'd start by prioritizing this side of things.

Why not build your "Backup" system, load everything up, get it working and use it as your main DAW?

Well Thank You all...I am impressed with the quick responses.

"Beepster"...You have mentioned the "groove 3 free vids", which I have taken advantage of to some degree, But no Export/Rendering vids found for sonar x2 yet...I will keep Your input close at hand..and in mind of...perhaps I need to go to sonar x 1 vids?

The Allen and Heath r16 has the DCP latency checker in the Driver mixer section...
It says I can use "normal" settings, when used/run without the DAWs running  (what ever they are?)..But when a crash occurs in Acid 7 pro or other ..when checking this feature while running the said softwares (type 2 level is recommended)..It does not give info on what is causing this to occur.(spikes in cpu)..other than something taking up resourses...that should not be, while running DAWS...and interfers with them?
Not much about what it is checking...As I have little knowledge of Buffer setups or latency...and it seems to be a crap shoot on my end of things so far...
So I left it on that type 2 level...and turned off the DCP feature , as I believe it may be part of the problem I am having...with crashing Acid Pro 7?

My first system has had some revisions done to bios and board drivers in the past month..As I did do a new 240gb SSD Drive, a clean install and all updates of Win7 and MB..
I have to go check if anything new has come out...So thanks for that tip.
Most of my systems are fully upto date with latest diriver statuses...But might have something posted new, as this seems to be a constant with PC platforms..ATI has been releasing new drivers frequantly...But if one does not use excelleration or play games...does it matter to update so frequantly?

One thing I do have issues with...is putting sata 3 drives on sata 2 ports....would this cause recording  issues?/ or bottle neck the system?

Anyway thanks for bringing these things up...But most of them things I have done...

Yes SweetWater tech "David"..Sent me the special tweekers guide to Protools 9.0...with his extra special advise.
Protools 9 is now in the garbage and removed from the list of installed items!...check.

Should I reverse the cpu virtual bios tweak/castartion?

Avids Protools 9.3...I may salvage it later on in the next build...but seems most of the bugs ...I have to pay to solve for..in version 10..11 and would imagine 12....So let me try Sonar x2 I believe I already did a update, but will not do the win 8 update as many seem to be experiancing problems with it.

again thanks for listening and reading into my issues, and trying to help.

Hay Luna tech...Thanks...Been there done that!

The Allen And Heath r16 Board is a very nice board indeed...Even without the firewire/computer connection, it has very good to excellent sound and features....My first board...So many things it can do in routing...Not upto the task yet...Just wanted simple 16 track input and output to and from the computer...But it does have send capable routing...which I will address later on in life....gotta get the basics going first....eh?..the recorded sound quailty is amazing..I would recommend it to anyone...But I am just a novice newbee...So take my word as wetbread with tartar sauce....You have to go try one at a distributor near you...best to the wise.
Seems the support is laggin behind the times/as it is supported in sonar x1 and acid 6 pro...it does not have newer maps for x2 and newer protools revisions.


So far I have recorded 10 tracks in sonar x2...all went well...
The problem is now how to render or export sections of that session to wav or mp3s....I see now mp3 is not supported , and i have to pay for this feature?....well that is redundant...as Acid does ...all I have to do is import the exported wav file and render it down in that.
Cakewalk sonar X2 Producer should have mp3 as complementary....for Producers need to do so sometimes...eh?

Well we all have workarounds to do, or make ,what we want..or need ,or to make functional the things that should be but aren't...from my experiances so far.

Unfortunately I live in Canaan da...(Canada)..so where does that leave me in terms of support from Cakewalk techies?

Just being amusing...I lost all my hair already.
 
My backup system is not yet assembled...waiting on the full tower case...but all the required inners are here...Just waiting on UPS...Might take that advise and use the first as backup, and the new one as the main...

I will also turn on the network adapter  on said first system ..so I can post system info better, if need be.
The scond system will have to wait...till it is up and running.

oh do I have to buy another licence to have x2 on both?

Oh I was informed the LaCie firewirer 800 card has the TI chipset...So it is not that ..or atlease I do not think it is a firewirer issue.

Again thanks.

I might be misreading your posts but have you fired up X2 yet to see if it will run properly? You might be getting ahead of yourself. If you've done the optimizations and have the right Firewire chipset and the interface is of decent quality you should be fine. As far as the DPC Latency checker it sounds like you are using something that was included with your gear (again I may be misreading). Cakewalk will provide you with the correct program to use. I don't think it needs to be running while you have your DAW open. You just run it once and it tells you what's up (but I've never needed to run it. You do indeed qualify for support as a Candian customer but unfortunately you'll have to pay the long distance charges for the call. They usually won't keep you on hold for very long. I'm in Canada as well so I went through it myself when I first installed Sonar. It is however even more important for you to send them a detailed email first though so you don't spend more time on the phone than necessary. You could also just wait for them to reply back to the email but sometimes that takes a long time or they don't reply at all which is why it's better to get them on the phone. A lot of the tutorials and resources at there are unfortunately for X1 but most of the stuff in them will work in X2 as well. The videos from FastBikerBoy (SWA vids) are X2 specific though and as I said the X2 Power book should be out soon if it isn't already. The tutorial in the actual manual will cover your needs for exporting though. There is an online version and a downloadable PDF both on the site here.

Like I said though just install X2 and see how it's working. If you run into any specific problems then come back with the details and the forum will usually be able to point you in the right direction. Be aware though that X2 is still relatively new so there are quite a few bugs in the program. Those will hopefully be fixed soon with a new patch.

Cheers.

BTW... DPC Latency Checker has nothing to do with audio latency. It's more system related. For you actual audio latency buffers you can access those through your interface's software. If you are experiencing pops/clicks/crashes/dropouts try increasing it in increments until they go away. I generally keep my buffers low to record then turn them up while mixing. It's usually the effects that start straining your system. Particularly the fancier ones.