Hi all,

I recently purchased Sonar X1 Essential and have installed Updates A,B,C,D.

My problem:
During recording and playback of any more than 3 audio tracks causes severe crackling.
Also, recording audio while playing back 1 midi track causes the same.
See ASIO settings screen shot here:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/547/screenshotxz.png/



Vista Home Premium  RAM 4GB, 2.00GHz
Audio Interface Alesis IOS2 (Driver up to date)
Anti-Visus Disabled and EVEN UNINSTALLED
On-board Realtek soundcard disabled
Wireless Internet Disabled.
M-Audio BX5

*With buffer size increased significantly this does not resolve the issue.

Any help would be really appreciated.  As it stands I can't make any music on my home DAW :(
Thanks in advance,
Paula

Your settings look fine.  Your computer specs may be the culprit though.  

This is from the X2 system requirements:
    *Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.67 GHz / AMD Phenom Quad Core 9750 2.4 Ghz or higher

I don't see X1 being much different from this.  Perhaps you should consider a computer upgrade.  Audio mixing requires some heavy processing, and 4gb of ram with a 2.00GHz processor on Windows Vista (an OS with a bad reputation of being a processor hog) probably won't cut it.

It can work below specs but you gotta have a good interface (IDK about that Alesis) and you REALLY have to go through a proper audio optimization for the system. Google the Sweetwater Optimization Guide.

There is one step in there though that Sonar doesn't like. I think it's the one that has to do with Page Filing but I forget. You can google Cakewalk Forums + Optimization and a bunch of threads should come up and the answers will be there. Good luck.

Download and run the DPC Latency Checker on the basic PC, not with X1 running or your recording interface connected, and see what it shows.  It could be basic PC issue and nothing to do witht he recording end.

DPC Latency Checker:  http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Does your computer have a separate video card or are you just using the built-in video on the motherboard. That could be stealing cycles from the CPU and using some of your RAM. Go into display settings and turn the video acceleration down. 

Looking at the docs and downloads page for your interface turned up this: 

Live Documents Type
Product Overview html
Manuals & Documentation Size Type
iO2 EXPRESS Product Overview
88 KB pdf
iO2 EXPRESS - QuickStart Guide [revA]
490 KB pdf
Software & Drivers Size Type
ASIO4All - Optional ASIO Driver for Windows [v2.10]
This Alesis audio interface is a plug-and-play device, which means that no additional drivers need to be installed to use it with your computer. If you use ASIO compatible audio software on your Windows PC, this optional ASIO driver can be used to offer additional configuration options such as latency and buffer adjustments. 392 KB zip




Notice the ASIO4ALL OPTIONAL DRIVER.... this indicates that this interface does not use ASIO as a native driver. (I did not take the time to read the manual to confirm this) BUT.... if they are even offering the A4A OPTION, it's a good indicator that it doesn't use ASIO.

I would suspect THAT to be the cause of the pops and crackles. You can try messing .... uhhh... I mean  adjusting the buffers and latency settings by increasing them slowly then test and adjust again until you get good results..... certainly you want to run the wave profiler as well. 

You may be able to get those settings close enough to give decent playback. 

Asio4All is a wrapper that simply fools a lesser qualified audio driver into thinking it's capable of acting and performing like ASIO.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

MY RECOMMENDATION: If the interface is new (under 30 or 45 days depending on the retailer) carry it back and buy an interface which supports NATIVE ASIO drivers, not one that suggests optional ASIO4ALL...... 

Yeah... if that is indeed the case definitely ditch the Alesis. The interface is one of the most crucial pieces of gear in your DAW set up and Sonar likes ASIO (as do most pro DAW programs). If you only need a couple inputs you can get some good quality workhorses for under $200. If you need some suggestions just ask us. 

Cheers.

Guitarhacker


Looking at the docs and downloads page for your interface turned up this: 

Live Documents Type
Product Overview html
Manuals & Documentation Size Type
iO2 EXPRESS Product Overview
88 KB pdf
iO2 EXPRESS - QuickStart Guide [revA]
490 KB pdf
Software & Drivers Size Type
ASIO4All - Optional ASIO Driver for Windows [v2.10]
This Alesis audio interface is a plug-and-play device, which means that no additional drivers need to be installed to use it with your computer. If you use ASIO compatible audio software on your Windows PC, this optional ASIO driver can be used to offer additional configuration options such as latency and buffer adjustments. 392 KB zip




Notice the ASIO4ALL OPTIONAL DRIVER.... this indicates that this interface does not use ASIO as a native driver. (I did not take the time to read the manual to confirm this) BUT.... if they are even offering the A4A OPTION, it's a good indicator that it doesn't use ASIO.

I would suspect THAT to be the cause of the pops and crackles. You can try messing .... uhhh... I mean  adjusting the buffers and latency settings by increasing them slowly then test and adjust again until you get good results..... certainly you want to run the wave profiler as well. 

You may be able to get those settings close enough to give decent playback. 

Asio4All is a wrapper that simply fools a lesser qualified audio driver into thinking it's capable of acting and performing like ASIO.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. 

MY RECOMMENDATION: If the interface is new (under 30 or 45 days depending on the retailer) carry it back and buy an interface which supports NATIVE ASIO drivers, not one that suggests optional ASIO4ALL...... 

Got to agree with this assessment - if indeed the interface does not have ASIO drivers.


Herb - I took a listen to your tunes and REALLY like the I Know You Are Up to It song, and the acoustic guitar sound on the Footsteps in the Hall song as well.  If you ever need any keyboard tracks, shoot me a PM - I would be happy to give you a hand.


Bob Bone

Alesis IOS2

daveny5


Does your computer have a separate video card or are you just using the built-in video on the motherboard. That could be stealing cycles from the CPU and using some of your RAM. Go into display settings and turn the video acceleration down. 

Video processing may indeed also be torpedoing your performance, on 2 fronts.


1.  Vista had that horrific Aero interface, and many folks used to disable that entirely to use just basic colors, to gain back decent performance.  I do not at the moment have enough coffee in me to recall what to do to disable Aero - just look that up and try it.  It is something you can just as easily turn back on, so don't worry about trying it somehow hurting things on your computer.


2.  Many low-end video cards have limited on-board memory, and are designed to share (steal) memory from your main computer memory.  This can affect your performance too, and there is a way to disable that too.  Coupled with turning off Aero, your video shenanigans ceasing should give you back some needed performance, and might do the trick.


There is also the possibility that some of the effects you have turned on are hammering your performance, and might be partly to blame here too.  Effects like Perfect Space, and others, use look-ahead processing, and that can really do a number on things.


Try bypassing the effects for a test, and see if your snaps, crackles, and pops go away.  That would be a big clue.  If they do go away, then one or more of the effects you have turned on are problematic for your current system.  

Lastly, I think freezing tracks can lessen the load on processing, and you might consider doing this too.

Just some things to try - hope something here works to help your situation, 

Bob Bone

Paula,

I know the frustration of audio teething problems, most frustrating when you just wanna create music...NOW!

I always thought the alesis was a stock enough brand for audio performance but maybe not according to the above comments and their info re the asio drivers.

I'd do the latency test thingy that fireberd has linked and post your results here so we can comment  on them (nearly everyone here had to deal with this at some stage I bet).

No harm in doing what daveny5 has said either re the graphics card.

Other than that, the laptop combined with the soundcard may not be up to scratch for audio production. Having said that guys, even with below par pc specs and a half decent audio driver, shouldn't you at least get a few midi and audio tracks playback and recording without this stuttering/lag?

I often find that losing your marbles and smashing all your hardware off the nearest wall does momentarily and effectively relieve some of the anxiety and tension associated with audio troubleshooting, although it will most certainly not help your music production career progress ;-)

Good Luck,

Cian