Hello Sonar world!

I've got a project I've been working on since Sonar 8.5. It's lived through 8.5, X1 (a, b, c and d) and now X2. My guess is I'll probably finish it in X2a, even if I am currently putting in the final mix-down touches on it.

That aside, I'm running an i7-920 CPU (2.66Ghz), 9GB ram, two internal eSATA 1TB drives (7200 rpm, one for OS & programs, the other for projects & samples), Windows 7 64-bit. I have a Focusrite Saffire PRO 40 interface for audio and an Alesis MasterControl interface for a controller. 

Problem is, the above mentioned project (and a few others) consistently has dropouts at exactly the same intervals - every time. DPC Latency Checker reports an average latency of about 160 us, and does not spike before on when the dropout occurs. However, it does state that "some device drivers on this machine behave bad and will probably cause dropouts". I have updated all key device drivers. Once in a while, brand new projects will exhibit this behavior as well, but it is primarily with my older projects.

I've gone through the usual dropout debugging steps and none of it seems to be helping.

Anyone seen this before? Any ideas? Please help!

Thanks!

One more piece of information: The dropout occurs at the same point in the song even if I solo a single track (any track, including a blank one). Quite strange...

Do you happen to have a wireless adapter on this computer?  If so,try disabling it.

If you are running anti-virus software, try disabling that.

Something that is running is causing these latency spikes, and until that is ferreted out and resolved you will continue to have these problems.

There is another piece of diagnostic software, called Latency Mon, that give you more information that might help you determine what is causing your latency spikes,

Here is a link that talks about it: http://betanews.com/2011/...gnose-with-latencymon/

Bob Bone

Hmmm, thanks Bob. I went and installed LatencyMon, ran an analysis and played the song through twice (with multiple dropouts as expected.) I'm not sure i know much more after viewing the LatencyMon stats. key metrics:

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Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts. 
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:10:54  (h:mm:ss) on all processors in the system.


Highest measured kernel timer latency (µs):           180.929632
Highest measured SMI, IPI or CPU stall (µs)           6.159307
Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              596.156015
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 306.97 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          2.826032
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          3.893148

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While one could argue that my video driver is causing some latency, that truly does not seem to be a problem as most of the time, I can record and playback projects with no issue. The only problem I have is that for certain projects, I get dropouts at approximately the same points in the song. I'm starting to wonder if this is not hardware related at all. Maybe some bug/issue with the project/audio files themselves?

try setting the dropoutmsec option in preferences/audio/config file to 750 or so.

There are some effects that can apparently cause some issues - if memory serves, Perfect Space might be one of those - something about look ahead processing.

Can you disable the Nvidia driver?  That should put you into basic video mode, but may be worth testing to see if that helps.

Bob Bone

robert is on to something very important here.
its time to be a detective,i would start by disabling every vst,effect you have on your tracks..and your synths as well.
go to the troubled areas and set up a loop.
start turning things on one by one.
im betting a sandwitch its an older synth or vst that's the culprit.
if all else fails,turn the key in safe mode.(open the project in safe mode by holding down shift/opening the project.
this gives the bare essentials to drive the car.

Thanks to all of you who made suggestions. I tried all of them to no avail, but finally figured it out today. I focused on the fact that the dropouts were occurring at predictable intervals, then zeroed in on the tracks that had data at those intervals. That eliminated about a quarter of the tracks. I then looped the song over one of these dropout intervals, then soloed tracks one by one. The dropouts continued regardless of which tracks were active/inactive. 

But upon deeper review, I noticed that some of my audio clips in tracks that had data at the dropout intervals were permanently showing a status of "busy". I then decided to "bounce-to-audio" each track containing such clips and VIOLA! That solved the problem. It makes sense that my wave files were somewhat corrupt, considering the audio dropouts were occurring in generally the same places every time. The only thing bothering me now is why this happened. Regardless, at least I know what the fix is going forward.


Thanks again, all!

PS: I'm also up and running in X2a now. Pure joy!

baudze


Thanks to all of you who made suggestions. I tried all of them to no avail, but finally figured it out today. I focused on the fact that the dropouts were occurring at predictable intervals, then zeroed in on the tracks that had data at those intervals. That eliminated about a quarter of the tracks. I then looped the song over one of these dropout intervals, then soloed tracks one by one. The dropouts continued regardless of which tracks were active/inactive. 

But upon deeper review, I noticed that some of my audio clips in tracks that had data at the dropout intervals were permanently showing a status of "busy". I then decided to "bounce-to-audio" each track containing such clips and VIOLA! That solved the problem. It makes sense that my wave files were somewhat corrupt, considering the audio dropouts were occurring in generally the same places every time. The only thing bothering me now is why this happened. Regardless, at least I know what the fix is going forward.


Thanks again, all!

This is what I was going to suggest (Bounce to Clip)


Ive had a few songs with ALLOT of Slip Editing and on all these songs, they would get to and drop out at the same point each time.  For me I found that Bouncing those tracks took care of it.  


Sorry I was late to the show