For some time now, I have been unable to run any project in X1 without crackles, pops and audio dropouts.
With no real idea of what the problem might be, I have tried all sorts of things in search of a remedy (adjusting latency, buffer sizes, sample rates, removing exotic plugins, freezing soft synths, minimising gain everywhere, not using ProChannels, deactivating unused devices, inputs and outputs, ensuring all potential background tasks are not running... and I'm sure there are other things I might have tried if I knew more about computers and audio)... all with no success and much exasperation.
Anyway, I was contemplating a complete reinstall of X1 when, in a kind of haze of desperation, I noticed, on the Playback and Recording tab in Preferences (visited for the nth time), the "Use Multiprocessing Engine" option. Since I run on a dual core, I had this checked. I consulted the Help to see what this option was actually giving me and decided it would not hurt to uncheck it and see if it made any difference.
The immediately visible effect was that my pretty 8-column CPU display in Sonar was now a single monlithic block... but it was stable, not constantly murmuring and popping all 8 columns into the red from time to time.
Since then, touch wood, my crackles and pops have ceased and I cautiously look forward to happier times.
Should I have known this already, I wonder? Does this indicate a fault in my installation or would it be in my configuration? Or am I just dumb (I could be dumb).
This posting is sharing more frustration than wisdom, I guess - more heat than light - but forums are for sharing, right? and I hope it may help others out there. Thanks for being there and for listening.

Hi,you can try to disable any WiFi and Lan device on your mobo.Second you can check if your thread scheduling modeling is set at 2 in AUD.ini.Best

Hey, I wish you all the best that you do indeed have happier times ahead - cracks and pops are truly a nightmare.

Your story made go to the manual and check a few things, but I ended up searching the best source of information (yeah, this forum).

I learned 2 things that I'll give a try:
 - set processor scheduling to programs not background (which is what all audio tuning guides tell you), but Cake says not (http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=1239881)
 - really high end machines might be better off changing the ThreadSchedulingModel setting in the AUD.INI (http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2095428)

Thanks for getting me started on that.

These days, most cases of clicking & popping relate to deferred procedure calls.  Download DPC Latency Checker and report your findings.

Silicon Audio


These days, most cases of clicking & popping relate to deferred procedure calls.  Download DPC Latency Checker and report your findings.

Yeah, this is one of the tools to do your homework, in case you haven't done it yet.
 
Here's another good one: http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon 
LatencyMon gives a lot more information than DPC Latency Checker and is also freeware.
 
Cheers
 
 

Thank you all for sharing your expierence and the good hinds ! 
Pragi

Disabling the multiprocessing engine has been one of the most "popular" ways of getting rid of crackles. That has always puzzled me, as I've thought the multiprocessing engine should help to use the PC's resources more efficiently, not hog them. But obviously I've misunderstood the concept.

Adding the multiprocessor engine setting was one of the first things I did when I bought Sonar X1. When I realised my crackles and pops persisted I did about a day of research and came to the conclusion that Intel Speedstep should be disabled (either in BIOS or Windows). Then Sonar rocked....

If I hadn't done that I possibly would have posted a new thread entitled "Goodbye" about a month later....

Worth noting none of these issues were anything to do with Cakewalk, it was Intel and my misconfiguration initially.
Of course keeping drivers and firmware up to date is a must.

Cheers

Alex

GIM Productions


Hi,you can try to disable any WiFi and Lan device on your mobo.Second you can check if your thread scheduling modeling is set at 2 in AUD.ini.Best

Yep. Did all that and tried o, 1 and 2... no joy.

Silicon Audio


These days, most cases of clicking & popping relate to deferred procedure calls.  Download DPC Latency Checker and report your findings.

This lives in my task bar and was the first check I ran. It showed no problem.