Dear Anyone. I was writing a piece using 3 instances of virtual Korg M1 and one instance of Edirol Orchestral, and getting Dropout/Sound Engine Stop Central. I'd tweaked my Windows XP SP3 so there wasn't one unnecessary thing running, wasn't on the Internet and Sonar just wasn't playing ball at all. So I checked the CPU usage - 100%. And it wanted more. Flat outta computer with 4 synths going. Now my DAW before this was Quick Score Elite Level 2 by Sionsoft. It's a straight notation package, in fact I was still using it MIDI-Yoked to Sonar X1 because I'm disabled and can't play a keyboard. Mouse and notation, me. Sonar's effects were better than the plugins I had for QSE, that's the only reason I was using it. BUT... I've often had 5 instances of Korg M1, with 3 effects on each PLUS a couple of Edirol Orchestrals going in QSE, PLUS Ozone on the front end, and my processor's only been on half power. No dropouts. No need to use Asio 4 All or anything like that. Everything working like a dream. Yet try to run 3 instances of Korg M1 in Sonar and you seem to need a comp. as powerful as a Meteorological Office to take the strain. QSE is TINY - it's so small you can E-mail it to someone. Yet it can handle all the instances I've said above with aplomb. WHY does Sonar need so darned much processor power to DO anything!?! System Specs - Gigabyte motherboard with dual core 2.8gig processor, 4gig RAM, nearly a terabyte of hard drive spare, M-Audio 2496 soundcard. I'm frankly astounded and baffled by my discovery of just how much a processor/computer hog Sonar seems to be. What DO I need before it can handle what QSE can handle already? No, I don't work for Sionsoft or anything, it's just that's the only other DAW I've got any knowledge of, cos it's the only other one I've ever used. Yours respectfully ulrichburke

This addendum isn't entirely serious - but if anyone knows how to keep the gaps between paragraphs you put in when typing, so it doesn't always end up as a solid block of text here, I'd love to know. I'm not putting in any gaps here because there's no point, let's face it. Ulrichburke (again!)

  Ya, what's the deal with the formatting!!!??

Don't use Firefox - use Chrome

Respectfully - there's something wrong with your setup if it's consuming that much power.

I'd start by re-profiling your interface, and you should be aware that Windows XP is no longer actively supported by Cakewalk.

Install and run this.....

http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

This will help you narrow things down a bit.

What audio drivers are you using now in Sonar, and what audio drivers were you using before in the setup of your notation software?

I don't know the differences between Quick Score and Sonar, and  you don't say if you're in 32 or 64 bit Windows. But according to the Quick Score site it requires only a few MEGAbytes of RAM, and they don't even mention a CPU recommendation.  I'd say SONAR does not need much horsepower, you just got used to a program so light that it only needed a donkey (which doesn't mean it's not a good program). You can't talk about Quick Score and SONAR on the same day, they are of totally different weight.

Your system specs are just a bit over the minimum specs for SONAR. With the minimum specs no software can show it's true power. And it's ASIO drivers made for your M-Audio that you should use, not ASIO4ALL. I have a similar machine as you. I use SONAR 8.5 fluently, when I remember to freeze or bounce the heavier softsynths sometimes. Projects of 30-40 tracks, 50/50 MIDI and audio behave OK.

When you look at signatures here, most folks have i3 CPUs or better. Nobody designs software for
machines as weak as yours and mine anymore.