Hello everyone, I have had X1 Producer for a few years now. I recently changed computers and I'm having instability and crashes.

It doesn't make sense because the computer I'm using now has better specifications than the one I used X1 on before...

Before it was an E-Machies Desktop with a single 3.0ghz processor with 3gb of RAM. I use an M-Audio Mobile Pre USB as my AI.

Now I have a Toshiba laptop with an i5 processor and 6 gb of RAM. I should mention Win 7 64 bit.

The program loads quickly but I get in to trouble with simple soft synth things. I might set up my drums in Session Drummer 3 and be working along just fine for 15 minutes in the step sequencer auditioning and tweaking and then all of a sudden "Sonar X1 is not responding" or "fatal error".

Now I don't know if it makes a difference but I will admit that sometimes I'll just my onboard soundcard for doing drums just because I might work on it somewhere else other than my desk where my AI is. So when I do work on it using my sound card I have the driver to the MME setting (no idea what those are... just know that ASIO is what I use with the AI). I don't know if this could be it or not.

All in all it runs perfectly fine for a while but eventually it seems to get overloaded. I haven't yet done a multitrack song on the laptop and I'm worried I won't be able to with say 20 tracks. I also don't know anything about track freezing because I never had an issue in the past.

I would appreciate your suggestions or trouble shooting ideas. And if all else fails do I just give up on X1 and try to buy an old copy of say Sonar 8? I have a bunch of songs that need recording and I really hope this can be resolved. I don't know if I have to go to version 8, but if I do does it still have studio instruments and Session Drummer and True Piano? Thanks for taking the time to read all this. I hope someone can relate and help stabilize things.

Cheers!

It makes a huge difference using the on-board sound. Those drivers are not meant for heavy duty DAW use and will cause you a lot of grief.

Get a better audio interface. Using the built in soundchip is not going to give good results. You should know better than that.

I'd suggest that you start off with no third party anything - only things that came with X1.  Add the rest one at at time - using it for a couple of hours (or till you 'feel' it should have crashed) and  check for issues.

I'm pretty sure (just based on experience), that one of the plug-ins will the causing the issue.  (not 64 bit, not happy with bitbridge, doen't play well with other in the new os, etc.).

I happen to have a plugin soft wynth (old Organized) that will reliably crash after a couple of hours - even when left unattended.  It's a memory leak that the author was aware of and fixed, I've just not upgraded to it.  (though I know i should - its a good VST)

I'm pretty sure it isn't X1.  There are a lot of varible involved in the DAW.  Start at the beginning and work you're way up.  Sheer horsepwer of the computer is only a very small part of the puzzle.  having all the kids hold hands and sing kumbayah is a whole 'nother story.
 
And as others have already indicated - on board chips will only lead to excessive drinking and other thing :)

Good luck.

I haven't seen an onboard sound card yet that handles a powerful DAW, especially once a synth comes in to play. I'd definitely recommend doing everything through the M-Audio. I have one, and it does just fine for 20 track songs... mine starts breaking closer to 60... I know this sounds like a question you'd ask a newb, and I know you've been using X1 for quite a while... but um... did you apply the patches? It occurs to me that I was having similar problems when I changed to a different computer and was like "duh, the patches!"

Thanks for your responses. I did apply the patches... up to X1d. And yes, it does make sense that an onboard soundcard could be the big issue. Tomorrow I'll plug in my AI and see if that solves it. Also, I like your recommendation to just start simple.... maybe I'll work on a few simple audio tracks and if that works okay for the recording then I'll try adding some cakewalk and sonitus effects and see if that stays stable. If that works I'll go to what came bundled such as the studio instruments soft synths and session drummer 3 and true pianos. The one follow up I would ask is about third party vst's. I have a bunch of Waves vst plug-ins. Should I uninstall them before trying the above? Could it be that they are causing the problem with some kind of leak or however you phrase it? Thanks again

I use 2 different laptops both with onboard sound (when my interface isn't handy) and have no problems at all. Try WDM or the new equivalent instead of MMC or download and try ASIO4ALL which is a generic ASIO driver that allows most onboard soundchips to function in ASIO mode. I'm using Waves ver9 complete and never have any trouble with those either but not on the same operating system as you.

I may have been extreme in saying "no onboard sound cards"... I'll revise it to "none I've had"... My desktop sound card is so bad that Sonar Crashes if I load a single synth. My Notebook sound card can handle a few tracks, but since my DIs perform significantly better, it doesn't make any sense to me not to use them.

Tkrain


I haven't seen an onboard sound card yet that handles a powerful DAW, especially once a synth comes in to play. I'd definitely recommend doing everything through the M-Audio. I have one, and it does just fine for 20 track songs... mine starts breaking closer to 60... I know this sounds like a question you'd ask a newb, and I know you've been using X1 for quite a while... but um... did you apply the patches? It occurs to me that I was having similar problems when I changed to a different computer and was like "duh, the patches!"

I have no trouble using onboard sound on either of two laptops or two desktops, all 4 systems run solid with Sonar. Including multiple effects, VST's, VSTi's. Latency below 30ms on all machines but one using ASIO4ALL, as low as 12ms when tracking. If the system and drivers buffer the audio correctly it should not be an issue. As far as Sonar is concerned it's just sending stereo audio down the pipe. As far as the soundcard knows it's simply receiving audio. The only issue between onboard sound and an external card should be latency...clearly the latency should be lower on a dedicated card. This should not cause crashing but will result in crackling, stuttering, dropouts etc., very different symptoms than crashing.
 
Onboard soundchips are often used in millions of computers as opposed to hundreds or thousands. The drivers tend to be very solid as they have to service a huge number of users. It's a fallacy to suggest that "cheaper onboard" soundchips have inferior drivers. I'm not suggesting pro devices aren't better suited to DAW's, clearly they are not due to S/N ratio, THD,  flexibilty etc. but there's no reason one can't use the onboard soundchips. Frankly, when it comes to drivers I have had -far- more issues with pro cards as they don't have the budget or experience to stand next to some of the huge companies like Realtek. I've had some major issues with Echo, Ensoniq, Roland and Digidesign (off the top of my head), in some cases bad enough I have sworn off ever using products from certain companies ever again. I think Echo should rename their products to BSOD Computer Killers.

M-Audio and x64 in the same sentence is a good starting point to look in my experience, although I'm sure they must be better now.

Track freezing is as simple as clicking on the track or synths freeze button. Sonar will then bounce whatever it is synth or audio down and disable the synth and/or effects on the track relieveing strain on your system.

My laptop which is only for occasional use admittedly runs X1 great using WDM drivers and a £3.50 plug in USB sound thing (card or interface would be too good a description ) which will all day without issues. It's only an old duel core of some sort too.

I've also used ASIO4ALL with the now defunct onboard sound although of course a 'proper' interface is much better.

As suggested I'd check all patches and sound drivers are up to date.