sonar kills other sounds

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silvagod
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2015/03/20 17:05:00 (permalink)

sonar kills other sounds

Hi everyone,
 
I know this is a very 'noob' type of question, but I am trying to get my head round using a DAW and using my PC in a normal way at the same time.
 
I have Sonar LE that came with my A800-pro controller keyboard. Everything works fine, I can play and record, edit, change, save etc etc. However...
 
Sometimes I am trying to listen to a youtube video or an MP3 on my PC t o hear the song I am trying to play or at least try to play, but when I have Sonar active it mutes all other sounds from my PC. I realise that this is no doubt something to do with the MIDI routing and the sounds card, but I can't fathom a way around it. Can anyone help or is this 'just the way it is'
 
I have a windows 7 pc with an Asus xONAR dx sound card and both are capable of playing anything that I throw at them. The A800-PRO is connected via USB.
 
Suggestions welcome :)
#1

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    yapweiliang
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/20 17:26:43 (permalink)
    Try 
     
    Preferences --> Audio --> Playback and Recording  (or at least this is where the setting lives in the X series, and probably the same with LE)
     
    and tick "Share Drivers with other programs"
     
    Or, if you can, invest in a separate audio interface and leave the sound card for youtube and skype (and keep the audio interface exclusive (not share drivers with other programs) for sonar, for the very un-scientific reason of minimising potential problems).
     
     
    #2
    silvagod
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/20 17:38:17 (permalink)
    Thanks for the input.
     
    I have now ticked that box and it makes things a little simpler. At least now if I make youtube the focus, the sound works, and then re-focus on Sonar and that works too. (previously I had to close Sonar!)
     
    I guess your other solution would be the ideal one, but things are certainly bearable now. 
     
    Thank you :) 
    #3
    promidi
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/20 18:15:48 (permalink)
    If you are using the Asus sound card for all of your Windows audio, AND using ASIO driver mode within Sonar, then opening up your SONAR will use the ASUS exclusively and mute all other programs using the ASUS, ie..  all other uses of the ASUS card outside of sonar will be muted.  This is because only one program can asses the card at a time if one of those programs uses ASIO mode.

    What I have done is use the ASUS card for Sonar and my motherboard's on-board sound for almost everything else (YouTube, external sound player, VLC, Ect.).  That way the sound outputs from the ASUS and the on-board are independent and do not interfere with each other.  I also have a 12 channel external powered mixer where the ASUS card's outputs and the on-board are feed into separate channels.
    #4
    yapweiliang
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/21 08:14:26 (permalink)
    Yes - I forgot about the built-in motherboard sound card.  That's another way of doing it
    #5
    silvagod
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/21 10:33:14 (permalink)
    That's a great idea, never thought about that either!
     
    Thanks for the help :)
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    YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
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    Re: sonar kills other sounds 2015/03/21 10:50:00 (permalink)
     
    The X series did not play nice with my EMU sound card. No sharing. No new drivers. No joy.
    It was also random. Sometimes it would work in Chrome. Whenever I opened the Sonar online help in IE Sonar would lose the audio device.
     
    No problems with 8.5.
     
    Fortunately(?) the card recently died. Now using a new Tascam 16x08 USB interface. No worries.
     
    Still sad to have lost the EMU interface. Very versatile.
    #7
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