Sonar doesn't share audio drivers properly.

I think most on here use a different audio driver on the "computer" system than what they run their sonar DAW with or disable the computers internal card all together on their DAW

I use asio driver for the tascam us-1641 on both sonar and through the main computer applications like windows media player ect... with no problems .. I know others have issues with it and just switch driverers all together when using the internal computer sounds ....

I dont know much about asio4all -- other than when I tried it a few years ago -- it gave me problems and I didnt bother with it others use it just fine on here--- and asio drivers from tascam work fine for me

so -- hope me not answering your question at all helps -- LOL

I think you'll find this is due to your audio interface drivers rather than to Sonar.

I have 2 systems with Digidesign interfaces (M-box and 002) and both have difficulties sharing the audio between applications, although I haven't seen exactly what you describe..
I also have a system with 3 x Motu interfaces, which just 'always works' no matter what I run.

Hi ZildjianAVC:

Welcome to the SONAR Forum!

I don't know if you are set up exactly right for this but let's see.

I was having a problem playing YouTube videos and SONAR at the same time, too. Also had this problem with WMP and Teamspeak.

Couldn't run them at the same time with SONAR running, or I would get some audio error for the program I opened up 2nd.

I discovered that my problem was a mismatch of sample rates. The SONAR project and the windows default playback device and default record device all have to be on the same sample rate. Once I fixed it so they all were, I am able to run WMP, SONAR, and Teamspeak without a problem, at the same time.

Maybe you can check if your SONAR project and windows default playback and record devices are all set at the same sample rate.

Maybe it can be a good result for you, too.

OK. Here's a few reasons why one would open YouTube, WMP, or Teamspeak while also having SONAR open.

Youtube:

Youtube has some OK videos with tutorials. While watching one such video tutorial, a user may want to follow along in SONAR to get a hands on experience. This is really nice. I do it with some SONAR 8 tutorials, such as AudioSnap.

WMP:

A user may want to playback an audio track of a CD or any compatible audio for quick comparison with a project in SONAR. This may be a comparison of how loud is the project level in comparison to a commercial CD, of audible clarity of a project compared to a commercial CD, or of sound quality of a mp3 converted from a project compared to the original project sound.

Teamspeak, or any other Internet voice chat app:

These programs are good for collaborated work. I have an Internet friend I'm working with to compose the music for a game he has developed. Through an Internet voice chat program, I can have SONAR open and let him hear certain musical ideas I have for certain moments in his game, or for the game menu. He can let me know his thoughts, I can get a personal experience of his reactions to various ideas, and he can use his voice for audible impressions for the type of sound he may want for effects and such, all possible over Internet voice chat. These Internet chat programs are good, to a certain extent, for collaborated work.

Sometimes, I find it easier or more convienient to try to help someone with SONAR related stuff by using a real time voice capable program. I can have SONAR open together with the person, and give better guidance through whatever it is I'm helping with. Some programs that are good for this are Teamspeak and Yahoo Instant Messenger.

If a user wants to use SONAR to do serious work on a project, all other programs can be closed.

These are some reasons I have SONAR open with these other programs.

(thomasabarnes) I discovered that my problem was a mismatch of sample rates

It's still all about your interface and drivers.
Some audio cards will play two different sample rates at once, and some will not.
The old IBM 8187 I'm using to write this is quite happy playing a 48k MP3 in Quicktime and a 44.1k MP3 in WMP simultaneously.

ORIGINAL: strikinglyhandsome1

That's why some of us use an external card and an internal card.

The internal card takes care of the media stuff and the external card takes care of Sonar.

No conflict and it works.

Thats what I recommend.

It's still all about your interface and drivers.

+100
I use one interface for everything in my pc. I keep it simple /stupid and i can play WMP, Utube, and sonar and any other media player i need to hear or have on my pc. My Motu is set up for sonar and what ever media player i chose to hear.
Cj

On my system (Saffire LE, M-Audio Delta 66, Line6 X3L) S8 won't ever share drivers, regardless of what is checked on the options. If I have any other sound-generating program running when Sonar starts, Sonar will refuse to play. This is a real pain for many reasons. I might have iTunes open, for instance, to listen to some tracks, or be using some outboard editor such as Nero, etc. This is true of ASIO or WDM/KS. Sonar will also periodically play but loose 'connection' to the drivers. So no sound comes out of the speakers, nor does the Saffire Control Panel show any activity. I actually have removed the M-Audio drivers altogether, and disabbled the Line6 drivers drivers in Sonar. But the problems still occur.

ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry

But the WDM/ASIO driver is certainly not a high priority for Digi. Many folks have to disable multi-core CPU support when running the Digi ASIO driver... or their system will crash. Big sacrifice in performance... little motivation for Digi to address the problem

Good information - thanks for passing that along.

Any other ideas?

Download the YouTube video, convert it to MP3 and import it to a spare track in Sonar ?
Depends how many you need to listen to I guess..

John, I was unclear. I meant to say that all of these DAWs (I haven't double-checked Cubase, but I'm 100% about the rest of them) work well with QuickTime, YouTube, WMP, etc. running. I'd never run two DAWs together except for the occasional ReWire =)

Dave, thanks for the tip!

In the meantime, I've found a workaround that might lead to a solution for the real problem. If I use MME in Sonar (as opposed to ASIO or WDM/KS) then this problem doesn't occur. This means it's a problem with WDM handling specifically, as opposed to the handling of audio drivers in general. The downside is that my latency is quadrupled!

Any other ideas?

ORIGINAL: CJaysMusic
They specifically wrote drivers to hinder windows performance.

That would be messed up.

John, I was unclear. I meant to say that all of these DAWs (I haven't double-checked Cubase, but I'm 100% about the rest of them) work well with QuickTime, YouTube, WMP, etc. running. I'd never run two DAWs together except for the occasional ReWire =)

Hi Zildjian,

The problem you're bumping into is the result two apps grabbing the WDM driver.
ASIO-For-ALL is wrapping the Mbox WDM driver... to create an ASIO driver.

IOW, WMP is accessing the Mbox via WDM driver... and Sonar is too (even if indirectly).
What happens if you use the stock Digi ASIO driver (instead of ASIO-For-ALL) for Sonar?
You'll likely have to disable Sonar's multi-core option... but I'll bet you won't experience the same problem.

I believe this is basically what John was talking about in his post...

ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry
What happens if you use the stock Digi ASIO driver (instead of ASIO-For-ALL) for Sonar?

Digi's ASIO driver doesn't appear as an option in Sonar. Only WDM, ASIO, MME none of which share audio devices properly when used by Sonar.

ZildjianAVC,

Did you figure it out?  I had everything running on the School's set-up properly when I borrowed a 002.  The school purchased a 003 and Sonar 8 and now I can't get the driver to show up in Sonar.  Is it possible that the latest updates of Sonar makes it impossible to see the driver?  Now that I am home, I also realized that I installed an old ASIO driver.  I need to get back to the school and try out the newer one and see if that solves the problem.