my sonar sometimes doesn't record

hey there. i have sonar3 producer edition. it worked perfectly on my old computer. now i installed it to my new one and i keep getting the following problem: when i make an audio-recording, the waveform preview shows me that i'm actually recording a track. but when i stop the recording it just dissapears in most cases. i think the longer a recording is, the more often it dissapears. is there any cache function i didn't see or anything else in the global or audio settings? (i got read and write caching enabled, but get the same result when i disable them). thanks for helping, sascha

Is Sonar 3 compatible with Windows 7 64 bit??? this might be your problem.

sorry..forgot to mention: i'm using winXP. the same system i had on my old computer. the only difference is: i'm using another soundcard (EWX 24/96).

Can you HEAR the recorded audio even if the waveform isn't visible?

no. it's like i didn't record anything at all.

Would it be possible for you to post screencaps of ALL the tabs in your Audio Options? That would help a lot.

sorry, I read your tutorial for posting images, but in my reply window i don't have the image icon. the whole menu is missing, so i post the image codes of the 3 pictures: guess it won't work, but if u copy&paste the adresses it should work, too.

awww...worked. sorry..i just got this computer and i don't have photoshop installed, yet. so i had to use stupid 'paint'. it's sorta blurry. if you rightklick on the pic and copy picture adress and put it in your browser you get a better resolution.

One thing I notice is that you have both ASIO and ASIO4ALL drivers enabled. Your soundcard doesn't need ASIO4ALL and is ASIO capable. If I were you the first thing I would do would be to uninstall ASIO4ALL.

I would also make sure that only the analog and Mixer inputs and outputs were enabled. If you have any tracks using the S/PDIF inputs you aren't going to record anything unless you have signal sources connected to the S/PDIF input.

Are you using the software mixer for recording? If not you can disable the Mixer In driver. Unless you have a reason to use the other in/outs all you need are the analog inputs and outputs.

I notice that only the Left analog channels are available. That doesn't look good.

Okay. Here is what I suggest.

1. Uninstall ASIO4ALL.

2. Select the WDM/KS driver mode in the advanced tab.

3. Run the Wave Profiler in the general tab. You don't see it now because it isn't available in the ASIO mode. It will be visible after you go to WDM/KS driver mode.

4. Post screencaps of all the tabs again. Paint isn't so bad even though it is pretty limited. I would crop the images to just the tabs to make the pics smaller. The images of the tabs will still be the same size. A better, and free, program for image editing can be found at http://paint.net/

ok, that didn't work. i uninstalled asio4all, switched to WDM/KS and ran the wave profiler, like u said. all OK so far. but then i opened a track, checked the outputs (which were OK), but each track causes a terrible sorta feedback noise. just some distorted, echoing noise. when i chose 'default' it's quite the same. only 'asio' is working properly. i really made no other changes. i'll post the screenshots soon.

screens: sorry, couldn't crop the previous pics

ASIO is good. I only suggested going to WDM/KS so you could run the wave profiler, though the WDM/KS mode shouldn't be the cause of the audio problem you're having. Have you installed the latest drivers for your soundcard and operating system?

If you're using the mixer input/output drivers there may be a problem in the software mixer for your soundcard.

You can crop photos at Photobucket, not that its a big deal.

I would disable all but the #1 wave analog drivers.

What device is the input #4 USB audiogearat?

no, i didn't mean cropping them at photobucket but with my 'paint' - that tiny prog that is included in windows. anyway, the mixer input/output drivers weren't selected on the track i checked. i might need them when i'm playing tracks on fruity loops and want to record them simultaneously on sonar. i was told that doesn't work but it did work on my other computer (had a different soundcard on that one..maybe it really won't work with the EWX). the operating system has just been installed and updated, for the soundcard there might be an update. i'll check that. the 'USB audiogerät' is my korg legacy controller. i also noticed that it seems not to depend on the length of the recorded track, but on how much i recorded before. when i tried recording again it took a while until the described problem appeared. ok, i'll update my soundcard driver and disable the mixer driver.

Also, I suggest disabling the read/write caching in the advanced tab. The Help files says that you should only do that when it is needed and that is usually when using older computers.

ok, so far it seems like it's working again. i found out i already have the latest soundcard driver. i really can't believe it was because of the asio4all driver, so it must have been because of the mixer input driver, which is strange, because i had this one activated on my old computer all the time and never got a problem. anyway, thanks very very much. it looks like the problem's solved. can't really tell right now, cos i would need to record some more and it's already 4:30am over here. i will for sure come back for some more advice if needed. thanks a lot again for taking care, sascha

A lot of people use ASIO for all and like it. You may go back to using it. But I'm in favor of using as simple a setup as possible when trying to resolve problems. Because you were only getting the left input/output of your analog device you had to get out of ASIO mode to run the wave profiler. Now that it's looking better you might try going back to ASIO mode. Make sure that only the analog input/output is enabled.

nah! now that i switched back to ASIO (i uninstalled ASIO4all) there is again only left channel available. the strange thing is that i can chose between "left ASIO for EWX 24/96(1) analog in left" and "right ASIO for EWX 24/96(1) analog in left" and "stereo ASIO for.....analog in left" first one records left channel, 2nd one right channel and 3rd one the stereo signal. so why the addition "left"? weird.

sorry to be a pain, but the problem still exists. sonar only keeps the 2 or 3 first recorded tracks and only if they're not too long. i got plenty of empty disk space, also in my temporary folder - so this might also not be the problem. anyone got an idea?

I had exactly the same issue recently with Sonar 5 Producer. I solved it (I hope) by fiddling with the options under Tools global to do with vst effect tails being played (unchecked the box or checked it, can't remember).

surreal_funfair


sorry to be a pain, but the problem still exists. sonar only keeps the 2 or 3 first recorded tracks and only if they're not too long. i got plenty of empty disk space, also in my temporary folder - so this might also not be the problem. anyone got an idea?

My first suspect would be that you have punch in enabled.  check to make sure your punch in recording is disabled.  if that doesn't work, try a NEW project and see if it happens there.

surreal_funfair


nah! now that i switched back to ASIO (i uninstalled ASIO4all) there is again only left channel available. the strange thing is that i can chose between "left ASIO for EWX 24/96(1) analog in left" and "right ASIO for EWX 24/96(1) analog in left" and "stereo ASIO for.....analog in left" first one records left channel, 2nd one right channel and 3rd one the stereo signal. so why the addition "left"? weird.

this would be because of the way that the soundcard drivers are written - sonar doesn't have any control over that, it just uses what the driver gives it.

@ beagle: it seems you can't enable or disable 'punch in' in sonar 3 producer ed. i remember being able to disable it in my old cakewalk but here it seems to be fixed. i mean - of course you need to chose a region and activate it, but there is no way to disable the function itself, like unchecking a box. thx for the information about the soundcard driver. i'll stop worrying about that now. @mvdwant: i already tried checking and unchecking it - makes no difference.

You know that card was built for Windows 98!
At some point in time the headaches involved in trying to keep old gear going is just not worth the bother. Your new computer should have come with windows 7. Sonar has evolved way beond verson 3. Just sayin,

surreal_funfair


@ beagle: it seems you can't enable or disable 'punch in' in sonar 3 producer ed. i remember being able to disable it in my old cakewalk but here it seems to be fixed. i mean - of course you need to chose a region and activate it, but there is no way to disable the function itself, like unchecking a box. thx for the information about the soundcard driver. i'll stop worrying about that now. @mvdwant: i already tried checking and unchecking it - makes no difference.

that can't be true.  it has to have a way to enable and disable it or it wouldn't serve any purpose.  I don't have Sonar 3, but if there are no icons on the menus to enable or disable (which I could believe that), then you'd have to enable/disable it in the menu.  I think the punch in options are in the TRANSPORT menu - is that the name of it?  I can't remember for certain.

@ johnny, i know it's all old, but the soundcard worked perfectly on my old computer, which also was running winXP. and why changing a working system? ..if only it would work now.. @beagle: here you got the only setting options for punch in stuff: (see - not selected) this is the extended transport menu. u can choose 'punch in' (lower symbol on the left) but can't disable the function this appears when you mark a region and do a right click. punch in is always available here u can see my audio options in the above postings. this is the general options - also no 'disable punch in function' or something alike.

damn it! sorry for the bad pics. i still got no proper image editing software installed. and 'paint' just doesn't let me remove the area around the selected region - it just appears white.

By the way - I am still having the same problem as surreal_fanfair - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't - in sonar producer 5 and using m-audio fastrack usb. have fidlled with all of the audio settings to no avail.

surreal_funfair


 (see - not selected) this is the extended transport menu. u can choose 'punch in' (lower symbol on the left) but can't disable the function  this appears when you mark a region and do a right click. punch in is always available here  u can see my audio options in the above postings. this is the general options - also no 'disable punch in function' or something alike.

the punch in is shown here disabled.  it's enabled by the icon being "lit" and disabled as it is shown now.  this is just a clarification to let you and others reading know that it CAN be disabled because you're currently showing it in the disabled state.
 
 

if you start a new project does this happen on a new project? or is it only on this one project?

oh, ok.. i thought you were talking about disabling it somewhere in the settings. no, it's always like this. this is the standard.

surreal_funfair


damn it! sorry for the bad pics. i still got no proper image editing software installed. and 'paint' just doesn't let me remove the area around the selected region - it just appears white.

Paint allows you to crop and resize images. You can also crop and resize them after you upload them to Photobucket. You can still crop and resize them and that will change how they appear here.

they're OK now. it just looked different in the preview

surreal_funfair


oh, ok.. i thought you were talking about disabling it somewhere in the settings. no, it's always like this. this is the standard.

are you answering my question about whether it does the same thing if you start a new project?

yes, it's about when i start a new project. it's always disabled.

no, that wasn't what I was asking.  I was asking if you start a new project do you still have the problem of recording something then the waveform disappearing leaving nothing recorded?

yes. it's not project-related. it also happens in new projects. got myself a new soundcard now, although i can't imagine it's because of that.