Sound Stopped and nothing will fix it.

[Hiemoustne]

Hi,

I'm new to this DAW and I have sound drop outs that i cant fix. 

I have put a few tracks down and mixed them nicely (Purely volume and EQ), and then Cakewalk stopped making sounds. Cant hear a thing, however the program seems to be running fine. Windows sounds works fine with everything, -  just not with Cakewalk anymore.

Things I have tried (might not use correct terminology);

1- Changed playback buffer size (to them all), (Was set at 256)

2- Changed Driver mode (to them all), (left on WASAPI, tried MME)

3-  Applied, saved, reloaded Cakewalk everytime,

4- Checked every forum on the internet (including Youtube),

5- Made sure windows and cake walk use same Sample rate,

6- Disconected all (besides main) devices in windows,

7- Probably other stuff I forgot to mention (but willing to try again),

Also, It was working fine, then just stopped (I presume with a drop out message), however at the time I did not know to look at the error number and look up the link to the documentaion - (I found that out while tring to fix the issue). I dont know how to find out what error number it was.

This issue IMHO is an error that should never happen on  audio software, Its like an error that stops the display on a graphic editor. There should be a failsafe since this error renders the software useless. Enough ranting from my frustration....

So does anyone have any ideas? or was my mum right in saying that I was unique to everyone else in the world?

[Starship Krupa]

Welcome to the forum. Lots of good help available here.

Are you having problems with only this one project you have been working on, or can you create a new project and play an audio clip or soft synth?

Have you checked the Hardware Outputs (it's a pane on the far right in Console View)? Make sure that your playback device isn't muted or turned down. Is your Master bus set to output to your playback device? Do you see any movement on the meters in the Hardware Outputs section when you play your project? When you open Preferences/Audio/Devices, is your output device listed there and enabled?

Onboard hardware CODEC's are fine for playback and monitoring purposes. It's only for recording audio that an outboard audio interface will become necessary. The fact that other sounds in Windows are working means that whatever device you're using to listen to playback from your computer is functioning, so the thing to figure out is what's gone wrong with Cakewalk and/or your project.

[Hiemoustne]

Thanks for the replies, they were very helpful.

I now have sound again! It was a simple fix. I have to take the humble pill and admit that I was the cause. After reading the posts, I went mentally checking each step and It wasn't until Starship Krupa suggested that I check the Master Volume that It dawned on me. Nah, I couldn't be that stupid to miss that, 

However, I was stupid, because that was the fix! Turned up the master and 'whamo' sound. 

I had been playing with automatic levels and due to a lot of tracks being turned all the way down in console mode, I just didn't notice the master.  

So, thanks again for your time and effort (It helped me obviously), I can now take the slapped hand of my face as i write this.

 

[Promidi]

You title says "Sound Stopped" and your post says "I have sound drop outs". Which is it?

You have not mentioned anything about your PC configuration.

Have you ruled out any hard drive issues?  Use a tool (such as  https://crystalmark.info/en/ ) that can check for disk errors.  Even check the Windows System Event Logs for bad blocks on any disk drives.

Is your Windows full patched and up to date. 

If you have realtime Antivirus software installed, have you excluded your Cakewalk audio folders from realtime scans (How you so that depends on what Antivirus software you have installed)

Uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers for your Audio interface?  (While you're at it check all other hardware drivers - graphics, network, etc)

If you have an Nvidia graphics card, disable the "high definition audio controller" for the Nvidia card. This is in Device Manager | System Devices.  There may be multiple "high definition audio controller" entries listed there.   If you're using on board sound, then one of those entries will be for the onboard sound, so you would want to leave that enabled.  Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell which one is for your onboard sound.  Leave one enabled, then go to Device Manager |  Sound, Video and Game Controllers and make sure the only audio driver listed is the one Cakewalk uses.

Actually, you did not mention which audio interface. Though I am assuming you're using on board sound card.

You might want to consider purchasing an actual USB audio interface.  These give a much better experience with professional DAWs like Cakewalk.

You mention Driver mode, I am assuming ASIO is not present.  If that's the case, leave at WASAPI

Others, most certainly will come up with more things.....

[Starship Krupa]

On 8/30/2020 at 5:18 PM, Hiemoustne said:

I couldn't be that stupid to miss that

Thanks for posting the solution.

I can't speak for "everyone," and say "everyone has done this."

But I will say that there is a very good reason that I knew what questions to ask. And I'll add that if I slapped my face every time I found a muted bus or zeroed fader or incorrectly assigned output that I had set and forgot about....I'd look like I'd been in a bar fight. And lost. 😅