Recording causes hiccups & dropouts

[redss55]

Cakewalk 8.5.3 - plays back fine, however once I arm a track to record and start recording, the playback track hiccups/drops out occasionally like every 10-15 seconds.  It's unusable like this.     Windows 7 Using ASIO drivers with M-Audio Fasttrack USB interface.   CPU usage displays as very low like 1-2%. 

 

 What can I change?

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

It probably isn't a CW issue. Try reinstalling the audio interface driver. Something could be going on with your computer. Maybe spyware or some other virus.   Start with doing a 5 stage check disk on your drive and defrag the drive.

Edited July 11, 2022 by TVR PRODUCTIONS

[John Vere]

That set up is soooo outdated I don’t think you can expect good performance. First Sonar is no longer supported.  8.5 was a pretty good version and I still have it installed to get True Pianos. We have come a million miles since then with Cakewalk. 
I have a Fast Track pro sitting on a shelf that I seem to remember was the worst interface I ever owned. I replaced it in 2008 with a Tascam. 

Have you tried using the new Cakewalk which is 100 % supported?  It still runs on W7 which is as far as your interface made it with driver updates. 

[redss55]

10 hours ago, John Vere said:

That set up is soooo outdated I don’t think you can expect good performance. First Sonar is no longer supported.  8.5 was a pretty good version and I still have it installed to get True Pianos. We have come a million miles since then with Cakewalk. 
I have a Fast Track pro sitting on a shelf that I seem to remember was the worst interface I ever owned. I replaced it in 2008 with a Tascam. 

Have you tried using the new Cakewalk which is 100 % supported?  It still runs on W7 which is as far as your interface made it with driver updates. 

Are you sure the latest Cakewalk runs on Windows7?   The requirements I saw on the download page said it requires Windows 8.1 and higher

 

[John Vere]

I have it on a W7 laptop. I don't really use it but it most certainly opens and loads projects.  I only installed it to do some live recording last Summer.  And I'm sure others here are using it on W7 as well. Mostly this will happen for the same reason you have. Outdated hardware. That Laptop is from 2008 and has 4 GB of RAM,  so no way it would run W 10.  But Honestly unless you are really hurtin for cash, you should replace the M audio interface. It's probably why you have the drop outs. Did you try and increase the buffers to like 512? 

[Lord Tim]

Cakewalk runs fine on Windows 7 but it's not actively tested on Win7 or supported, but unlike 8.5, it's still actively being developed and bugs are being fixed. There can sometimes be issues with authentication if some system libraries are out of date or you're using outdated hardware, but otherwise it's working as well as it does on Win8/10/11 for most people. The kick up in features and bug fixes from 8.5 is worth the move alone!