Audio Render error when new project opened

[Ram Chebiyyam 1]

Hey guys!

I am a new user of cakewalk(just installed it) and I have a problem. Once I start a new project in cakewalk, something happens with the audio drivers and youtube displays audio render error and I also can't hear anything from the cakewalk project. If I try troubleshooting using the in-built windows troubleshooting app, it says it needs to reinstall the audio drivers and when it does, cakewalk shows an error and closes. Can someone please help as I am a beginner and am just beginning to learn?

[msmcleod 1,105]

First of all, I'd make sure that the sample rate / bit depth within Windows matches what you've got in Cakewalk.

Windows quite often defaults to 48Khz / 16 bit, whereas many Cakewalk users prefer 44.1Hkz/ 24 bit.  Pick one you want to use, and make sure both Windows & Cakewalk are using the same settings.

If this doesn't work, what audio driver mode have you got set within preferences?

 

If you've got it set to ASIO, then consider one of the WASAPI modes. The ASIO drivers for on board devices are notoriously bad.

If you've got it set to WASAPI (Exclusive), Cakewalk may be having trouble "stealing" the audio device from your browser running YouTube. If this is the case, try setting it to WASAPI (Shared).

If you've already got it set to WASAPI (Shared), it might be that your audio device doesn't support sharing. If this is the case you could try setting it to WASAPI (Exclusive), or MME.

Be aware though that MME can have pretty high latency, so this may cause problems when recording software instruments in real time.

By far the best solution is to buy a dedicated external ASIO audio interface, though I appreciate this might not be an option for you.

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by msmcleod
Updated screen shot - well spotted @Noel Borthwick!

[Ram Chebiyyam 1]

msmcleod setting it to MME did the job for me! I'm a beginner and don't know anything yet. So thank you so much for helping me out!!

Edited July 17, 2019 by Ram Chebiyyam

[msmcleod 1,105]

1 hour ago, Ram Chebiyyam said:

msmcleod setting it to MME did the job for me! I'm a beginner and don't know anything yet. So thank you so much for helping me out!!

Actually, there's two other options I totally forgot about.

WDM is a much better alternative to MME, and will give you much better latency.

Another thing you could try is ASIO4All, which basically wraps the WDM driver up as an ASIO driver. You may get much better performance using this method.

http://www.asio4all.org/

[chuckebaby 608]

If your going to be recording any over dubs with Audio, you'll want to do as @msmcleod suggested and get a good driver like ASIO4ALL. (cant believe I just called ASIO4ALL a "good driver"

[grabida 0]

Changing the WASAPI  mode fixed as well, but the screenshot above threw me off at first. It shows the driver mode in MIDI settings, which only had WUP.  Nothing worked until I found the right setting in the Audio Playback and Recording settings.

All good now. Thanks!

[Noel Borthwick 1,153]

That screenshot is incorrect. The audio driver mode needs to be selected from the audio section instead.
If you want other apps to play audio the best mode to use is WASAPI shared because behind the scenes Windows mixes other applications audio streams.
Most devices should work with WASAPI shared.  Ironically some pro audio interfaces perform poorly in WASAPI mode - likely because vendors only test in ASIO mode.

[msmcleod 1,105]

4 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

That screenshot is incorrect. The audio driver mode needs to be selected from the audio section instead.
If you want other apps to play audio the best mode to use is WASAPI shared because behind the scenes Windows mixes other applications audio streams.
Most devices should work with WASAPI shared.  Ironically some pro audio interfaces perform poorly in WASAPI mode - likely because vendors only test in ASIO mode.

Well spotted @Noel Borthwick - I've updated the screenshot.

[SteveH112 0]

I actually started getting the audio renderer error after I installed Asio4all.  Someone suggested installing it on another tutorial video because the only audio devices available were Beheringer USB Audio in 1 and Audio out 1.  I can select my computer speakers now and I get sound from Cakewalk, but get the renderer error every time I try to watch the youtube video with cakewalk open .