Cakewalk Regularly Crashing and Freezing

[Stephen Power]

Windows 11, i5, 64GB Ram. Asio driver.

Cakewalk (latest version, up to date), has become very unstable in the last few weeks. I get 'is not responding' freezes and/or shut down crashes every 3 or times I make changes, or add a plugin, or even try to close the project.

Also, when it does close, it is not closing fully, and I have to go into Task Manager to 'end task'.

Any help on what to do about it is welcome.

Edited May 21 by Stephen Power

[msmcleod]

1. Make sure your Cakewalk projects directories, plugin directories and sample library directories are excluded from any anti-virus, anti-malware and cloud-sync services - this includes Windows Defender and OneDrive.  If these programs try to access files that Cakewalk (or a plugin) expects exclusive access to, it can cause a crash.

2. Make sure Windows is up to date, and is running the latest Visual C++ Redistributables - some plugin installers force install an older version.  Note that it's normal to have different VC++ Redists installed (e.g. the 2015 redists is different to the 2019 redists, so can live side-by-side), but you should be running the latest versions of the ones that are installed.

3. Open up PowerShell  ( Windows Key + X, then press A ), and run  sfc /scannow to check for/repair any Windows system integrity issues.

And as a general note regarding Anti Virus software.... never have more than one of these products installed at the same time.  Pick one, then use it.   Multiple anti-virus products will literally fight each other, slowing down your PC, and will introduce stability problems across the board.

[David Baay]

4 hours ago, Stephen Power said:

Asio driver

If I recall correctly you're running a Behringer interface that does not have a native ASIO driver and uses ASIO4ALL, correct? ASIO4ALL can cause this kind of instability. You might be better off using the Behringer in WASAPI Exclusive or even WDM mode.

Long term you should look into getting an interface with native ASIO drivers.

[msmcleod]

Another thing to rule out... some custom mouse drivers can cause issues.

I use a Kensington trackball, and their driver was causing no end of issues for me.  Uninstalling it and sticking to the default Windows mouse driver solved that issue.

[John Vere]

 

Edited July 29 by John Vere

[Stephen Power]

1 hour ago, David Baay said:

If I recall correctly you're running a Behringer interface that does not have a native ASIO driver and uses ASIO4ALL, correct? ASIO4ALL can cause this kind of instability. You might be better off using the Behringer in WASAPI Exclusive or even WDM mode.

Long term you should look into getting an interface with native ASIO drivers.

Thanks to you and @msmcleod for the feedback. I'll go back to WASAPI exclusive. But, I'm sure the not closing fully issue was happening with all the drivers I've tried.

I'll make the changes and run the scan that @msmcleod recommends.

@pwal³ Have you any idea how much you look like my musical hero (whom I've met) Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull?

[David Baay]

1 hour ago, pwal³ said:

i'm still curious as to why asio4all only causes such hoo-har in cakewalk/sonar, no other daw ?‍♀️

The same reason you can't put 87 octane in a Ferrari - detonation. ;^)

[Wookiee]

1 hour ago, pwal³ said:

i'm still curious as to why asio4all only causes such hoo-har in cakewalk/sonar, no other daw ?‍♀️

Because it is a WMD/KS driver from Windows XP in a wrapper to disguise it as ASIO. 

[Stephen Power]

I ran the scan as suggested by @msmcleod . It reported back that there were some repairs made, but the log only show issues with Edge browser and no mention of plugins or Cakewalk.

[John Vere]

My understanding is as Windows moved forward as well as the fact Cakewalk is specifically a Windows only DAW and so heavily tied to your OS. Example CbB still works on W7 but with a warning when you install. I don’t think Sonar will even install.
Then every audio interface has updated ASIO drivers and with those devices you might find WDM mode is no longer supported.
So ASIO 4all is just not compatible with modern versions of Cakewalk. It used to work back in the Splat days.

WASAPI is all you need for using on board Computer audio but then older interfaces as well as cheap designs might not support WASAPI modes. So yes it’s a Cakewalk / Windows thing because Cakewalk / Sonar is designed and tested on only W10?/ W11 now.  
Behringer is more a Max OS oriented company and really only those 2 cheaper interfaces are useless for PC users. They work fine on Core Audio. There’s a few similar priced interfaces that have proper ASIO drivers. 
There’s no point even wasting time trying to get one working. dozens of threads on this topic. 

Edited May 21 by John Vere

[Wookiee]

2 hours ago, pwal³ said:

i know that, but i don't know why this is the only one that has the trubs ?‍♀️ genuinely interested

It also fails the basic Steinberg ASIO test Noel did explain why it was decided to give a warning. Do you know why it even exists?  Even WASAPI4all is again WDM/KS why when WASAPI was introduced in Vista upwards.  

[T Boog]

3 hours ago, David Baay said:

If I recall correctly you're running a Behringer interface that does not have a native ASIO driver and uses ASIO4ALL, correct?

Cheers Dave. I have a Behringer UMC204 interface. How can u tell if it's using an asio4all driver? In preferences it list "UMC ASIO Driver" as in & outs.

Also, this subject came up a couple months ago and Krupa me that the Behringer does have it's own asio driver. Im still wet behind the ears here. How can u tell if it's true asio or asio4all?

[David Baay]

My understanding is that some higher-end Behringer interfaces do have a native ASIO driver whereas some like the UMC22 list ASIO4ALL  in the downloads section.

[Canopus]

1 hour ago, T Boog said:

I have a Behringer UMC204 interface. How can u tell if it's using an asio4all driver?

Open the UMC Control Panel from Windows System Tray and click the About tab. If you see an "ASIO Compatible" logo, your interface is using Behringer's real ASIO driver, and not ASIO4All.

 

 

[T Boog]

9 minutes ago, Canopus said:

If you see an "ASIO Compatible" logo, your interface is using Behringer's real ASIO driver, and not ASIO4All.

Thanks. Mine does show "ASIO compatible". 

[Stephen Power]

UPDATE: I found a lot of 32 bit plugins installed in Cakewalk - all Sonitus fx plugins (a few I was using, but most not in regular use).

I have deleted them all and, so far, Cakewalk is closing down fully and re-opening each time without my having to 'end task' in Task Manager - something I had to do for the last few months.

I'm disappointed to lose the plugins, especially Sonitus delay, but the convenience of being able to open Cakewalk without going into task Manager every time, should be worth buying another delay plugin.  Recommendations welcome!

I'm not sure, yet, if this has also fixed the random crashes issue.

Edited May 21 by Stephen Power

[57Gregy]

2 hours ago, Stephen Power said:

UPDATE: I found a lot of 32 bit plugins installed in Cakewalk - all Sonitus fx plugins (a few I was using, but most not in regular use).

I have deleted them all and, so far, Cakewalk is closing down fully and re-opening each time without my having to 'end task' in Task Manager - something I had to do for the last few months.

I'm disappointed to lose the plugins, especially Sonitus delay, but the convenience of being able to open Cakewalk without going into task Manager every time, should be worth buying another delay plugin.  Recommendations welcome!

I'm not sure, yet, if this has also fixed the random crashes issue.

Okay. Does your Cakewalk automatically scan for plug-ins when you open it? Disable that. 

[John Vere]

Did you not read what a few people were talking about? If you are using a Behringer UMC 2 or UMC22  it won't work with Cakewalk. Starting with the UMC 202HD they do come with proper ASIO drivers. 

Plug ins have nothing to do with your DAW unless they are used in a project. The Sonitus Effects are DX and still work fine for most of us. They are no longer supported but I still use them without issues if they are on older projects. 

All of these 2x2 interfaces use proper ASIO drivers. 

[Stephen Power]

8 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

Okay. Does your Cakewalk automatically scan for plug-ins when you open it? Disable that. 

It does yes. I'll try disabling it.

[Stephen Power]

deleted

Edited May 22 by Stephen Power

[Xoo]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:41 PM, Wookiee said:

It also fails the basic Steinberg ASIO test Noel did explain why it was decided to give a warning. Do you know why it even exists?  Even WASAPI4all is again WDM/KS why when WASAPI was introduced in Vista upwards.  

That's actually the Realtek one - ASIO4All can definitely have issues with grabbing audio ports and not letting go which can cause people problems - so it's thought easier to just warn/block it.

That said, as @pwal³ mentioned, it's not a problem with other DAWs: Steinberg and Magix would surely not ship their own ASIO:WDM interface with their DAWs which would almost always cause problems (I think FLStudio ships one too, but that's ASIO:WASAPI).  So there does seem to be something funky going on with how Cakewalk software works with ASIO (and we're not talking James Brown kind of funky here).