Sonar loading times and changeable audio interface set ups

[norfolkmastering]

I have two setups when using Sonar.

My composing set up has a single MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid USB audio interface and no external hardware controllers.  Recording is all digital.

My main recording and mixdown set up has six MOTU ultralite mk3 Firewire audio interfaces and two external hardware controllers with a complex MIDI routing arrangement via MIDI-OX.  This is used with a lot of audio I/O in a hybrid digital/analogue set up with tape machines.  Recording is digital, analogue or both.

Both run from the same PC.

I only power up the hardware I am going to use for a session.

If I power everything up, then the total loading of seven MOTU units and the controllers and the MIDI stuff begins to cause the whole system to struggle. 

If I've been using the main set up  and then next day power up the composing set up, Sonar is quite slow to load and of course I get the warning that two controllers could not be connected to.  Occasionally I get problems with random changing of audio sampling rate and have to power down and back up again to get it all sorted.

Is there any way to store two set ups in Sonar so that switching between my composing and main recording set ups could be easier, load faster and be less prone to hiccups?

I know that the Cakewalk stores some information about the audio interfaces in AUD.INI so I was wondering if I could have two versions of that, one for each set up?  Or is there another way?

 

[norfolkmastering]

This morning I powered up and loaded my main set up (after having powered down yesterday after a session with my composing set up (see above).

The six MOTU audio interfaces were recognised fine by the MOTU app but Sonar struggled to get past the first SONAR screen.  Previously it has taken up to a minute to get past this initial screen but today it won't at all.

Did a PC reboot and Sonar started after about 45 secs.

Sonar seems to struggle with changed audio interface hardware so your thoughts on this and my previous post would be welcome.

[John Vere]

After using around 8 different Daw’s over the last year I will say that yes, Sonar is possibly the only one that has a problem like this.
 

have 3 interfaces that I use depending on what Im doing that day. 

Most Daw’s seem to automatically switch to the connected interface. Some ask you to check and choose on the start screen. 
S1 is by far the most advanced where it allows you to totally customize inputs and outputs , rename them and save this for recalling. It seems designed to be used with complex systems. 
 

Most times as long as the interface is connected and used by Windows, Sonar will automatically use it. But I’ve had times when I get the no audio device warning as well. And it also will sometimes default to the Master output being set to None. Then with my Motu M4 it requires I totally re boot the computer. 

[Xoo]

See my answer here:

 

[Glenn Stanton]

one thing - make sure the preference "always open all  devices" is NOT checked as this created a temp file for each possible input - 12 ch? = 12 temp files, 32 ch? = 32 temp files... this can slow down the open and closing times significantly...

earlier version (like SPLAT and earlier days) i have 40 ch via my IO and ADAT devices . and thus 40 temp files in my project folder each time, and took me a week to figure out the "always open all devices" was the key... 

Edited Monday at 04:08 PM by Glenn Stanton

[norfolkmastering]

Yes I've checked my "open all devices" is not checked.

I found an earlier discussion about this whole topic at 

 

[Wookiee]

@norfolkmastering you could try this.

1. Delete your AUD.INI file.

2. Fire up rig one 1, start Sonar.

3. Close Sonar, rename AUD.INI to AUD.INI-Rig1

4. Fire up rig 2. Start Sonar. 

5. Close Sonar, rename AUD.INI to AUD.INI-Rig2.

6. Write a small DOS script file, with two option that you use to start Sonar,

Option 1 copies AUD.INI-Rig1 to AUD.INI and Starts Sonar,

Option 2 copies AUD.INI-Rig2 to AUD.INI and starts Sonar. 

This means there is only one lot of Audio Hardware Sonar has to think about when starting up.

[norfolkmastering]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I've had a go at creating two hardware profiles.  See 

 

I have taken your suggestion a stage further:

With hardware set 1 powered up, I deleted both aud.ini and ttsseq.ini

Then I started Sonar.

Checked I was happy with settings (e.g. pan law) then saved as a custom hardware config which can be loaded as part of a customised Sonar shortcut.

Next I powered down and then power up with hardware set 2.

Again I deleted aud.ini and ttsseq.ini and loaded

Then I started Sonar (from the standard shortcut).

Again checked I was happy with the settings and saved as a second custom hardware config with its own customised Sonar shortcut.

This means that the aud.ini and ttsseq.ini files only contain the audio and midi listings of the hardware for their related hardware.

I'm still experimenting so I'll let you now if that solves my slow Sonar loading issue.