[SOLVED] Cakewalk Sonar Glitches

[thegaltieribrothers]

Can anyone confirm how many plug-ins can be added to the pro-channel before the audio starts to glitch.

Is there a work-around as I have 16GB  of RAM and an i5 7th generation processor in my computer but I am getting audio glitches due to the number of plug-ins on a specific pro-channel?

Any advice appreciated.

Edited 7 hours ago by thegaltieribrothers
problem solved

[Salvatore Sorice]

More RAM may help but it probably mostly depends on the plugins you’re using. Some are way more resource intensive than others. 

[David Baay]

2 hours ago, thegaltieribrothers said:

I am getting audio glitches due to the number of plug-ins on a specific pro-channel?

I would not expect to see a significant load from any sane combination of native Prochannel plugins not including any 3rd party plugins in FX Chains. But I haven't run SONAR on an i5 since sometime in the early 2010s and the minumum recommended spec for Sonar is now 8 cores.

[thegaltieribrothers]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.

[Starship Krupa]

15 hours ago, thegaltieribrothers said:

Is there a work-around as I have 16GB  of RAM and an i5 7th generation processor in my computer but I am getting audio glitches due to the number of plug-ins on a specific pro-channel?

You don't say how you are determining that your audio glitches are due to how many ProChannel FX you are using. ProChannel FX are not demanding of resources.

Something to check when getting glitches and dropouts is buffer size. What audio interface are you using, and in what driver mode? The best will be an external interface, using ASIO, and if that's the case, you can adjust the buffer size in the interface's control panel.

Another solution is to freeze tracks when you come to a stopping point on making adjustments to their plug-ins. Freeze problem tracks while you work on others. Strategic freezing was a common strategy before computer power increased.

Your system is similar in spec to my laptop and my laptop runs fine with Sonar projects.

[AB99]

There are also Windows system tweaks (optimizations)  that reduce the likelihood of glitches.

Also, I have a ton of plugins, but I had one that would produce glitches no matter what I tried.  I just gave up on that plugin.

Edited yesterday at 03:34 AM by AB99

[Starship Krupa]

16 hours ago, AB99 said:

There are also Windows system tweaks (optimizations)  that reduce the likelihood of glitches.

Indeed. A basic one, recommended by the Cakewalk devs, is to exclude your Sonar projects folder from Defender realtime scanning. This is done in Windows Settings/Security and Updates.

I exclude that, as well as my plug-in folders.

There are also BIOS tweaks that help smooth things out, also turning off unnecessary services.

A standard tool for chasing down sources of glitches is LatencyMon. It will assess your system and tell you whether it's doing okay as far as latency. If there are issues, you can use it to track them down.

[AB99]

Here is some more.  There are quite a few sites for optimizing Windows for a DAW, by using  google:
https://support.ujam.com/hc/en-us/articles/16462354518172-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio-Production-A-Detailed-Guide

Edited 16 hours ago by AB99

[Wookiee]

My questions, @thegaltieribrothers, how many tracks, what i5? How many FX are trying to use and what ones? What Audio interface and what buffer size?

[thegaltieribrothers]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I have reduced the number of plugins that were on the pro-channel and the glitches have calmed down.

I especially appreciate the optimisation tips which I will use in future.  In my simplistic view I thought that it wouldn't matter if I have a load of plugins on the pro-channel + thought that if they were switched off they would have no effect on the processing power but it appears they do.

I had a load of plugins in different FX chains (e.g. Compression / Reverb / Delay) on a single pro-channel in an effect to audition / mix and match what I was using on my vocal track so I'll just have to audition them separately.

Cakewalk by Bandlab is a great program and now so is Cakewalk Sonar with a top-notch community as well.

Thanks for all your help.

[Starship Krupa]

11 hours ago, AB99 said:

Here is some more.  There are quite a few sites for optimizing Windows for a DAW, by using  google:
https://support.ujam.com/hc/en-us/articles/16462354518172-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio-Production-A-Detailed-Guide

People should be careful when using Google to find system optimization guides.

This article, like many others of its kind, repeats at least one piece of myth and folklore that has persisted on the subject despite having been debunked. It's outdated and appears to be incomplete.

I didn't read the whole thing, but I got as far as it telling the user to set Processor Scheduling to favor background programs. That myth dates back about 30 years and such people as the Cakewalk developers and Pete Brown of Microsoft have stated that it's not true that doing so will improve audio performance, and will even possibly degrade DAW performance. DAW's are (wait for it) Programs, and setting the OS to favor background processes over programs is misguided.

It also suggests disabling core parking via a registry hack. I don't know if this is still or was ever a valid blanket suggestion, but they don't mention the havoc that can be wrought by people using RegEdit.

Anyone who wants to optimize their Windows system for audio production would do better to go to the source, Pete Brown, who is the go-to guy at Microsoft for all things Windows audio.

This is the first part of his 3 part guide:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows-music-dev/unofficial-windows-10-audio-workstation-build-and-tweak-guide-part-1/

There are also multiple topics on this forum that have information provided by people who specifically use Sonar. Check in Tutorials or Computer Systems.

[AB99]

 Thanks Starship.  It is good to know that setting to background services could be detrimental.  

Setting the power plan to the highest performance is probably one of the easiest tweaks. I am not sure of Pete's view on that.

I would like more information on disabling core parking. And yes, registry changes require careful skills, including making a registry backup.

Edited 45 minutes ago by AB99

[Starship Krupa]

3 hours ago, AB99 said:

I would like more information on disabling core parking. And yes, registry changes require careful skills, including making a registry backup.

If anyone wants to try disabling core parking, Bitsum have a free utility that lets you do it without manually hacking your registry: https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/

Here's an article that goes into greater detail about what core parking is and why one might wish to disable it or leave it alone. Basically it says if your computer is plugged in, you can turn it off and see what happens with no concern. If it's on battery, you'll run your battery down faster without core parking. That's the tradeoff.

https://geartakes.com/disable-core-parking-audio/