Beginner who can't get anywhere...

[Saturnine]

I have just installed sonar on my fairly high spec PC (except for the soundcard), but when I try to select an input for an audio track, the only option is "none". When I go to options and try to set my soundcard as the input, I get an error saying that the "device is already in use by another application, or does not support this format."
I've tried changing heaps of settings, but nothing works. The audio device I have is just a crappy on-board thing, but it can record sound fine in Sound Recorder.

?????

Any help on this matter would be much appreciated.

[MrStitch]

Do you have software for your soundcard running in your system tray?

[Porter]

I can't remember the location, I think it's under Options -> Global, there is an option for 24bit/16bit... make sure that is set to 16bit. Also, are you running Sound Recorded when you try to open Sonar, you can't have any other Sound programs running in the background.

Porter

BTW, Welcome to the board! Where about is OZ?

[BluesMeister]

Porter,

Isn't there an option somewhere to the effect Share Drivers With Other Applications that can be selected to avoid this problemette?

I seem to recall reading this somewhere in this forum.

Saturnine,

You'll soon become tired of that lowly-specced sound card. And when you do, that's when the fun really begins.

--
BluesMeister

[moskus]

Originally posted by Saturnine
I have is just a crappy on-board thing, but it can record sound fine in Sound Recorder.

Sonar is pretty picky about it's drivers and soundcard. You might be able to use it if you force Sonar to use MME-drivers, under Options -> Audio -> Advanced.


And it still amazes me that people buy Sonar to use it with a onboard soundcard...

[Englebert]

Originally posted by moskus
And it still amazes me that people buy Sonar to use it with a onboard soundcard...

Yes... but on the other hand, a better (and expensive) soundcard isn´t much of use if you don´t have any money left for software

[Qwerty]

Originally posted by moskus
use MME-drivers, under Options -> Audio -> Advanced.

Always believe Moskus. Always.

OPTIONS - AUDIO - ADVANCED - "Always use MME"

Sound cards come in many different flavours. To paraphrase a lot of jargon, the more cash you spend, the faster the card runs.

Moskus talks about MME drivers - think about these as bog standard basic things...like arseholes - everyone has one. This is the slowest and simplest way of sending sound out of Sonar. It will work with most things but it is SLOW.........

The cool kids, (ACKUS3), have expensive cards that use WDM or ASIO drivers that are really quick and don't suffer from any sort of lag when using software synthesizers. Thinks of these as pierced tongues - they are great to use and get the job done quickly, but it takes a lot of commitment to get one.

Q.

[Saturnine]

Thanx for the help. I tried all suggestions, but still got the same error message.
All this talk has inspired me to purchase a better soundcard anyway (thinking maybe Audigy 2??), which I am guessing will resolve any problems.

Oh, and Porter, Im in Ballarat Victoria (Is that the opening 9 notes to "Duelling Banjos" I hear inside your heads?).

Thank-you very much to everyone for the help. I only discovered this BBS yesterday, and can see it will be a valuable resource to me. Maybe one day I can return the favour.

[moskus]

Originally posted by Saturnine
(thinking maybe Audigy 2

I think that you should rethink that...

If you're serious about making music (and you must be, just having bought Sonar ), then check out something like M-Audio Audiophile 2496.

[moskus]

Originally posted by Englebert
Yes... but on the other hand, a better (and expensive) soundcard isn´t much of use if you don´t have any money left for software

No, but it's not worth getting Sonar if you don't have the money for a better soundcard. Even SB Live! is better than an onboard card...

[Englebert]

Originally posted by moskus
No, but it's not worth getting Sonar if you don't have the money for a better soundcard. Even SB Live! is better than an onboard card...

This is getting way off-topic but I can´t resist....I am sorry but I must (most humbly) disagree here.

If you are poor (like me), you must carefully plan your purchases, keeping the big picture in your mind all the times. If you don´t want to make compromises in quality, you have to build your studio one piece at a time.

The way I see it, if you have some sort of sound chip already it makes sense to invest in the software before getting your first serious sound card (although good quality monitors should IMHO be every home recordists very first purchase, but that´s beside the point here). That way you can start recording and - i emphazise - learning right away. And unless you are some sort of child prodigy, your first recordings are going to suck anyway and no 24/96 high end card is going to salvage them

Maybe we should start our own thread?

[stonepiano]

Well, Engey

I respect your point of view but I thought I'd share my perspective on prioritizing purchases on a tight budget.

First purchase should be a good soundcard and I'll tell you why.

They give you starter software with them. You learn the basics of tracking and using some dinky effects w/o getting over your head in terms of routing signal path and the like.

Then, you buy yourself a software package. You learn the features and appreciate how much better it is than the giveaway version that came with the soundcard. You more fully appreciate the muscle of the soundcard you've had. Good feelings, all around.

Then, you get monitors. Why last, you ask? Because if you get nearfield monitors right away, you won't know what it's like to work with shite speakers. Again, it's a matter of appreciating the difference good monitors make. I'll tell ya, there's nothing to make you listen closely than trying to mix twelve tracks on an Aiwa home stereo.

2 cents.