Sonar CPU question

kcearl

kcearl

I see deaf people
Hi, new to the forum...looks full of well informed and not so informed (myself included) people! :)

Im running a 3Ghz, Intel P4, 3GB Ram IBM desktop with an audigy 2 soundcard and Im about to make the leap from Home Studio 2004 to the latest offering...the only worry i have is my CPU issue..at the moment she runs pretty sweet but I have a friend with sonar 7 and it munches his CPU up (similar spec PC)..

I wonder if Sonar 8 is better or worse for this as i heard most of the updates are under the hood so to speak...if im forking out for the software the Im afraid other than another gig of ram nothing much will be happening to the PC...

Home studio never faulted I just feel Im growing out of it but hope not to learn a new interface as this one has served me so well...I use a mixture of midi/softsynths and audio inputs..pretty much 50/50


sorry for the long winded question...any comments appreciated (even useless ones ;) )
 
I use a Dell laptop with Sonar 6. My buddy uses Sonar 7 with an HP laptop. Neither have CPU issues UNLESS you try to run too many tracks at the same time - say + 24 tracks. We get that DROPOUT error. Laptops are less powerful, so you should be fine....
 
ido1957 said:
I use a Dell laptop with Sonar 6. My buddy uses Sonar 7 with an HP laptop. Neither have CPU issues UNLESS you try to run too many tracks at the same time - say + 24 tracks. We get that DROPOUT error. Laptops are less powerful, so you should be fine....
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thanks....he can run about six tracks ...say one sample, three audio, and two softsynths (with effects on the audios) and it nearly grinds to a halt with sonar 7!

sounds like he may have a separate issue(s)...though saying that it uses about twice the ram as my Studio 2004 does with an equal amount of tracks and effects :confused:
 
shockingcandy said:
According to Cakewalk's website Sonar 8 uses 5-20% less CPU than Sonar 7.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/English/benchmark.asp

But why not download the free 30 day trial and see how you machine performs?

http://www.cakewalk.com/support/kb/kb20081217.asp
Click to expand...


That would be the smart thing to do....as you'll tell from any future posts thats seldom the route i take :)


yup I saw that...but i also read a in depth users test (about 4 bloody pages) saying that he didnt find it noticeable....but in truth you're right..load the trial...doh!

gonna reformat and clean up a lot of stuff first......
 
I've found Sonar to be very efficient.

I used Sonar 8 and I've tested my PC (just out of curiosity :)) with a few hundred tracks without breaking a sweat. With the same audio duplicated several hundred times its a pretty meaningless benchmarch though (no simulated HDD load, no plugins, etc).

In terms of real-world projects (with a fair amount of plugins loaded, one or two soft-synths, a dozen time-warped tracks, etc) I can hit about 140 tracks before things begin grinding to a halt. I find after 80 I have to start upping my buffers to avoid dropouts.



Your CPU isn't your only limiting factor however...

Your hard drives have to be able to keep up with what is required from them or you'll hit a brickwall in terms of track counts. I have a few fast 7200rpm drives in my PC and keep audio separate to the system drive. I also upgraded my laptop drive to a faster 7200rpm one and immediately saw a jump in performance.

Bad configuration can cause an amazing computer to perform as a DAW like its 10 years old. IRQ conflicts are common causes of issues with soundcards. Misconfiguration of drivers and buffer settings can also cause bad dropouts.

The soundcard will affect the latency and stability of the audio engine and can also increase load on the CPU. Consumer soundcards aren't designed or intended for use in audio production.

I can load up a project in Sonar that plays back glitch-free through my Motu interface (with buffers at 256 or 512) that won't even play (or sounds like a scratched record) through the onboard Soundmax HD chip.
 
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Yeah I'm always a little sceptical about such claims. I'm actually running the eval version on my Dell laptop (Core Duo 1.73GHz, 1GB RAM) and so far the results are very promising with Sonar sharing the CPU load evenly across both cores. I've had 18 tracks and about a half a dozen FX plugins running at a latency of 4.4ms and the CPU usage is only about 10%. Granted that's hardly a stiff test but it gives some idea of how it will scale up.

I'm actually more concerned about how my hard drive will hold up (5400rpm SATA) but I can't really test this properly until my new interface arrives tomorrow.
 
interesting about the hardrive...other than keeping everything on separate hardrives i havent really thought much more about them....my main worry is that i want to use amplitube and on my mates PC it destroys his processing power.....much better rewards from it sound wise than my guitar rig though....


well if all goes well i can upgrade hardwear later...at the moment ive only occasionally played with this stuff...now i have (much) more free time i hope to get into it...sound quality or latency hasnt really been an issue....yet


thanx for the info, keep it coming :)
 
Your desktop may well have a 7200rpm hard drive anyway. I haven't tried Amplitube but if you use it as a plugin then you'll need to run fairly low latency if you want to monitor the sound whilst recording and that might tax the CPU.
 
yeah most of the stuff ive farted about with before hasnt really got past 40% of the processing power...but ive just purchased a base and a new Guitar in a bid to reclaim my childhood and waste my CPU lol (the way i play needs a multitude of effects)

anyway im sticking sonar 8 on the desktop now and will slap some tracks in it to see how it bears up...i think there's an amplitube demo out there as well....sure beats splashing out first...
 
heres a good 7 v 8 comparision....seems like 30% as stated by cakewalk might seem a bit bloated...still as said more goodies, more stable and 5% less CPU used is still good..

7.png


8.png



http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1512372
 
Well that backs up what Cakewalk say though I am not sure how scientific it is because doesn't look like the snapshot was taken at the same point in the track.
 
ran 9 guitar tracks through guitar rig before the CPU went bust...unlimited clean tracks though...even the soft synth caused no problems...amplitube was a complete non starter...even as a stand alone...will have to mess about with my config before i give up the ghost on it but just cuts out on the asio driver and the the latency is way too much on the others...
 
Make sure you actually need to update!

Sona6,7, or 8 do require more power if you plan on utilizing all the features. If you are going to use multiple loops, DXI, or VST instruments etc... you will eventually either freeze your system or get more power behind you.
 
Well Ive been mucking about all week with it and as many guitar amp demos as I can get my hands on...amazing the difference in CPU usage with each...

Sonar 8 runs with more CPU than my studio does...no brainer there...but some of the soft guitar amps would be unusable under my current configuration or wants/needs..

The lowest cpu usage and probably my favourite sounding was TH1..slightly clumsy interface imo

then it was guitar rig, roughly 3% more cpu..which comes free with the full edition SP 8??

then I tried ReVavler which, although more authentic than GR was nearly twice the CPU usage...on one track it was hitting between 35-40%!...my PC is no diamond but its certainly no slouch (a similar TH-1 set up was hitting under 15%)

Then amplitube...which to the life of me I cant get going at all..tried several times re-installing but all i get is almost immediate drop-outs, really disappointed..

Finally my line 6 silver bundle is arriving fed-ex today..I hope it matches at least GR for CPU usage and TH 1 for sound (tall order)...

I'd highly recommend Overloud at this point in time....living in an apartment certainly cuts out me cranking up my amp and this programme seriously sounds sweet to a beginner like me..
 
Damn just got amplitube working (soundcard config)....wish i hadnt..it really sounds good :( :)
 
Well my Sonar trial timed out now. Managed to test the new interface (Tascam us-1641) with it for a day or so. Recorded 8 channels for 25 mins. 1 drop out at "normal" latency settings.

For now I am using the bundled Cubase LE4 which is, to be frank, "buggy" at best. To be honest I'm not thrilled with the us-1641. Output latency is way to high (can't get it below about 15ms) and the direct monitored signal is way to quiet. Just goes to show you should listen to the "user" reviews rather than the "industry publications".
 
1.7ghz and survived...for a while

Hey,
I ran producer on an intel 1.7 ghz 2gb ram 400fsb for quite some time. After about five tracks, with mulitple compessors, reverbs it dropped out consistently. My guess is (obvious right) you'll be ok for a while.

When I got frustrated with the dropouts and wanted more tracks, effects. I built a new box with core 2 quad 2.4ghz, 4gb ram, 1024ghz fsb...does everything I want for about $800. even with ten or twelve tracks, multiple effects, including guitar rig xe, havent pushed the system to 50% yet.

my sound card is AK-1.

Betst of luck,
 
Ratchethead said:
Hey,
I ran producer on an intel 1.7 ghz 2gb ram 400fsb for quite some time. After about five tracks, with mulitple compessors, reverbs it dropped out consistently. My guess is (obvious right) you'll be ok for a while.

When I got frustrated with the dropouts and wanted more tracks, effects. I built a new box with core 2 quad 2.4ghz, 4gb ram, 1024ghz fsb...does everything I want for about $800. even with ten or twelve tracks, multiple effects, including guitar rig xe, havent pushed the system to 50% yet.

my sound card is AK-1.

Betst of luck,
Click to expand...


sounds good..well ive got it all going well just now...the toneports taken up any issue with a soundcard...looks like i can do most of what i want with the pc ive got (except for a malfunctioning graphics card)...going to go with sonar (hopefully pro edition) & NI Battery 3 (going for $99)...with pod farm and sonars soft synths I should be able to get started...got an m audio 49 for $50 and bought a cheap washburn, a bass and a sienheiser e 835..

now just to read those manuals and have some fun :D
 
kcearl said:
sounds good..well ive got it all going well just now...the toneports taken up any issue with a soundcard...looks like i can do most of what i want with the pc ive got (except for a malfunctioning graphics card)...going to go with sonar (hopefully pro edition) & NI Battery 3 (going for $99)...with pod farm and sonars soft synths I should be able to get started...got an m audio 49 for $50 and bought a cheap washburn, a bass and a sienheiser e 835..

now just to read those manuals and have some fun :D
Click to expand...

I'm very happy with my NI Battery3, use it constantly and finding it more powerful every day. Sometimes just putting in drum tracks in the piano roll view or using Akai mdp-32.

Interested in hearing how things work out for you.

Sincerely,
 
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