2 soundcards...only 1 will record in Sonar

J

jrich

New member
2 soundcards(q10)...only 1 will record in Sonar

Hey everyone,

I'm fairly new to Sonar so I don't know if this is a Sonar problem or a problem with my audio card. I use an Aardvark q10 to record, and have just put a second one in my system. I finally got it working so I can mix stuff I've already recorded with no problem. I have also checked every input on the new interface and I can hear myself fine through all inputs.

For some reason though, I can't record anything off of the new soundcard. It shows up as an option to record from in Sonar (it shows Q10 1 right 1,2...Q10 1 left 1,2 etc. and q10 2 right 1,2 etc.), but the meters never register anything, and nothing will record from it. Everything records fine from my original card. I don't know what I've done wrong, because I'm having the same problem in Vegas (but I don't really use that anymore) It seems it might be a soundcard problem since its happening in both programs, but the inputs are showing up and the q10 mixer software registers the sounds and plays through my speakers with no problem. Anyone have any input??

thanks,
josh

I forgot to mentions I'm running Sonar 2.?? but have the upgrade to 3 that just hasn't been installed yet.
 
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What driver mode - ASIO or A|WDM?
Does the other mode make any difference?
What driver version are you running for the Q10?
What operating system?
Are there any driver settings or dip switches on the sound cards that need changing to correctly operate the second card?

I do not have Q10, just the 24/96 baby brother - and only one of them, but there are people about online that I know of who are working correctly with this configuration.

Ciao,

Q.
 
I knew there was some info I was forgetting.

It is Sonar 2.2. There are no switches on the boxes at all, but the manual says to hook up the SPDIF out of box 1 to the SPDIF in of box 2 and in the q10 panel set box 1 to the sample rate and box 2 to SPDIF. I have done all of that.

I am running Windows XP with the most recent Aardvark drivers 7.13. The driver mode was set to default so I tried it with both ASIO and A|WDM. In ASIO mode, I could record from input 8 if I selected "1 Right 5/6" which is not input 8. This may have worked in default as well, but since I've reset it to that setting I can't get a list of input choices (the q10 shows when i go to set my input but the arrow won't expand my choices) In A|WDM mode, nothing worked at all...I couldn't even get a choice of input, just "none".

I also notice that when I changet which driver mode I am using, I have to not just close and restart Sonar, but also turn off the computer completely and restart it before any input choices will re-appear.

josh
 
Sounds like you have done everything correctly from a software and driver configuration aspect. The fact that you need to power off and restart before the input choices re-appear indicate that there is some hardware configuration issue going on - most likely due to IRQ sharing.

If you go into device manager and VIEW RESOURCES BY TYPE, check to see whether both the Q10 cards are sitting on their own IRQ. If they are not, then they are probably not sharing happily with whatever else is trying to grab the same IRQ.

Easiest way to sort it out is to open the box and juggle the slots that the Q10 cards are sitting in - just changing slots on most motherboards will re-allocate the IRQ distribution for the various resources. Try and get both Q10's sitting on their own IRQ and I betcha it works properly.

Ciao,

Q.
 
Well, I did what you said, and it seemed to work. I was now able to record properly out of the channels on what was listed as q10 one. But it wouldn't record out of q10 two. I realized that all that happened was it switched which unit was which.

So I decided to take out the old unit completely and use just the new unit. It still won't record, so it seems to be a hardware situation. What doesn't make sense though is that the q10 control panel meters register everything i'm doing, and I can hear myself through the monitors.

One thing I didn't mention. The volume controls on the box are both busted (I'm trying to file a claim with fedex, but this is a real hassle) It doesn't seem like that should have any effect on recording, especially since the sound appears to be getting to the computer since it registers in the q10 control panel.

*edit* Ok, so I just rechecked in Vegas and it seems all of the inputs are shifted over, the first 4 aren't registering, but the last 4 are. I record through input 5 when input 3 is selected.

Thanks for the help so far qwerty.

josh
 
Weird... I am still thinking hardware config... Can you also confirm that you have fiddled about with the routing options from the Q10's control panel and tried all those options?

I am on my way to work now - I will try and think up some other ideas and post 'em up shortly.

Ciao,

Q.
 
update

Ok, so I uninstalled everything and restarted my computer. I also went into BIOS and disabled my onboard usb and a couple other things I wasn't using that were taking up IRQ's so I had less a chance of conflicts.

Then i installed my original q10 in the pci slot it was originally in. I restarted the computer and re-installed the drivers. Same problem!!!

So now, neither of the cards will work properly, alone or in tandem. I get inputs 3-8, when I choose inputs 1-6. I have no idea what is going on here. The only difference is that I'm using the newest drivers as opposed to 7.04 that I used to use. I wouldn't think this would be the problem though because when I had both hooked up, the original q10 worked properly with the newest drivers.

I briefly changed around the q10 routing options but only using the presets. That didn't change anything.

aargh!
josh
 
Alright - humour me for a moment, find your AUD.INI file, back it up and blow it away. Re-start Sonar and get it to re-profile the card. Try again and see what results.

If that is still screwed, what happens if you uninstall all the sound card drivers and control panel and then reboot and install the older 7.04 drivers?

That test will give us a better idea as to where the problem lies - driver configuration or hardware configuration.

Also - are these new? Have they worked before? Do you have another box you can throw either one into to test the operation of the card itself?

Good luck!

Q.
 
holy crap its fixed!

Hey qwerty thanks for all your help! But its fixed (for now at least) I emailed a guy who has an aardvark support group website up and he told me after I uninstalled the drivers to go into regedit and delete this:

HKEY_Current_USER\Software\Aardvark

but actually it was here....

HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Aardvark

That was the only thing I did different this time, and then I went all out and installed them both at once and reinstalled the drivers and everything worked properly.

On a side note, I'm afraid to change my driver mode now that I have things working. In Sonar's Audio options it is set to Default. Would I be better off setting it to WDM or ASIO? Does anyone know what the default setting is with an Aardvark card? I have not run wave profiler because Aardvarks manual says its unneeded and I've got everything working without it. Everything works, I just wonder if I would get lower latency with any of the others.

Thanks qwerty!
josh
 
Gotta be happy with that result!

If you are use the 7.04 you can use either their A|WDM mode (accessed from setting it to MME or Default mode), if it was 7.13 then they recommended only using ASIO with Sonar 3 and above.

I run quite happily with ASIO and the 7.13 release.

Rock on.

:D Q.
 
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