playback and recordind stoppages

[Albertm]

When I playback or record, sometimes the timeline keeps moving but the sound stops. Seems to happen more and more with each project. I have 1 gig of ram and 80 gigs of C drive at about 3 quater used. Do I need more of either of those or clear up some files to create more space on C drive or is it something completly different. Thanks.

 

[EddieRay]

How fast is your hard drive? I was having latency problems till I got a faster drive. You should also experiment with the latency settings.

 

[Albertm]

How fast is your hard drive? I was having latency problems till I got a faster drive. You should also experiment with the latency settings.

I'm not sure its a latency issue. Isn't that when you play a midi instrument and theres a delay. That I don't have. Its just a playback hesitation of sound for about a second or two. It may happen once or twice in a project or sometimes not at all. My buffer is set low. How do I check speed of hard drive?

 

[mikemorgan]

It sounds like the Sonar audio engine is hiccuping, if not halting altogether. Definatley a thru-put problem. Could be harddrive, could be buffer, more likely a samples issue. Try bumping the number of samples up in multiples of 64. 128 is pretty low, 512 might give you a little bit of latency, but is rock-solid in Sonar. 1028, stick a brick on the accelerator. Can you adjust samples (not sample rate) for your soundcard? If not, try it in Sonar.

 

[acidrock]

I'm not sure its a latency issue. Isn't that when you play a midi instrument and theres a delay. That I don't have. Its just a playback hesitation of sound for about a second or two. It may happen once or twice in a project or sometimes not at all. My buffer is set low. How do I check speed of hard drive?

You may need to increase the latency to increase your performance.

I run at 2.9 ms,but if I start stacking up synths or plugs I need to increase it for my computer to run properly.

 

[Albertm]

It sounds like the Sonar audio engine is hiccuping, if not halting altogether. Definatley a thru-put problem. Could be harddrive, could be buffer, more likely a samples issue. Try bumping the number of samples up in multiples of 64. 128 is pretty low, 512 might give you a little bit of latency, but is rock-solid in Sonar. 1028, stick a brick on the accelerator. Can you adjust samples (not sample rate) for your soundcard? If not, try it in Sonar.

I changed the Tascam settings and Sonar to 512. Let see what happens. As for adjusting the samples, do you mean under Audio/driver profiles? Right now there all set to 256. Should that be 512 also?

 

[Albertm]

You may need to increase the latency to increase your performance.

I run at 2.9 ms,but if I start stacking up synths or plugs I need to increase it for my computer to run properly.

Mine is set at 11.6. But it only goes down to 5.8. How did you get as low at 2.9.
But the strange thing is this projest has no midi. My midi projects actually run better???

 

[acidrock]

Mine is set at 11.6. But it only goes down to 5.8. How did you get as low at 2.9.

I can go as low as 1.9 but I can only get up to three or four tracks that way.
The settings in your soundcard combined with the settings in SONAR will define what your latency capabilities are.
What kind of drivers are you using?
What bit depth/frequency are you recording at?
Have you optimised your computer for audio?

You say "C drive",do you only have one drive?
If the drive needs defragmenting or is near full that will affect your performance.

.
But the strange thing is this projest has no midi. My midi projects actually run better???

Are you running an external synth?If you areMIDI is very processor friendly,light on the CPU.

 

[Albertm]

Acidrock, I just started recording at 24 bit. Maybe that has something to do with it. I've been at 16 bit until now. I do have one drive. I'm in process of creating more space. Burning songs and projects to disc.

All my synths are software, Motu driven by keys. BFD driven by Roland drum kit.

Not sure what you mean by "What drivers do I use". Can you explain. When I set up my tascam 1082 board I ran the drivers to hook to Sonar, but thats all I remember about drivers in this system.

And is there a checklist to optimize my computer for audio. The only thing I've read is in Cakewalk manuel. I do believe I'm set up. I've been at this about a year with no/or very little hesitation, just seemed to start. Only thing I changed was the 16 to 24 bit. Could that do it?

Thanks for helping.

 

[acidrock]

Acidrock, I just started recording at 24 bit. Maybe that has something to do with it. I've been at 16 bit until now. I do have one drive. I'm in process of creating more space. Burning songs and projects to disc.

All my synths are software, Motu driven by keys. BFD driven by Roland drum kit.

Not sure what you mean by "What drivers do I use". Can you explain. When I set up my tascam 1082 board I ran the drivers to hook to Sonar, but thats all I remember about drivers in this system.

And is there a checklist to optimize my computer for audio. The only thing I've read is in Cakewalk manuel. I do believe I'm set up. I've been at this about a year with no/or very little hesitation, just seemed to start. Only thing I changed was the 16 to 24 bit. Could that do it?

Thanks for helping.

Do you use WDM drivers,aiso or maybe someting else?

24 bits is more to read off of the disk,so your resources will be used up quicker.
If you are combining audio and soft synths you could try bouncing or freezing them.

I'm not certain this is your problem,just guessing.If you've got a halfway decent system it should be no problem to run lots of tracks and synths at one time.

A second drive is the quickest route to better performance if everything else is up to snuff.

 

[acidrock]

http://www.musicxp.net/

 

[acidrock]

Also you may want to check the Tascam forum and see if there are any SONAR users there.

 

[Albertm]

IYes, I use WDM. Thanks for all the info. I'm gonna go for the second drive. I thought i read that 24 bit was good for better recording, than mix down to 16. I think I'll go back to 16 for recording. I'm off to check the tascam forum. thanks again.

 

[dachay2tnr]

I thought i read that 24 bit was good for better recording, than mix down to 16.

It is - from a quality standpoint. However, it will tax your resources more than 16 bits will, since the underlying wave files will be bigger.

If you are not trying to use "realtime" effects, or to record MIDI live, then latency is really a non-issue. You can raise it to 100ms (or 200 or 500) without any detrimental impact of any significance. Running at a higher latency puts less of a burden on your system.

If you want to continue recording at 24 bits, try bumping the latency way up. That could easily do the trick - unless, as noted, you are using realtime effects or trying to play along to pre-recorded material from some MIDI device. A second hard drive might help as well.

 

[Albertm]

I do record midi live. Buffers set at 11.6. Any higher and there latency from keyboard.
Also, is reverb thats in Sonar considered real time effects? I do use that.

Unless I'm in wrong spot, my latency in Audio/General tab only goes as i as 348. Not sure how you can set to five hundred.

Under the advanced tab I have I/O Buffer set at 512. Maybe thats where you meant?

But yes, time for 2nd C Drive.

Acidrock, thanks for that checklist.

 

[dachay2tnr]

Also, is reverb thats in Sonar considered real time effects? I do use that.

Realtime means using it WHILE you record. For ex., some singers use reverb while recording because they want to hear their voice with the effect while they are singing. Applying to an already recorded part is not a problem, however, using it live can create an "echo" effect if the latency is too high.

Obviously, if you are recording midi live latency is an issue for you. In fact, I'm surprised you can even do it 11.7 ms. Most people have a problem with anything over 5 ms because of the delayed response.

Unless I'm in wrong spot, my latency in Audio/General tab only goes as i as 348.

It'll go higher if you increase the buffers (directly above the slider).

 

[Albertm]

thanks everyone, all noted.