Sonar 2.1 lockup

[Yadi]

Sonar 2.1, P3, 512mb ram, (2) 30gb harddisks, one for system/program files, other for audio files. Dual boot system: 98se and XP

Problem: Sonar freezes up when I try to select and "manipulate" a track. Specifically, I have a song with 7 audio tracks and 2 midi tracks with very little in the way of automation or effects. I tried to bounce the mono vocal track to a single stereo track by selecting, copying and pasting. Sonar simply freezes (program not responding) and requires a task manager shutdown and restart. To be sure that this wasn't specific to the track, I tried other tracks and got the same result.......locked up with hour glass. The task manager, each time, indicates "program not responding". I've given it over five minutes to perform the function...nothing.

Any suggestions? I'm nervous that I won't be able to mixdown the song...

Thanks for any help.

Yadi

 

[dachay2tnr]

First off, could you please delete all the other duplicate posts you have on this. Thank you.

Second, I don't understand how "copy and paste" would get you from a mono track to stereo. If you want to do that, use the Edit -> Bounce to Track command, and choose "mix to stereo event."

Secondly, why on earth would you need to take a single mono track and covert it to stereo? I can't think of any possible reason to do that, and it will require double the storage space.

Of course, none of this explains why it is locking up on you. You might want to try a reinstallation of Sonar.

 

[Yadi]

sorry for the double post....my explorer skitzed out and I thought I had lost the original.....as if I want retype something.

I did mean "bounce" regarding the mono to stereo. I tried copying and pasting after the fact to see if the problem would duplicate....it did.

I'm doing it so I could apply a stereo delay. Of course I would delete the unused original track, but storage space isn't my concern at the moment.

Thanks for your help!

 

[moskus]

If you want a mono track to act like a stereo-track, Sonar has it's own button for that. Maximize the track. You see that little "button" right before the meter (normally an "A" for automatic)? Clicking on that will tell Sonar that it's either a mono-track, stereo-track or that Sonar should figure it out by itself...

 

[Yadi]

Great tip Moskus. I didn't even think of that.

Have any suggestions as to what is causing the freeze up?

Thanks!

Yadi

 

[Yadi]

Now that I think about this, it must be a problem with my system or song specifically and not Sonar, since it happens in both XP and 98SE. Each of those are separate installs..... I must have done something screwy within my song/project. Or my system is freaking out. When I get home, I'll try to duplicate the problem using an entirely different project.

 

[moskus]

Have any suggestions as to what is causing the freeze up?

I don't know, but I'm guessing a fragmented drive may cause behaviour like this...

 

[Yadi]

I'll check for a fragmented drive as well. I'm not really known for keeping my disk "clean". I've been too paranoid using the disk cleanup option in Sonar.

 

[Porter]

You say that you are using a dual boot system... have you installed the program on both systems? You haven't only installed in in 98, then copied the short-cuts to XP?

Porter

 

[Yadi]

problem solved......

first of all, to answer Porter: Yes, I installed Sonar on both systems. In fact, that helped me determine that the problem wasn't with Sonar and wouldn't require a reinstallation as duchay suggested previously.

What I finally figured out was that the problem was inherent to the song only..in other words I could manipulate tracks in other songs without any problems. The problem was actually isolated to the vocal track.....big time. I found over a thousand....yes you read that correct.....references or files associated with the vocal track. Now I'm recalling that the system started acting glitchy when I applied the "remove silence" process to the track. I used the default settings.....but I guess it cut the track up into a thousand + clips............

Bad news is that it was a good "take" but I had to delete the entire track. Once it was deleted, the problems ceased.

In the meantime, I cleaned my audio folders and defragged, which brings me to another question:

If you highlight a clip and delete, is it removed from your hard drive forever? Is there another procedure to make sure the clip is permantly deleted?

 

[moskus]

Re: problem solved......

Bad news is that it was a good "take" but I had to delete the entire track. Once it was deleted, the problems ceased.

Couldn't you just bounce the clips together again?

 

[dachay2tnr]

Re: problem solved......

If you highlight a clip and delete, is it removed from your hard drive forever? Is there another procedure to make sure the clip is permantly deleted?

Highlighting and deleting a track does not remove it from your hard drive. It only removes it from the Sonar project.

To remove it from the hard drive, you need to use the Clean Audio Folder tool, or manually delete it through Windows Explorer (clean audio is a safer approach, IMHO).

as duchay suggested

BTW, it's dachay.

 

[Yadi]

Couldn't you just bounce the clips together again?

I thought of that and tried it, however it caused the same lockup problems...I am assuming for the same reason: trying to manipulate many, many, many clips. What a disaster....

I finally redid the take and its fine....after all it is my vocals and its not like we are talking a masterpiece here.

All, thanks for the tips.

Secondly, why on earth would you need to take a single mono track and covert it to stereo? I can't think of any possible reason to do that, and it will require double the storage space.

To be more clear as to my goal: I wanted a second copy of the track to offset and pan very slightly. I couldn't get the stereo reverb to provide this effect, I assume because it was a mono track. I accomplished the second copy, panned and offset, on the retake and it (the effect) works great, albeit very subtle. I would think this was a common trick of the trade for audio.