Sonar dragging to a halt with dxi synths.

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeff0633
  • Start date Start date
J

jeff0633

Member
Hi.

I am using Sonar 2.2, and when I load bigger soft synths, like edirol orchestra, or live synth pro with some good size soundfonts, Sonar plays for a little bit, then, evenyually slows down and dies. Can anyone help me with all the buffer setting and any other settings I need to change. I am using a 1.7 celeron, and 512 megs of DDR 333 ram. I can't understand why that I cannot get the performance that I should be able to get. I am using a Delta 1010LT 8 input soundcard, and also have a SB live installed. I just don't understand all this buffer stuff and what to do about it. Also, I thought there used to be some window that showed you your cpu and ram usage in sonar so that you could jduge what was happening. Now, I don't see anywhere to check my cpu and ram usage while the program is running.

Please help

Jeff
 
First off,any time a see a SB installed along with another card I think "uh oh!"
Secondly an increase in ram might help.

Also things like track count amount of plug ins and latency are factors.You can't blame any single one of these rather it's a cumalitive thing.Conserve resources by using aux sends and temporary bounced rough tracks.

And one other thing.....have you optimised your computer for audio?
 
acidrock said:
First off,any time a see a SB installed along with another card I think "uh oh!"
Secondly an increase in ram might help.

Also things like track count amount of plug ins and latency are factors.You can't blame any single one of these rather it's a cumalitive thing.Conserve resources by using aux sends and temporary bounced rough tracks.

And one other thing.....have you optimised your computer for audio?
Click to expand...

I haven't optimized it for audio. Any suggestions? I am using XP pro

Jeff
 
acidrock said:
First off,any time a see a SB installed along with another card I think "uh oh!"
Click to expand...
YES! Someone who supports me!

Now Jeff, listen careful. Take out the SB. Place it on the sidewalk. Find a hammer. Smash the SB. Live happily ever after.
 
I also hate the SBLive, though I rather doubt its responsible for this particular problem. However, it might be worth removing it first of all, just to narrow things down. If you do, make sure you thoroughly uninstall the drivers as well, as its a bad one for leaving stuff lying around.

512MB RAM should be loads for most applications, but if you're loading a large number of large samples into the Orchestral soft synth, it may just be that you are exceeding the RAM you have available. I don't know whether that app has a meter to show how much RAM you've used, but if it does bear in mind that you can't usually get to 100% with these things - the system will probably start to become unstable somewhere between 80 and 90%. From what you describe, it may well be that you are loading it to JUST short of the max, then as you carry on working, other things use up RAM as well and that takes it over the top.

I would try loading up the same kind of file - ie with the same soft synths, effects etc, but with smaller sample sets, and see what happens. It would be easier to try this before going to the hassle of uninstalling your SBLive.

There is a meter in the lower right-hand corner of Sonar that shows your CPU and hard drive usage (not RAM). If, on the other hand, the problem is that you are maxing out your CPU, this will be hitting the red.

Can you tell us what latency you are running at? Go into Options - Audio, and it should say down the bottom of the first tab. It may be that you are trying to run at too low a latency and you could reduce this, without it having any noticeable effect to your ear.
 
jeff0633 said:
Hi.

I am using Sonar 2.2, and when I load bigger soft synths, like edirol orchestra, or live synth pro with some good size soundfonts, Sonar plays for a little bit, then, evenyually slows down and dies. Can anyone help me with all the buffer setting and any other settings I need to change. I am using a 1.7 celeron, and 512 megs of DDR 333 ram. I can't understand why that I cannot get the performance that I should be able to get. I am using a Delta 1010LT 8 input soundcard, and also have a SB live installed. I just don't understand all this buffer stuff and what to do about it. Also, I thought there used to be some window that showed you your cpu and ram usage in sonar so that you could jduge what was happening. Now, I don't see anywhere to check my cpu and ram usage while the program is running.

Please help

Jeff
Click to expand...

I'm surprised nobody has commented on the Celeron processor. It is not the processor of choice when it comes to floating point intensive apps. Celerons do not have the additional power to do fast calculations like their PIII and P4 counterparts.

If you are at all serious about DAW work on your PC, I would suggest you look at dumping the Celeron processor and going with a newer P4 processor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top