Sound Card Error with Sonar

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zone_ahead

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Sonar 2.1
P4 2.4 Ghz
512MB RAM
SBLive!

Hi, I've just purchased Sonar 2 a few days ago, and upon starting Sonar I receive an error message which states that one or more sound card does not support stereo and all files will be defaulted to mono.

I checked under the support section on Cakewalk's website and it had this error listed:

One or more sound cards do not support stereo. The default audio format has been set to mono.

This error will occur with Creative Labs Live! and Audigy cards when using the Creative Lab supplied WDM drivers in Windows 2000 and XP. The current solution is to load the Microsoft WDM drivers that ship with the OS or to use 3rd party drivers such as the kX Project Drivers. Please note that we cannot be responsible for technical difficulties arising from the use of non-official hardware drivers.

This error also will occur with Echo WDM Drivers 6.01 and beyond when using 'Super Interleave Mode'. The solution is to change your Driver Bit Depth to 24 as recommended by the Echo Read Me file. This will not effect your ability to record 16-bit audio.

I loaded the Microsoft WDM driver, however I still receive this error. I'm a little hesitant to try the kX drivers because of several horror stories I've heard from people once they installed them.

I plan on getting a new soundcard in a month or two, but is there anything I can do in the meantime besides use the kX drivers?

Thanks.
 
Are you sure you loaded the MS drivers, and not simply reloaded the Creative drivers.

Everyone I've seen who had this problem was able to fix it by rolling back to the MS supplied drivers.
 
I actually wondered that myself, but I followed Cakewalk's directions to the T.

Due to a bug in the current Creative Labs WDM drivers, we recommend that users revert to the Microsoft WDM driver that ships with Windows 2000 and XP. Users experiencing the error 'One or more sound cards do not support stereo' in SONAR when using the Creative WDM drivers under Windows 2000 or XP will need to do the following;

Right click "my computer"
Left click on the "Properties" selection
Click on the tab labeled "Hardware"
Click on the button labeled "Device Manager"
Click the plus next to "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers"
Double click "Creative SB Live! (WDM)"
Click on the tab labeled "Driver"
Click the "Update Driver" choice.
Click on "install from list or specific location (advanced)
Then Click next.
Click "Don't Search, I will chose the device to install"
Then click next.
Select "Creative SB Live! (WDM) (Microsoft)
Click Next.
When the files have finished copying from "Next" click FINISH.
Close out of the device manager and reboot the computer.
This ought to handle it!

I thought it was weird that when it got towards the end it stated to "Select Createive SB Live! (WDM) (Microsoft). This is where I got confused. Is this what I'm supposed to do?
 
Something doesn't sound right. Could you tell if it was actually loading new files when you tried the update?

Follow the instructions again, except when you get to the part of chossing "Update Driver" choose "Driver Details" instead. Then look to see who is listed as the provider of the driver. It should be Microsoft. If it says Creative, you still have the wrong drivers.

If the driver provider does say Microsoft, then I suggest you look for the "aud.ini" file in your Sonar directory. Delete that file (or rename it to aud.bak if you prefer). Restart Sonar again. Sonar should reprofile the sound card and hopefully put you in business.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for your help dachay2tnr, I'll check it out when I'm home tonight and let you know how it went.
 
I downloaded the latest drivers for the SBLive (from the creative website), and that specific problem disappeared, after installing those. Uninstall old drivers first. Upon analyzing my SBLive, Sonar now states it's a "Creative EMU10K1 Audio Processor". No longer 1 in-3 out. You could try that just in case ....

tab
 
dachay2tnr said:
Something doesn't sound right. Could you tell if it was actually loading new files when you tried the update?

It actually seemed like it was, because it had me restart the computer after it was done because of changes to the system.
 
I would like to add that you shouldn't write off the kX-project drivers right away. Many are using them, and are happy with them...

Well, it's a last resort, anyway... ;)
 
Listen to Tabnak. I also have a SB Live, and I install the updated Created Live Pack ( I think that's what it's called), and I have no problems with the mono thing. You might try that.

Moskus, what noticible differences would one expect to see by using the KX drivers? Is this just an audio driver, or does it also include midi drivers? I'll snoop around a bit for more info, but you can give me the abbreviated version.

Ed
 
guitar ed said:
Moskus, what noticible differences would one expect to see by using the KX drivers? Is this just an audio driver, or does it also include midi drivers? I'll snoop around a bit for more info, but you can give me the abbreviated version.
It's a long time since I've used a Creative-card (well, 7 months anway), and I think the drivers are both for audio and midi. I did a fresh install of the kX-project on a formated system, and my MIDI in and out were still working.
 
So far, the only downside I see is that you can't use Vienna for soundfont editing/creating. Does anyone know a soundfont editor/creator that is compatible with the KX drivers? I would be bummin' if I couldn't make soundfonts, and Vienna is the only app I know how to use, even though I hear it's by no means the easiest.

Ed
 
What kind of goofball asks questions that he's already contributed answers to? ME, that's who !! Man, I've loaded and unloaded so much crap on my computer that I can't keep it straight anymore!! I'll have to dig thru the drawer and see if I still have some of this stuff. I know I have Alive somewhere, and I have a really old version of Audio Compositor, and who the hell knows what else. Thanks for jogging my memory.

ed
 
Alright, well I checked what you said, and indeed it is still the Creative Driver installed. I've followed Cakewalk's instructions like 5 times now with the same result.

I checked on the Creative website for the latest drivers and the download was like 25MB, so I will have to wait and do it at work sometime this week on DSL (I've been getting about 4kb/s with my dial-up at home).

Thanks again, everyone. I'll report back when I figure anything out.
 
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