Problem with Sonar moving slow / Problem deleting old files

eternalwinter

New member
Hi there, I tried to get help with this on the Cakewalk forum, but didn't get very far...

I am using an old version of Sonar (Sonar 4 Producers Edition)...I know it's way out of date, but it's always worked great for me...

Lately my program has been freezing up and is now having to load for about 30 seconds, every time I record any audio...I thought that perhaps I just had too many old files that I needed to delete, and perhaps this was slowing the program down...I went in and deleted a bunch of projects, as well as the un-used files in the "Clean Audio Folder", and still am having this problem...

It occurs to me that maybe I am not completely deleting the files? It says in the readme that after I delete them, to go into my recycle bin and empty it...but when I go there, the files are not there...Is there somewhere else these files could be? Also, I'm having a hard time locating the audio files, outside of the Clean Audio Folder...When I go into the Audio Folder, it appears to be empty, even though I know I have Tons of files...

I really just need to get my Sonar moving fast again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.


Matt

PS: I don't think this has anything to do with the ram or memory of my DAW...I have a very fast computer with plenty of space on the hard drive. I have already tried cleaning out the hard drive, defragging, etc. I really don't think it's a computer problem.
 
Try deleting your aud.ini file... could be a config glitch in there is hampering things.

Also, how many/what types of plugins are you loading each time? The amount of audio files you have on your system shouldn't affect Sonar's performance, unless you're dangerously close to filling up your hard drive, which you indicate that you're not.

Are you using separate drives for system & audio files?
 
Thanks for the reply!

Can you please explain to me how to delete my aud.ini file? I don't quite understand what that is, but if it could possibly be the problem, I will surely do that...Please let me know!

I am not using any plug-ins...and Yes, I do use a separate drive for the audio files.
 
Thanks for the reply!

Can you please explain to me how to delete my aud.ini file? I don't quite understand what that is, but if it could possibly be the problem, I will surely do that...Please let me know!

I am not using any plug-ins...and Yes, I do use a separate drive for the audio files.

In Windows XP the AUD.ini is usually under your User Profile similar to the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 4 Producer Edition

I don't know where it would be in Vista or Win 7..

You may want to just rename it something like AUD.old instead of deleting it as you will have to redo all the settings it maintains (audio cards, bit depth etc...). If this doesn't fix the problem you can delete the new one and rename the original to retrieve your previous settings.

BTW, large numbers of project files should not affect Sonar startup or performance. A very large project (e.g. many tracks and virtual instruments) on the other hand colud. Does this problem happen with all projects or just certain ones?
 
OK, I will give that a try. Thanks very much for this information. I had no idea about this AUD.ini file...I really hope this fixes the issue, as I am in the middle of an important project, and this problem is seriously slowing down my progress...

Yes, it does the slow loading thing with every project, not just large ones...and I actually don't have very many large files, and don't use any pug-ins/Virtual Instruments, as we send our tracks to another studio for all that.

It's weird because it just started doing this all of the sudden, that is why I thought maybe it was due to too many files...

OK, I shall try this and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
 
OK, so I believe I have found this file...It is titled AUD and is presented to me as a notepad file with tons of Sonar settings on it (most of which I don't understand)...So you are saying I should "re-name" the file in order to keep my old settings...In order to do this, do I just right-click the file and re-name it, like you would any other file, or is it more involved than that?...Also, after I rename it, Will I have to create a new Aud.ini file?...If so, can you please explain to me exactly how to do this? This is just a little confusing to me. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.
 
If you delete the aud.ini file, it will be recreated automatically the next time you start Sonar, using the config/settings that Sonar detects in your system.

And yes, if you want to preserve the old one, just right-click and rename it just like any other file :)
 
OK, I attempted to delete the Aud.ini file tonight. After I deleted it, I went into Sonar and tried to open a project to see if the problem was fixed...When I did, Sonar was unable to detect any audio files in any projects, So I couldn't open any of them...When I went and looked at the new Aud.ini file, it was almost totally blank (The old one had a super-long list of crazy settings), so I ended up just going back to the old settings that I had saved...Everything is back to normal again, but I still have the annoying loading problem...

Is there any kind of import command or something that will cause Sonar to create the correct Aud.ini settings? If not, do I need to manually create them, and if so, is there anywhere I can find what they should be? Do you think there is somewhere that I could just tweek the current settings I already have, that would maybe fix the problem? Thanks a lot.
 
Yep, that is why I recommended saving your old file. You will have to reenter all of your file locations etc if they are different form the defaults. Also you may have to re-profile your audio hardware and reset your buffers and latency etc...

But even with the new AUD.ini loaded you should be able to browse to an existing project file and load it for a test. If Sonar's performance is normal you can re-enter your old settings

Depending on how customized your installation is you may have quite a few settings to restore. The only way I know to do this is load your current profile and copy the desired settings, then load Sonar with the new AUD and manually reset the settings there
 
I suggest saving all your tunes as cakewalk bundle files & then burn them to disc as back ups.Once backed up you may want to try reinstalling the Sonar software and starting from scratch.As long as the software is installed you can always pull the file from the back up disc and and continue to work on the project.It'll load up just as you left it.If a buddy has Sonar installed on another computer you can work on it his computer or take the files to studio,etc.

It's just good to back everything up.I saved all my projects to disc and to a portable hard drive.
 
Find your Picture Cache folder and delete files from there. (Look in the options/settings dialog to find out where that folder is.) I suggest deleting everything over a year old, or 3/4 of the contents, whichever is more. Any picture cache files that are actually needed will be regenerated when necessary.
 
Thanks for all your replies....

ErichS - Yeah, the main problem I think is that the new AUD file is totally blank, and I don't really know or understand how to create new settings, or what they should be, etc...so until I do, Sonar cannot detect the audio in any of my projects, so I am stuck with the old settings, which is probably causing the program to load audio slowly...Still don't know how to get the new AUD file to work with my program.

I may just try backing up my files as mcmetal suggested and try re-installing the program...Maybe it's possible that the newly installed file will have different settings and the program will run smoother?

Kloytan - So you think that deleting files in the Picture Cache folder might help? I never thought of that...When I delete these files, will my projects still run the same? Will I lose anything by doing this?

Thanks.
 
Yes, deleting or severely reducing the contents of the Picture Cache folder can have a massive effect on Sonar performance. As the name suggests it's just a cache, where it stashes images of the audio waveforms in your projects, supposedly to make drawing them faster. Unfortunately when the folder gets too full - it can get over ten thousand files, for example - it can take a long time to read and write to that folder, more than negating the benefits. So you can clear it out and it will just regenerate any files that it needs, while not being slowed down by the ones it doesn't need.

If you're worried, just delete them to the Recycle Bin, and you can always restore them later. But there's no need. I had to do this myself a few weeks back.
 
Thanks for all your replies....

ErichS - Yeah, the main problem I think is that the new AUD file is totally blank, and I don't really know or understand how to create new settings, or what they should be, etc...so until I do, Sonar cannot detect the audio in any of my projects, so I am stuck with the old settings, which is probably causing the program to load audio slowly...Still don't know how to get the new AUD file to work with my program.

I may just try backing up my files as mcmetal suggested and try re-installing the program...Maybe it's possible that the newly installed file will have different settings and the program will run smoother?

Kloytan - So you think that deleting files in the Picture Cache folder might help? I never thought of that...When I delete these files, will my projects still run the same? Will I lose anything by doing this?

Thanks.

Is Sonar reanalyzing your hardware when it starts? You will need to reprofile your system to populate the Aud.ini file

Here's a snippet from the Cakewalk knowledge base, which also touches on another way to deal with the picture cache:

" ...delete the file AUD.INI from the Cakewalk program or AppData folder, restart Cakewalk, and let it analyze your hardware.
Advanced Method - Close SONAR. Open SONAR's AUD.INI file in Notepad. Delete everything listed beneath the line PictureDir=C:\Cakewalk Projects\Picture Cache. Save the file and restart SONAR."
 
Yup, I think that solved the problem...There were TONS of files in the Picture Cache. I deleted all the files in the folder, as you suggested and then opened a project and recorded several times...no weird loading, everything seems to be back to normal. Awesome!!

You have no idea how relieved I am...I've been dealing with this for weeks now...

I want to thank all you guys for your kind help...This forum was even more helpful than the actual Cakewalk forum. I will surely continue using it from here on out! Thanks again all and have a great weekend!
 
Glad you resolved the problem.I'll have to remember this issue in case i ever have the same problem.Still better back them files to disc though just in case.At least then you'll know you have back up files when that lightning storm takes out your computer!I had an anwering machine get fried once when my breakers went out.Better to be safe then to loose everything.
 
With Sonar you need to back up the project files and the project audio but you don't need the picture cache - it's purely there for optimisation.
 
OK, Thanks...Yeah, I always back my files up to an external hard-drive but since you mention it, it would maybe be a good idea to put them on disc as well...So, you say to save them as cakewalk bundle files? How exactly would i go about doing that?
 
Go to File and click on Save As.
The window will open and under where it says the file name you should see the save as type.
Click the drop down box and select cakewalk bundle file.

This saves everything as you left it with all the tracks,effects applied,etc. When you open the project file for a particuar project it'll be in that project folder along with the audio file,as the seperate bundle file.

You can then copy that file to disc or a portable hard drive.It saves it a rather large file and i'll delete it after i have it copied to disc.If you ever want to reload it just put the disc in pull the file from the disc.It takes a few moments for the bundle file to load.

This is how my Sonar 6 LE is...I'm not sure about your version but it's probably the same.
 
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