Sonar 4 loses stability over time

[Hunter]

I've been having a real nightmare with Sonar 4 recently.

It's been crashing really hard and taking out my sound card for 10 minutes every time, and I've been losing changes made to my tunes despite almost manic saving after each project change. I can't close Sonar in the task manager either.

It seems I get a crash every 20 mins to half an hour!

However, it's not usually this bad. I usually run a reinstall of bindows and all my software every 2 months or so as I also use my puter for t'internet and other work stuff, so a lot of crap and demo versions of various software gets installed etc etc.

After a fresh install everything runs sweet as cherries for a while, but as time passes it seems I get more and more Sonar crashes. It's now at the point where it's almost impossible to sit down and have a flowing session with Sonar, as I spend so much time waiting for crashes to resolve etc.

Does anyone else experinece this on multi-purpose (non-DAW specific) systems?

I guess it's time for another reinstall of bindows , what a great way to spend a weekend.

I'm tempted to jump ship to Cubase but don't want to lose the tracks I have in Sonar, and just don't have the time to learn a new host. I've used Nuendo for a few days and it was tight like a tiger, so I'm thinking Cubase will have the same solidity.

Pffft.

J

[hello1234]

sonar is a moody little bastard......I can't use it anymore because of so many crashes and ........just wierd shit........several different computers.

Now, I don't understand this Nuendo thing.......it's 2500 bones list.......so even at a discount.......it's just toooooooo pricy.

Sx/sl are choices.......but it seems to me allot of people complain about errors with that too.

here is the short list of products I use/have used that run pretty much no matter what.

protools mpowered
tracktion
podium.......
And now live 5 (it's kinda wierd......but it's working beautifully so far.........)

You need a powerful computer and a learning curve for protools........but it F#$#@in' ROCKS! It works and works and works.......

Most of these have demos.......live 5 has one right now without demo restrictions.....(beta, but stable)

[Stupid American Pig]

I dont think that is a sonar issue, though I understand yer frustration. I think you should cheak all yer hardware(re-seat ram, blow out dust,etc) reload winders and patch it before it goes on the interweb, then reload sonar..

[headquest]

I have had a similar issue with Adobe Audition, and it turned out to be that my Windows registry needed a jolly good clean.

I downloaded a program recommended in Sound on Sound my Martin Walker, called Registry Medic (here: www.iomatic.com )

Registry Medic found I had well over 2000 bad registry entries. After getting rid of them Audition was as good as new - sets load really fast, no more crashes, etc.

The reason I mention this (not being a Sonar user) is that while I was doing the registry clean up I found well over a hundred bad registry entries related to a Sonar demo I briefly ran last year (and another 100+ related to the P5v2 demo). There were also hundreds of entries relating to my VST folder and Audition's VST wrapper scanning.

I hope this may help, and if its a red herring, appologies in advance!

[Hunter]

sonar is a moody little bastard......I can't use it anymore because of so many crashes and ........just wierd shit........several different computers.

Now, I don't understand this Nuendo thing.......it's 2500 bones list.......so even at a discount.......it's just toooooooo pricy.

Sx/sl are choices.......but it seems to me allot of people complain about errors with that too.

It can be quite grumpy at the best of times. I get a lot of audio dropouts but I'm lazy when it comes to freezing tracks so the cpu is always quite high. It is a damn good piece of kit when it works though.

I wouldn't be able to afford Nuendo and it is much more than I need, but Cubase is in the ballpark and seems pretty much the same beast. From using Nuendo a wee bit it does seem a great piece of kit.

I previously used FLS and it was solid as a rock, no problems ever, but I can't go back to it now, it no longer suits my work style.

[Hunter]

I dont think that is a sonar issue, though I understand yer frustration. I think you should cheak all yer hardware(re-seat ram, blow out dust,etc) reload winders and patch it before it goes on the interweb, then reload sonar..

yeah I've resigned myself to the full install, buts its just such a hassle reinstalling everything

On the plus side I'm about to have no internet connection at home so I can avoid installing any web stylee stuff so that should mean less things going on int he background (and more tiem to do music !!!)

[Hunter]

I have had a similar issue with Adobe Audition, and it turned out to be that my Windows registry needed a jolly good clean.

I downloaded a program recommended in Sound on Sound my Martin Walker, called Registry Medic (here: www.iomatic.com )

Registry Medic found I had well over 2000 bad registry entries. After getting rid of them Audition was as good as new - sets load really fast, no more crashes, etc.

The reason I mention this (not being a Sonar user) is that while I was doing the registry clean up I found well over a hundred bad registry entries related to a Sonar demo I briefly ran last year (and another 100+ related to the P5v2 demo). There were also hundreds of entries relating to my VST folder and Audition's VST wrapper scanning.

I hope this may help, and if its a red herring, appologies in advance!

Hmm sounds interesting! Thanks for the link, I'll probably do a full reinstall just to get rid of loads of junk anyway.

[headquest]

Hmm sounds interesting! Thanks for the link, I'll probably do a full reinstall just to get rid of loads of junk anyway.

I did a full reinstall with Audition too, but this does not in itself repair the registry. If anything it makes it worse!

So I would recommend:

Uninstall Sonar.
Clean registry using Registry Medic.
Reinstall Sonar.

If my hunch is correct this will resolve your problem!

Only fair to point out though that Registry Medic costs $29.95.

Martin Walker says there are freeware registry cleaners, but none he has used without encoutering some problems. If you bugger up your registry, you can end up in worst case having to reinstall Windows so its best to tread carefully.

Registry Medic backs everything up so you can undo any changes. You can download the program free and do a full scan. This will help you determine the extent of the problem on your system. Then you can pay if you want to use the Medic to clean up!

Hope this helps!

[xylyx]

Or try EasyCleaner which is free and saves a backup of the removed entries. Been using this for a long time and it hasn't messed anything up on my systems thus far...

[hello1234]

It is a damn good piece of kit when it works though.

When it does, you are right.

[hello1234]

I dont think that is a sonar issue, though I understand yer frustration. I think you should cheak all yer hardware(re-seat ram, blow out dust,etc) reload winders and patch it before it goes on the interweb, then reload sonar..

yeah I've resigned myself to the full install, buts its just such a hassle reinstalling everything

On the plus side I'm about to have no internet connection at home so I can avoid installing any web stylee stuff so that should mean less things going on int he background (and more tiem to do music !!!)

But that's kinda what I mean, I have had to resinstall from scratch over and over and over with sonar........I don't do that anymore........it kinda scary actually........makes me nervous!

[hello1234]

try regedit too........it seems to find things nothing else can!

but alas.......all dx products have tanked on me.......

[origami]

I want to buy Sonar next month probably, but these kinds of threads make me nervous. Is it so problematic then? why do so many people use it with no problems then?

[hello1234]

Don't take our word for it.....some people really like it.

I'll tell you this......

fact, the vst/dx wrapper cakewalk provides is junk. It is bizare and does not do the job allot of other peoples do.

fact, drum romplers HATE sonar. Groove agent, bfd, jamstix......long list........all have allot of quirks. You must have dxier to run some of these in sonar and thats an extra 50 bucks.

fact, there are so many other programs out there.......it's hard to believe that sonar takes the .........bad pun here........cake...........

I hope not to p/o sonar lovers.....but unfortunatly those are true and I personally have had so many problems with cakewalk tech.......I just gave up.

But that's just me.........

[origami]

and I've heard so many people saying how buggy cubase sx is...so what sequencers do we have left that are really good?