Instruction Manual

866 Improving Audio Performance
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
Queue Buffers
Status Bar/CPU Meter/Disk Meter
Mixing Latency
SONAR has a slider in the Audio Options dialog box, on the General tab, to
set mixing latency. Mixing latency is the amount of time SONAR allocates
to prepare a buffer full of audio data for playback. Lower latency settings
add processing time because of the need to refill the smaller data buffers
more often. You may need to use the slider to increase mixing latency
under the following conditions:
• You use lots of real-time effects, and you hear dropouts. Check the
CPU meter for high readings; try increasing the latency.
• Your sound card does not function well at lower latency. Some sound
cards just do not function well at lower latency settings. Even though
SONAR’s CPU meter and Dropout indicator report no problems, if you
hear dropouts try increasing the mixing latency.
Sound cards differ in the precision of their timing, what size audio buffers
they require, and other characteristics. SONAR has a utility called the Wave
Profiler that can usually automatically detect the type of sound card that you
have installed and configure its settings for best performance. If your sound
card is a well-known model, you can usually use SONAR without having to
change many audio settings. However, if you experience synchronization
problems between MIDI and digital audio, like to use different sample rates
and bit depths, or want to experiment with mixing latency, you need to do
some optimization yourself.
See:
The Wave Profiler
Status Bar/CPU Meter/Disk Meter
ASIO Drivers
SONAR supports ASIO drivers. You are limited to a single sound card
when using an ASIO driver.
To Use an ASIO Driver
Use the following procedure to enable SONAR for use with an ASIO driver.
1. Select Options-Audio to open the Audio Options dialog.
2. In the Audio Options dialog, click the Advanced tab.