Reference Guide

862
Improving Audio Performance
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
Your sound card's driver may be obsolete
Obtain and install a new sound card driver (if available):
• Consult your sound card manufacturer's web site (or contact their Customer Service department)
to check for the availability of a later driver version. If one exists, obtain it and install it on your
computer according to their instructions. With the new driver installed, restart the computer, then
delete the file cw9auddx.ini from your SONAR folder. Launch SONAR and let it re-profile your
audio hardware. When it's done, re-test your audio recording/playback.
• If problem(s) persist, continue with the next step.
There may be a conflict with your video card or other multimedia
streaming card
Some video drivers contain bugs which can interfere with SONAR's operation. Or, the driver may be
"stealing" excessive CPU time away from SONAR (some video card vendors, in an attempt to make
their cards operate faster, supply drivers that tie up the computer's bus for relatively long intervals
(so-called “PCI bus contention”). This can interrupt the smooth flow of audio data between SONAR
and the sound card's driver.)
Try to remove the video card conflict as follows:
• Try turning off "hardware acceleration" on your video card (if available). This may cause more
sluggish screen drawing, but may improve the flow of audio data to your sound card, thereby
reducing the possibility of dropouts.
To disable the hardware acceleration on your graphics card: Launch Control panel (Start >
Settings > Control panel). Double-click the Display icon. Select the Settings tab. Click on the
Advanced Properties button. Select the Performance tab. Move the slider for Hardware
Acceleration one notch at a time toward ‘none’ and re-test your recording/playback after each
such adjustment. If problem(s) persist, leave the slider at ‘none’ and proceed with the next step.
• Try Using the Windows driver for your specific sound card (instead of the manufacturer's driver).
• Try using the standard VGA/SVGA drivers provided with Windows (instead of the drivers provided
by the manufacturer).
• Check your video card manufacturer's web site for a later driver version. If a newer driver is
available, download it and install it on your computer following the manufacturer's instructions.
• If you have an STB Velocity 128 card, and your graphics card was configured and shipped with
a new PC, you may want to check the PC vendor’s website (instead of STB’s site) to see if they
offer a driver update for the STB card. PC vendors often will customize drivers to their specific
needs and you should use their driver updates.
• Try reducing the number of colors used by your video card. 16-, 24-, or 32-bit true color display
settings can severely hamper real-time audio performance on some computers; using fewer
colors allows your computer to spend more of its processing time on audio and MIDI.
You can adjust color depth by right-clicking on your Windows desktop, clicking Properties,
clicking on the Settings tab, and selecting a suitable entry in the Colors list. Also, try reducing the
display resolution. Re-test your audio playback/recording with these changes.
• If you have one of the following specific video cards, applying the following card-specific .ini file