Reference Guide

1106
Improving audio performance
System configuration
The DMA settings are used to ensure that a project that contains both MIDI and digital audio plays
back in tight synchronization. If SONAR is not configured properly with your audio device’s DMA
settings, MIDI and digital audio material may not play back correctly.
Note to users of previous Cakewalk products: The DMA settings in versions of Cakewalk prior to
SONAR 1.0 were displayed in bytes rather than samples. Using your previous DMA settings in
SONAR will not work. Try the settings that wave profiler displays, and if you are not satisfied, only
then attempt to optimize your settings.
The Wave Profiler utility runs automatically the first time you run SONAR. The wave profiler
determines the best DMA settings for the supported bit depths and sample rates of your sound card.
All of your audio settings are listed in the Preferences dialog box, which you open with the Edit >
Preferences command. The following list summarizes all the settings that the Wave Profiler sets.
You can override all of them except what audio drivers are listed in the Drivers tab:
• Input and output drivers
• DMA buffer sizes (in samples)
• Mixing latency
If you experience MIDI and audio synchronization problems during playback, before contacting
technical support, run the Wave Profiler and try the default settings.
To manually run the Wave Profiler
1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings.
2. Click Wave Profiler.
The Wave Profiler examines each of your sound cards in turn, makes default settings in the Audio
Options dialog, and displays the name of each sound card and the sample rates that each card
supports.
Note: It is possible to load a 48 kHz project when you are using a sound card that does not
support 48 kHz. SONAR does not warn you when you do this. Your project may crash, or it may
appear to record audio when your project is not actually recording.