Reference Guide

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System configuration
Improving audio performance
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
Preferences dialog box, and displays the name of each sound card and the sample rates that each
card supports.
Enabling and disabling audio devices
Your computer may have several installed devices like FAX modems and software synthesizers that
Windows recognizes as sound cards containing audio drivers. You do not want to use these devices
for audio input or output. If they are listed as audio drivers in the Preferences dialog box, you need
to disable them.
To enable or disable an audio device
1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Devices.
2. In the Input Drivers and Output Drivers fields, do one or both of the following:
• To enable an audio device, click the name of the device so that it is highlighted.
• To disable an audio device, click the name of the device so that it is not highlighted.
3. Click OK.
Disabling a device in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Devices usually prevents conflicts with other
audio devices. Occasionally you may need to disable a device in the Windows Control Panel.
SONAR also allows you to choose the sound card whose clock should be used to control recording
and playback timing (if you only have one sound card, SONAR automatically uses it). Every sound
card’s clock crystal is slightly different, which causes minor differences in the actual playback rate on
each card. These differences may lead to slight synchronization problems if you use one card for
recording and a different one for playback. Generally, you should choose your highest quality sound
card for both recording and playback timing. Note that while some multichannel sound cards have
multiple drivers, most sound cards have only a single audio driver.
To select playback and record timing masters
1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings.
2. In the Playback Timing Master and Record Timing Master fields, select which sound cards
you want to control playback and record timing, respectively.
3. Click OK.
While you must choose a playback timing master, you can route audio output through any number of
devices at once. For example, suppose your computer has both a high-end audio card and a basic
built-in sound card. You should choose the high-end sound card as the record and playback timing
master. However, using the buses in the Console or Track views, you could create a headphone or
monitor mix and route it through the built-in sound card.