Reference Guide

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Improving performance with digital audio
Improving audio performance
dropout or glitch. If possible, you should disconnect your computer from a local area network,
and/or disconnect from any dial-up telecommunications while recording or playing back audio in
SONAR.
• Turn off your screen saver (if present).
• Turn off the Auto-Notification option for your CD-ROM drive. If it is turned on, the insertion of a
CD-ROM can interrupt audio processing.
To disable it, open the System applet in the Control panel, click on the Device Manager tab,
expand the CD-ROM list entry, double-click on the listed CD-ROM device, click on the Settings
tab, and uncheck the Auto Insert Notification check box.
• Disable any kind of virus scanning program that might be running in the background. To find out
what programs are currently running, press the CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys simultaneously to
display the Windows Task Manager; if you see an anti-Virus program shown on the list of
currently running tasks, select that program and click End Task.
• If SONAR's Auto Save feature is enabled, disable it.
• Remove all programs from the Windows Start Up folder (\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs\Start Up).
Cakewalk doesn't properly “recognize” your sound card
Re-run the SONAR Wave Profiler, which will attempt to analyze your sound card and establish
proper settings for it:
•Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings and click the Wave Profiler button.
• If Wave Profiler offers you the chance to use "default settings" for your sound card, accept the
defaults, close the Preferences dialog box, and check audio playback/recording.
• If problem(s) continue, re-run the Wave Profiler, but this time do not accept any default settings.
• If you decline to use default settings (or if Wave Profiler can't find any for your sound card), Wave
Profiler will analyze your sound card's capabilities by running some tests and automatically
establish appropriate settings based on the test results.
• If your sound card is listed at www.cakewalk.com/Support/Docs/sound cardtips.html, read and
follow any special card-specific operating instructions listed there.
• Re-test audio recording/playback. If problem(s) persist, go to the Next Step.
The "I/O Buffer Size" may not be well matched to your hard disk
SONAR may be reading and writing audio data to/from your hard disk in chunks that are either too
large or too small for your particular hard disk's characteristics.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Sync and Caching and try different values for Playback I/O
Buffer Size and Record I/O Buffer Size until you find values that works well for your particular hard
disk:
• The default value is 64. Try reducing this value, to 32, then 16. After each change, close the
dialog box (click OK) and re-test your project's recording/playback behavior.
• If problem(s) persist, try increasing this value, to 128, then 256, then 512. Again, close the dialog
box and re-try your project after each change.