Reference Guide

1203
Improving performance with digital audio
Improving audio performance
Your sound card may have a conflict with another device in your
computer
Try resolving this device conflict as follows:
• Ensure that your sound card is not sharing IRQs with any other device. Although some sound
cards claim that they work properly on a shared IRQ, this is usually not the case and it is
advisable to avoid such sharing. To do this, right click on My Computer and select Properties
from the pop-up menu. In the System Properties dialog box, click on the Device Manager tab,
then double-click on the Computer icon at the top of the list. This allows you to look at all the
devices on your system and which IRQs they are using. Scroll through the list until you see your
sound card. Check the IRQ setting to the left of the icon. If there are other devices (such as a
video card) that are assigned to the same IRQ, you should try moving your sound card to a
different slot in your computer. Note that entries which say something like "IRQ Holder for PCI
Steering" do not indicate conflicting devices, and can be ignored.
•Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Devices and make sure that only your sound card's input
and output drivers are highlighted in both menus. (If you have more than one sound card installed
in your system, try using only a single sound card and deselecting the other(s). If you can get
audio to record/playback properly on a single sound card, but you encounter problems using two
sound cards simultaneously, there may be a conflict between the two sound cards. Contact
Cakewalk Technical Support for assistance in this event.)
• If problem(s) continue, another multimedia audio device on your system (like a built-in sound card
or voicemodem) could be interfering with your sound card's functionality. To see if this is the
cause of your problem(s), you'll have to temporarily disable these other devices. Note that this
may cause other programs which rely on these other devices to no longer work correctly.
To disable these other device(s), in Windows go to the Control Panel, and double-click the
Multimedia icon. Click the Advanced tab, and click the plus sign next to Audio Devices.
Double-click any audio devices listed there that AREN'T the sound card, and choose Do Not
Use Audio Features on This Device. Click OK, and repeat this step for any non-sound card
device, including voicemodems, 'virtual audio devices' or 'game-compatible devices'. Once the
sound card is the only device left, click OK, and restart the computer. After restarting, delete the
file cw9auddx.ini from your Cakewalk folder. Once you've deleted those files, launch
Cakewalk, and let it profile your audio hardware. When it's done, try playing your audio again.
• If problem(s) continue, try deselecting any MIDI devices which you might be using. In SONAR, go
to Edit > Preferences > MIDI - Devices and deselect every MIDI device in both Inputs and
Outputs, then when SONAR asks, select Continue with no MIDI input and Continue with no
MIDI output, and try re-test your audio recording/playback.
• If problem(s) persist, reselect your audio and MIDI devices, and continue with the next step.