Patching an effect into Sonar causes a dropout

You may have simply reached the maximum number of tracks and effects your CPU can handle. If this is the case, there are several things you can try:

Freeze tracks and synths that you presently don’t need to edit. For details, see Freeze tracks and synths.

Use the Bounce to clips command to mix down clips that contain a lot of edits (clip effects, automation, AudioSnap, etc). Doing so will decrease the amount of data your system has to process simultaneously. For details, see Bouncing to clips.

If you are using V-Vocal, a lot of processing power may be required from your system. For best performance, it is recommended that you use a clip as small as possible to apply the V-Vocal effect, then use the Bounce to Clips command to mix down any final V-Vocal Region FX clips that don’t require any more editing.

Open the C:\Cakewalk Projects\Picture Cache folder and delete its contents (do not delete the folder itself). Doing so will free up disk space so Sonar may perform more efficiently.

However, if Sonar’s CPU meter does not appear to be maxed out, or other plug-ins seem to work, you may need to address the problem by editing a line in the Aud.ini file. You can edit the Aud.ini file from within Sonar.

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Configuration File.

2.	In the Properties list, scroll down to the property named ExtraPluginBufs.

The default value of the ExtraPluginBufs variable is 0.

3.	Change the value of ExtraPluginBufs to 1.

4.	Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box, then try to insert the effect that caused the dropout.

If you still experience a dropout, change the value of ExtraPluginBufs to 2. Continue to double the value of this variable until you reach 128 (4, 8, 16, 32, etc.). If a value of 128 does not fix the problem, it is time to try something else. For more information about potential dropout causes, see Dropouts and other audio problems.

 

See also:

Dropouts and other audio problems

 

More Frequently asked questions.