SONAR 7 and FireStudio Project

[lutherbaker]

I recently purchased a Firestudio Project and so far, limit my use to recording two tracks at a time - a keyboard and a mic - just for ideas. This morning, I was practicing guitar and decided to record the practice session.

I don't have a 'serious' problem - but it is serious enough that I would have problems using this in a commecial setting.

Add very random times, SONAR will just get audio dropout and stop the audio engine. It might happen 2 minutes into my recording - or 10 minutes. I don't record more than 2 or 3 channels at a time and the CPU meter rarely jumps past 4% much less 10%.

I am using a Sony VAIO with XP/Media Center which has a built in TI Firewire card and dual centrino 1.6 cpu. I followed the steps outlined in the sticky SONAR 6 and Firestudio thread - I even disable SONAR multiprocessor capability. But still get this annoying problem rearing its head from time to time. Maybe it is SONAR related - but I get the feeling that it is some more complex combination of SONAR, Firestudio Project and Computer hardware.

Any suggestions? I'm not even sure how to debug this. The audio engine just stops. It starts right back up if I press play.

Thanks,

-Luther

[Wesley DeVore]

Check your IRQs. Drop outs are usually a bandwidth issue. Is your Firewire bus sharing an IRQ with anything?

[lutherbaker]

That was very helpful.

There are 5 devices sharing IRQ 16.

Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family
Intel(R)82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D0
Intel(R)82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Unversal Host COntroller - 27C9
Generic CardBus Controller
Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

Would you suggest a followup step? Do I need to disable all the conflicting devices or can I actually reassign IRQs for these devices?

Thanks,

-Luther

[lutherbaker]

I managed to disable everything except the 1394 Host Controller .. I was excited - but Audio dropout occurred within first 30 seconds and the audio engine stopped - then again at 1.5 minutes ... Then, I managed to play for several minutes without a problem - playing 2 tracks (vocal and synth). This is all vaguely familiar.

I will leave this setting but I lost my second monitor (onboard video) so if the dropouts continue just as randomly - I may activate the video again.

I will keep trying various config combos. Any suggestions are much appreciated. As long as I constanly watch it - I can make use of it for now.

Thanks much,

-Luther

[lutherbaker]

Oddity ...

I do indeed have 16 IRQs ... but they are numbered 0 ~ 23 (some are skipped). Also, some are identified as (ISA) and some are identified as (PCI).

Does this affect how I disable some devices? So, if I disable devices on IRQ 16, is it possible that another identifier 1~23 could actually be mapped to the same IRQ as the devices I just disabled?

Thanks,

-Luther

[lutherbaker]

For what its worth - this morning while recording 2 tracks of guitar channels ... the FIREWIRE connection actually severed.

I started recording - and at about 8 minutes, noticed that SONAR had frozen at about 3.5 minutes. I then noticed the FIREWIRE light on the Firestudio Project blinking.

I had to shut down SONAR and consequently lost that 3.5 minutes of music. I then unplugged and reinstered the firewire cable into the back of the Firestudio Project - it reconnected - computer beeped and I restarted SONAR 7.

Afterwhich, I flawlessly recording 10 more minutes of guitar practice followed by a new project of 10 minutes brainstorming with 3 keyboard and vocal tracks.

Maybe one of my services or something kicks in from time to time ... I'm just not sure how to track it down as ... I've already disabled several root controllers sharing that same IRQ.

Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions.

-Luther

[lutherbaker]

After a great post by edwardb, http://www.presonus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3465 ... my Firestudio Project has started working very well with SONAR 7.

I knew SONAR 7 liked WDM drivers and I couldn't figure out how to find all the Firestudio Project's I/O channels - only 1 in/out ever showed up so I've been relying on ASIO drivers (which show all 10 in SONAR's input drop downs).

And while many folks think ASIO might be better, for some reason, SONAR seems to be less VST and ASIO and more DirectX and WDM happy ...

As the post explains, it turns out that there is another "plainer" config panel - it has everything the 'pretty' version has (except the meters) - but also has two additional options regarding mapping WDM I/O channels to physical Firestudio Project ins and outs. I changed the mapping as Spyro suggests in the post and now, SONAR can see all 10 inputs ... and hasn't dropped Audio since!

This is Great news for SONAR folks!

-Luther

[sludge93023]

Just wanted to add another confirmation of lutherbaker's reports: If you're running Sonar 7 with the FireStudio, use WDM. The critical piece of information here, as edwardb pointed out, is the need to use PaeFireStudioCpl.exe to change the speaker configuration to "Direct Out", which will then result in all the FP's ins and outs being displayed in Sonar.

I had been using ASIO with Sonar 4 and discovered that ASIO with Sonar 7 caused dropouts, especially when using the FaderPort. Now, with WDM, everything is running beautifully.

Thanks to edwardb and lutherbaker for digging this up.

[k9lb]

After a great post by edwardb, http://www.presonus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3465 ... my Firestudio Project has started working very well with SONAR 7.

I knew SONAR 7 liked WDM drivers and I couldn't figure out how to find all the Firestudio Project's I/O channels - only 1 in/out ever showed up so I've been relying on ASIO drivers (which show all 10 in SONAR's input drop downs).





You gotta be kidding me!

I'm having many of these same exact problems and after searching and searching somebody posted what looks like it might be the fix that I have been searching for....

And the link doesn't work!!!:mad:

[grasshopper]

try this one

http://forums.presonus.com/showthread.php?t=3465

the recent update changed the website structure.

[Irish916]

Lutherbaker,
I'm currently using Sonar 7.02PE and the FSP without any issues at this point. I'm working on one project in which I've tracked 4 channels at the same time, no clicks/pops/dropouts.

One of things I would suggest (if you haven't done this already) is to verify which audio drivers you have enabled in Sonar. Go into the audio options in Sonar and verify that you ONLY have the PreSonus drivers checked. You mentioned that you've disabled the hardware sharing IRQs with your FSP, but I didn't see the audio device from your latptop listed there. Make sure you uncheck any and all drivers that are not from the FSP. Close Sonar, re-open and make sure that those drivers are STILL disabled. (I had an issue where Sonar was re-enabling the drivers after I already turned them off).

With the FPS drivers isolated, your performance should improve significantly.

PLEASE NOTE: Disabling other drivers will effective remove that device from your Sonar project.