Audio has Unexpectedly Dropped Out

The information in this article applies to:
  • All SONAR Family Products
  • Music Creator (all versions)
  • Guitar Tracks Pro (all versions)
If SONAR suddenly stops producing audio during recording or playback followed by the appearance of a red dropout indicator light, you've very likely experienced a dropout. Sometimes instead of a dropout, you may experience a stutter during playback (a small section of audio repeats itself once or twice before normal playback resumes). Or, you may occasionally experience a glitch or pop during audio playback (a brief interruption or clicking noise is heard, but audio playback then continues normally from that point).

Dropouts are usually caused by audio driver configuration problems. The first thing you want to do is to check the Audio Hardware Guide and make sure your interface is set up properly. If your interface isn't listed, try switching the driver mode to either MME or ASIO under Options | Audio | Advanced.

Eliminating Dropouts

  1. Complete all the steps listed in the SONAR Help file under the category Dropouts and Other Audio Problems.
  2. There may be a bad setting in the AUD.INI file. Try one of the following methods:

    Easy Method -  In SONAR 8, SONAR Home Studio 7, Guitar Tracks Pro4, and Music Creator 5, click the Reset Config to Defaults button under the Options | Audio | Advanced tab.

    In all other products, delete the file AUD.INI from the Cakewalk program or AppData folder, restart Cakewalk, and let it analyze your hardware. It may be easiest to delete the file from the Windows Search under Start | Search | All Files and Folders. Click to display the "More Advanced Options" and make sure there is a check in "Search Hidden Files and Folders". The file may be displayed as "AUD".

    Advanced Method - Close SONAR. Open SONAR's AUD.INI file in Notepad. Delete everything listed beneath the line PictureDir=C:\Cakewalk Projects\Picture Cache. Save the file and restart SONAR.

  3. Go to Options | Audio | General and move the Latency slider toward the Safe setting. If you are in ASIO mode, open the ASIO control panel and raise the buffers by twice the amount shown.
  4. Click on the Advanced tab and set the I/O Buffer Size to '512'.
  5. Open a file that has this problem and run the Tools | Compact Audio Data command.
  6. Make sure nothing else is running while SONAR is open. Choose Start | Run and type MSCONFIG. Click OK, then click on the Startup tab at the upper right of the window that opens. Uncheck all items listed, click OK, then restart your computer. You can always recheck those items again at a later time.
  7. If, and only if, you have an UltraDMA hard drive, make sure it's in DMA mode. Go to Control Panel | System | Device Manager and click the plus next to 'Disk Drives'. Double click on your hard drive, click Settings, and make sure the DMA box is checked. If it is not, check it, restart, and make sure it stays checked.


Version: 1.15, Last Updated: 9/23/2009