Reference Guide

1312 Improving audio performance
Improving performance with digital audio
The CPU is being interrupted by “background” activities having nothing
to do with audio
Turn off these other activities, so your CPU can process audio without interruption:
• Turn off the Microsoft Office FastFind option if present on your system.
• Don't use any scheduled background tasks (e.g., tasks which are part of the Windows Plus
package, or which you have scheduled yourself using the Windows Task Scheduler utility).
• Discontinue use of any networking or communications applications on your computer. For
example, don't run email programs (like Microsoft Outlook), Web browsers, or AOL client software
while you are running SONAR. These programs send and receive chunks of information over a
modem or a network connection; when one of these data chunks is sent or received, your CPU
may be unexpectedly interrupted from SONAR audio processing to deal with the modem or
network data. That interruption can disrupt the smooth processing of audio data, causing a
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