Audio - Driver Settings

Figure 590. The Driver Settings section.

The Driver Settings section lets you specify the audio timing master devices, default sampling rate and other audio settings.

The Driver Settings section contains the following settings:

Playback Timing Master. If you’re using multiple wave drivers for playback, this list lets you specify which audio device should control the playback timing.

Note: If you have two wave drivers, but all audio tracks are playing on only one wave driver, then that driver will be the timing master no matter what you choose.

Record Timing Master. If you’re using multiple wave drivers for playback, this list lets you specify which audio device should control the recording timing.

Note: Every sound card’s clock crystal is slightly different, which causes minor differences in the actual playback rate on each card. These differences may lead to slight synchronization problems if you use one card for recording and a different one for playback. Multiple wave drivers on the same card will not have sync problems.

Audio Driver Bit Depth. Determines the number of bits per sample used for communicating with the audio hardware for playback. Your audio hardware must be capable of supporting the setting you supply here. In Sonar, choose between 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24. In most cases, even if your hardware is “advertised” as being 18 or 20 bit, you will want to set this value to 24 for optimum performance. Sonar 16-bit only.

Note: Using an audio driver bit depth that is greater than 16 means you also need to choose a preferred setting in the Stream >16 Bit Data As field in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Audio Profiles.

64-bit Double Precision Engine. Enabling this check box chooses 64-bit (double-precision) mixing in Sonar throughout the entire signal path. This includes dithering and plug-ins. Sonar will send and receive 64-bit data to and from all plug-ins that accept 64-bit data. If a plug-in requires 32-bit data, Sonar will send and receive 32-bit data.

Stereo Panning Law. Use this menu to choose a panning law for the current project and new projects. The current project’s panning law is also displayed in the File Stats window, which appears when you open the File Info dialog box (Project > Info command), and click the File Stats button. Determines the mathematical formula used to control panning. The choices are:

(Default) 0dB center, sin/cos taper, constant power. This choice causes a 3 dB boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-3dB center, sin/cos taper, constant power. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 3 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

0dB center, square-root taper, constant power. This choice causes a 3 dB boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-3dB center, square root taper, constant power. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 3 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-6dB center, linear taper. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 6 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

0 dB center, balance control. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

For more information about panning laws, see Configuring panning laws.

Dim Solo Gain. Dim Solo is a mode in which non-soloed audio tracks/buses are still audible but at a reduced level. The default gain reduction is -6 dB, but can also be configured for -12 dB and -18 dB. For more information about Dim Solo, see Dim Solo mode.

Default Settings for New Projects

Sampling Rate. The Sampling Rate list allows you to enter or select an audio sampling rate for a new project. After audio has been added to the project—either by recording audio or by using the File > Import > Audio command—you can no longer change the sampling rate for that project. Therefore, you should choose the sampling rate immediately after choosing File > New to start a new song.

You can choose one of the following sampling rates: 11025 Hz, 22050 Hz, 44100 Hz, 48000 Hz, 88200, 96000, 176400 and 192000 Hz. The default used by Sonar is 44100 Hz, the same rate as audio CDs. However, you may choose a higher rate and later mixdown to 44100.

You can also enter any hardware supported value in the Sampling Rate field. Consult your hardware documentation for supported sampling rates.

Mixing Latency (MME and WDM drivers only)

Buffers in Playback Queue. This value determines the buffer characteristics for transfers to and from the audio drivers. Lowering this value improves audio Latency, though making it too low makes your system more susceptible to stuttering or dropouts.

Buffer Size Slider. This control lets you set mixing latency manually, overriding the value set by the Wave Device Profiler. Lower numbers increase the risk of audio problems. WDM sound card drivers offer lower latency than the older MME type.

For supported ASIO audio devices, the latency slider can be used to change the audio buffer size without the need to open the manufacturer’s ASIO panel. For this to work, the driver has to support reporting its latency metrics to the host and respond to preferred buffer size requests. If supported, you will see a latency slider with the min/max latency as recommended by the driver. If unsupported, the slider will be disabled.

Note: The Buffer Size slider will move in steps as suggested by the ASIO driver. One of the advantages of this feature is that you may have access to more granular buffer sizes than the driver panel offers. It is not guaranteed that every latency value supplied by Sonar will be acknowledged by the driver.

Wave Profiler (MME and WDM drivers only)

Wave Profiler attempts to detect the make and model of your sound card, which determine the card’s DMA (Direct Memory Access) settings. Once Wave Profiler identifies the card, it displays the results and asks whether you want to use the default settings for that card or to override them:

If Wave Profiler has identified your card correctly, you may accept the default settings. Otherwise, Wave Profiler will run a series of tests to attempt to determine the correct DMA settings. Usually this process is successful; however, if it is not, you will need to enter the correct settings in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Audio Profiles.

To determine the correct settings, consult your sound card documentation. Our website, at www.cakewalk.com, contains the latest DMA settings for commonly used sound cards.

The Wave Profiler utility runs automatically the first time you run Sonar. You need not run it again unless you install a new sound card or an updated driver for your current sound card.

Wave Profiler will not analyze the card at the 48 kHz sampling rate. It assumes that 48 kHz settings are the same as 44 kHz settings. If your sound card doesn’t sync to 48 kHz, you may need to enter the settings manually.

ASIO Panel (ASIO drivers only)

This button opens a dialog box where you can set the buffer size for your ASIO driver and change the driver configuration. See your sound card’s documentation for more information.

 

Note: A few ASIO devices require that the host should not use the device while making changes to device settings. Some devices may display an error or gray out the controls in the ASIO panel while others may silently ignore changes. You can set the variable StopEngineOnASIOPanelOpen in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Configuration File. Setting it to True (default value) will automatically stop and release the ASIO interface allowing you to change settings in Sonar.

For more information, see:

Improving audio performance

 

See also:

Preferences dialog

Audio - Devices

Audio - Playback and Recording

Audio - Audio Profiles (Advanced)

Audio - Configuration File (Advanced)

Audio - Sync and Caching (Advanced)