Can't get my Realtek soundcard working with Sonar Professional

[JoniCat]

I bought an expensive laptop early last year - £1,300 - but at the time focused mostly on the graphics and processor and didn't pay much attention to the soundcard, assuming it would be decent enough for movie playback, games and mp3 playback. And it is - very good in fact.
But can I get the Realtek to work with Sonar? No!
I've just downloaded and installed ASIO4ALL to try and use that as a workaround but having no luck with that either.
Any obvious solutions or things I may have overlooked?

My laptop specs are -

Processor - Intel Core i7-4720HQ 2.60GHZ
RAM - 8.00 GB
GRAPHICS - Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M - 3 GB
Operating system - Windows 10

In the sound, video and game controllers section in Device manager it has -

Sound - Realtek High Definition Audio - Driver version 6.0.1.7628 (date 5/10/2015)
and
NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (WDM)

The laptop also came with Creative Soundblaster X-fi3 installed (I orginally thought THAT was the soundcard! But I later discovered it's just software)

Any help in getting my soundcard to work with Sonar would be much appreciated!

[GibsonPro-Audio]

Can you explain the symptoms you're having?

When you mean it's not working does it -
1) Give a drop out message?
2) The Transport counts but no audio is heard/recorded?

Also, having installed ASIO4ALL, did you make sure SONAR's driver mode was also set in Edit > Preferences > Audio?

If you have ASIO4ALL installed, it may be configured to be using the Nvidia and not the Realtek, you may want to disable it in the ASIO4ALL config window.

[JoniCat]

I get the 'silent buses detected - master' message upon startup.

I have tried altering loads of settings, messing about with different configurations, but with no joy.

ASIO4ALL reports that my Realtek High Definition Audio IS identified and 'live' - the green on symbol is next to it.
It also detects Realtek HD Audio Output and Realtek HD Ausio Stero Output - all are 'green lit'.

I suspect that I may just have to buy an external usb audio interface :-(

[GibsonPro-Audio]

Originally posted by HelmetCat:

I get the 'silent buses detected - master' message upon startup.

I have tried altering loads of settings, messing about with different configurations, but with no joy.

ASIO4ALL reports that my Realtek High Definition Audio IS identified and 'live' - the green on symbol is next to it.
It also detects Realtek HD Audio Output and Realtek HD Ausio Stero Output - all are 'green lit'.

I suspect that I may just have to buy an external usb audio interface :-(

I still think we can get it working.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio Devices.

What do the playback and recording masters say?

Sometimes you just need to select the device even though the driver mode is set to ASIO.

[JoniCat]

In Audio - Driver Settings

Playback Timing Master - 1:ASIO4ALL v2 HD Audio output 1
Record Timing Master - 1:ASIO4ALL v2 HD Audio Stero input 1

For 'record timing master' there are no alternatives in drop down box.
For 'playback timing master' there are options of output 3 and output 5 - which I have experimented with but neither of those work either.

[opjose]

You also have to go into Windows Audio configuration and check the sampling rates and weather or not you have the Realtek drivers set to "Exclusive mode" or not.

Sonar DOES work with ASIO4ALL and the Realtek drivers, but bare in mind that this is a fairly POOR solution.

You are better off getting a dedicated interface or even using HDMI audio which works far better than the Realtek Drivers.

Also the version of the Realtek drivers you are using come into play. Some versions seem to be better than others.

Finally most OEM computer setups include "effects", which are programs that intercept the Realtek driver chain.

You must REMOVE all of these!

On my Laptop I had the Creative Labs "Enhancements" and once I removed that Sonar worked fine... Realtek also has some driver level effects that must also be turned off.

[GibsonPro-Audio]

Originally posted by HelmetCat:

In Audio - Driver Settings

Playback Timing Master - 1:ASIO4ALL v2 HD Audio output 1
Record Timing Master - 1:ASIO4ALL v2 HD Audio Stero input 1

For 'record timing master' there are no alternatives in drop down box.
For 'playback timing master' there are options of output 3 and output 5 - which I have experimented with but neither of those work either.

Are you opening tutorial projects or starting from a brand new projects? It may be that the project output just needs to be set.

[JoniCat]

It's working now.

And I have absolutely no idea why. I tried all the suggestions in the above comments, tried just 'messing around' with lots of options and settings in the ASIO4ALL box, as well as general Sonar settings.

Nothing worked.

I gave up. Today on a whim I booted up Sonar again to have another mess around. An discovered that EVERYTHING IS WORKING!

I am grateful it is of course. For the first time I can have fun with it - play the guitar samples, mess about with the drum kits and HEAR it all. I can finally HEAR it!

But I really really want to know how and why!!!

[GibsonPro-Audio]

Originally posted by HelmetCat:

It's working now.

And I have absolutely no idea why. I tried all the suggestions in the above comments, tried just 'messing around' with lots of options and settings in the ASIO4ALL box, as well as general Sonar settings.

Nothing worked.

I gave up. Today on a whim I booted up Sonar again to have another mess around. An discovered that EVERYTHING IS WORKING!

I am grateful it is of course. For the first time I can have fun with it - play the guitar samples, mess about with the drum kits and HEAR it all. I can finally HEAR it!

But I really really want to know how and why!!!

I have a feeling it probably had to do with Windows holding sound options open or something similar.

I have constant issues with HDMI audio outputs on my home Win7 machine. They'll always take precedent over my Edirol UA-1000, and sometimes Windows will think I'm playing out on the UA-1000, while audio is actually playing over HDMI.

Keep us updated on what you find please.