Help needed with new interface/program

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:13 pm

Alright, so I just purchased an Echo Audiofire 8, as well as Sonar 7, and for some reason, Sonar 7 won't recognize the Echo interface, so I'm completely unable to record anything. I'm getting output from the interface, so I know the hardware isn't broken or anything. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:28 pm

Hang on...yes.

Have you look at this page:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/SONAR/SR7.asp

See if any of this applies to your current situation.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:57 am

Alright, nothing offered to me on Cakewalk's website helped. I'm now in freak out mode. Could they possibly be incompatible? I don't understand why Sonar would simply fail to recognize the interface I'm using.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:01 am

Did you pay for both units from an actual shop?

You should be entitled to support. Or a refund.

What OS you using?

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:26 am

Greener wrote:

Did you pay for both units from an actual shop?

You should be entitled to support. Or a refund.

What OS you using?

I'm using Windows Vista. I'm really hoping it's not a problem with the OS. Vista's been a bit of a musical nightmare since I got my new computer. I got the interface off of eBay, so I don't know that I'm entitled to support.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:34 am

Dude, so many factors.

Firstly, being a tightarse and buying from e-bay hasn't made your life better.

Secondly, You have three miss-matched things. Audiofire 8, Sonar 7 and Vista...

My monies on Vista.

Try right clicking the volume control in the bottom right corner. Got to playback properties and recording properties. Make sure they are set to the device you want by default.

Use the help function in Sonar to search for "device" "interface" and as many buzz words you can think of.

Sonar has an annoying way of needing you to set parameters in more than one place.

Personally. I'd lose Vista.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:51 am

Yeah, if I had a choice, I'd drop Vista, too. However, it's pretty much impossible to get a new computer that isn't customized without it these days, and I'll be damned if I'm buying XP.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:53 am

Okay, so I just checked my audio properties in Vista, and my interface doesn't even show up. Should I uninstall/reinstall, or am I really, really fucked now?

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:59 am

A little bit from each column.

Unplug the device, uninstall everything.
Reboot.
Install drivers for device. Drivers certified for Vista.
Connect device.
Verify it's the default device.
Install Sonar.
Update it to the current Vista edition (If you can).
If Sonar's not recognising the device, point it at the device.
If you can't, I'd say you're all in the fucked column.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:08 am

Greener wrote:

A little bit from each column.

Unplug the device, uninstall everything.
Reboot.
Install drivers for device. Drivers certified for Vista.
Connect device.
Verify it's the default device.
Install Sonar.
Update it to the current Vista edition (If you can).
If Sonar's not recognising the device, point it at the device.
If you can't, I'd say you're all in the fucked column.

Haha, alright. Thanks so much for your help. I'll do all of this. If I can't get it to work, could you recommend another DAW offhand? Sonar's the one I prefer to use, but I'm not that experienced with it yet and it wouldn't be a big pain for me to switch to another. The interface, on the other hand, would be a big pain to have to change.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:26 am

No ideas, I use Sonar and Audition.

Cubase and Protools seem to get some mention. You need a dongle for the Pro tools use.

And, when you score crap from e-bay and pinch your DAW. Expect problems on your POS computer.

If you care about your music, invest some coin into it.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:01 am

I don't think the problem would be with Sonar or necessarily with the interface. My guess is that the problem is a configuration issue involving Vista and the interface. Make sure that the Audiofire is Vista compatible. Make sure that the drivers for it install properly and then get the lastest updates for them from the manufacturers web site.

If you still don't have any luck try some other audio apps and see if they recognize your interface. See if the vista version of sound recorder can record audio from your interface. Maybe install something like Reaper just to see if it can see your interface.

If you can't get anything to see the interface, then it won't matter what DAW software you use.

Keep up the troublshooting and let us know what your results are.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:27 pm

Alright, status report. I updated the drivers for my Echo interface, and my computer is recognizing the interface now. Thank god. I set it to my default. I've set up everything in Sonar (which is now recognizing the interface as well), but there's one last hurdle. I can't record anything into Sonar for some reason. I've got all my ins and outs specified in the audio options, and everything should be fine. I can't figure out exactly why the signal from my interface isn't making it into Sonar.

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:48 pm

Click the R button in the audio track panel. This arms the track. Hit record.

When you're done getting it to work, can you post an example of your playing/singing whatever?

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 4:17 pm

Greener wrote:

Click the R button in the audio track panel. This arms the track. Hit record.

When you're done getting it to work, can you post an example of your playing/singing whatever?

Yeah, I know all that. I'm not totally clueless (though I may present myself to the contrary). The problem is that when it's recording, it's not receiving any signal, and so it's just a blank track. I'll gladly post stuff when I actually get this to work. I'm always looking for constructive criticism on my musicianship and my audio-work.

This topic sponsored by: