Admittedly, I’ve got a bit of an unusual setup, but Cubase has not taken to it well.
I have 3 monitors, one of which is a 4k display, and I’m running windows 10.
I don’t know why, but something about that setup results in the following:
Randomly, but very frequently, pop-up / context menus that are opened on either of the smaller displays are invisible but can still function, if you remember exactly where the button you want is. (Not very easy…)
On rare occasion, the bottom of the MixConsole is cut off. All of the level meters extend below the bottom of the window, and all of the record/monitor/automation buttons are not accessible. Moving the window upward does not fix this, because they appear to be extending past the bottom of the window… returns to normal after closed and re-opened.
Very often, the click region for the top menu bar randomly scales itself downward while leaving the graphic in place, making it difficult to access menu options. I included a picture because it’s hard to explain.
Randomly, the transport panel becomes very small. If clicked on and moved around a little, it springs back to it’s proper size. It’s not really very debilitating, but it’s still weird.
Every now and then, the transport panel completely vanishes. Pressing the transport panel hotkey (F2) does nothing. I think it’s stuck off screen or something. This really sucks because I don’t know how to change the project tempo, time signature, or midi cycle record mode without it…
Am I the only one that has to deal with this?
Are there possible workarounds?
Any help (or at least some comments ) would be much appreciated!
I run three monitors in Windows 8.1. I do however run all the monitors in the same resolution, albeit with slightly different sized monitors. It did take me a while to get them all working together and even now I sometimes get a small glitch where all three screens go blank for the blink of an eye.
I would have thought the issue would be running a 4k display with monitors of lesser resolution? Surely a graphics card would not be able to deal with that?
A good start would be to describe your PC system? Especially the graphics card. And are all 3 video outputs coming from the same card? Or do you use a video out from the mother board combined with a graphics card?
You said Cubase. Have you tried other DAWs or editors such as Wavelab to see if the behavior is similar?
First, thank both you for the responses! I would have cried if this post sat empty…
Excellent questions! My PC is a custom built tower. I included some of the details in my signature. All outputs are coming from a single graphics card: an Asus STRIX (GeFore GTX 960)
The manufacturer claims that it can handle 4 concurrent displays, and supports 4K.
There are actually 5 video outputs on the back of the card. One DVI, one HDMI, and 3 DisplayPort.
I am using the DVI and two of the DisplayPort connectors. (One of the DisplayPorts being for the 4K.)
Thinking about it now… it seems more weird to me that it would work than that it would not…
Still, as far as that goes, I can run just about any other multi-window software across the screens just fine. The desktop acts normal, etc. Every now and then there’s some windows DPI scaling issues on some applications, but that’s about it.
I do not have Wavelab, so far Cubase is the only DAW I rely on. The other software I use a lot is VisualStudio, which handles multiple monitors just fine. I also have the freeware DAW “LMMS”, but I don’t use it much. It has worked so far, but it’s also pretty simple. (I mostly just keep it around because of some old projects I am sentimental towards. They are trapped in it, due to it not being able to export MIDI )
Does that help lead to any clues at all? It’s still a mystery to me…
It might be relevant to describe the monitors you are using. I am not clear how a 4K monitor would be compatible with a lower res monitor when run from the same graphics card.
It all works most of the time, except for the top menu bar in Cubase, which gets messed up just about every other time I try to use it. The other issues I can live with. (Well, the vanishing transport panel bugs me, but it’s infrequent enough that I can manage.)
Given that your 4K monitor runs at 3840 x 2160 and the others at 1920 x 1080 I would suggest there is an issue right there. That is quite a difference in resolution and which might explain the glitches. Just a thought.
It should not be an issue, I have 3 monitors with very different resolutions connected and it just works.
If you don’t use nvidia surround and have setup the screens to their native resolution and refresh rate ?
I have 3 monitors with different resolutions, but not one with the extra high definition of 4k. I suppose it is down to how the graphics software controls each screen.
But you are probably right there will be some other explanation. Interesting to know.
Yeah, I’ve always been able to mix and match monitor resolutions, as long as the graphics card can handle the monitors.
I don’t know what nVidia surround is, but each monitor is at it’s native resolution, and they are all at 60Hz.
No flickering or black screens or anything. Again, normal desktop applications work flawlessly. (Well, aside from the random flaws any software always has…)
The one thing I have noticed is that when an application window is moved from the 4k to one of the other screens, Windows will re-size it to adjust for the difference in resolution. Which is good, because that’s what allows small text to be large enough to read on 4k, and not take up the entire screen on the others.
That might be the root of the problem though, actually. Windows DPI scaling.
Or rather, the way that Windows DPI scaling interacts with Cubase.
It could be that the way they made the GUI for Cubase does not handle DPI scaling well.
If that were the cause, it would only happen if you had multiple monitors of different resolution. (or had set the DPI differently on two monitors of the same resolution, but who would do that?)
If so, is it fair to consider that a bug in the windows version of Cubase? Even if it’s caused by a shoddy Microsoft feature, it’s still the only application I am getting these problems with.
I’m going to try testing with DPI scaling off and see if that changes things. I would hate to keep my system like that all the time though, because then I could not even use a web browser without a magnifying glass!
oh yes I run all my screens at 100% scaling, anything else would require all the programs to conform to DPI scaling, and most still don’t.
Windows 10 is better, but there is still a long way to go.
That’s why I haven’t added a 4k screen, I don’t have the space for a minimum 50" screen in my setup.
I just checked with DPI scaling at 100 and sure enough the problems go away. Should have known it was a Windows thing…
I guess I will just need to hope for a patch. I guess a solution could come from either Steinberg or Microsoft. Fingers crossed, but breath not held…
Yeah, it would take sitting (standing?), like 2 feet away from a 50" to make the text readable! But you’d probably need to knock out a wall to get a screen that big to fit… Hmm. A gigantic wall of neon green level meters… now that’s much more interesting than a boring old wall!
Hello
I have the same issue, a little variation of it… but from a 4k screen laptop with a 1080p external monitor used as main screen. I did realize it was a scalig issue, and I really wish that cubase would just work it up…as to have a vry small 4k monitor without scaling…its great when Im working on sound design for picture and everything…but it sucks to read the mix console numbers …parameters become really small despite beeing able to zoom the tracks to a propper viewing size
I have also encountered that there is a couple of extra visual issues that I posted in this other post. I really dont know if they are related… in that post you can see what computer I use and wich monitor etc
Thanks for your help and sorry I woke this thread up again…
Hey no one has any Idea on the problem I posted? Im sorry but it seems very bad and noone seems to care I paste here what I posted in my own but ignored post. Thanks:
I am having this same issue with Cubase 10.5 on my windows 10 laptop with a second LG monitor. The transport panel becomes microscopic 4-5 times an hour and sometimes the top menu bar becomes unclickable followed by becoming clickable again, but all of the drop menus are now microscopic as well. I assume this is because my laptop and second monitor are at different resolutions. However, this never ever, was a problem on An older laptop using Cubase 7 and Windows XP. I was able to switch screens at will. No problem. I could have Cubase 7 open on one and move my transport panel to the second monitor to free up space. I just upgraded to Cubase 10 this week and am very disappointed by this. I can no longer move the transport panel to my monitor. If I try, it becomes microscopic and unusable. Basically no point of a second monitor at this rate. Has anyone figured out a fix for this yet? Thanks in advance.
) would be much appreciated!
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Yeah, it would take sitting (standing?), like 2 feet away from a 50" to make the text readable! But you’d probably need to knock out a wall to get a screen that big to fit… Hmm. A gigantic wall of neon green level meters… now that’s much more interesting than a boring old wall!
