Cubase 8.5 - CPU Drop-outs and spikes and more

Has there been any additional information or solution to this. I am experiencing the same issue.

Cubase 8.5.20, Win 7 pro, latest Nvidia drivers and everything up to date.

Hello all,

I’m new to the forum although have used various versions of Cubase since the Atari days.

After experiencing drop-out problems similar to the ones described in this thread, and trying a number of the suggested fixes, I’m still stuck with multiple audio drop outs. I’ve had problems in the past with drop-outs, although usually managed to find the route of the problem and fix it. This time I’m at a complete loss.

Here is a basic list of my setup:

Cubase 8.5.2 Artist
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Intel Core i7-4800MQ 2.7GHz
16GB RAM
2 x Solid State Drives
UR22 Soundcard (& occasionally I use an SPL Crimson)

Everything was running fine until about 10 days ago. I experienced the odd drop out, and even a complete system crash which is very rare. Last weekend I managed to record two 4 hour sessions without any glitches, however, in the past few days the drop outs are so frequent that my Cubase is now unusable.

I have more sessions to record over the coming days and will be using another program, Samplitude, to record as this is running 100% stable at present.

If anyone has any other tips to add to resolve this drop-out problem, it would be greatly appreciated.

I had spikes, drop outs in ver 8, then upgraded to 8.5, still same problem.
Discovered my hard drive had less than 10% available storage.
Cleaned it up to 30% available and amazing all problems resolved.
I did have Virtual memory set high as well 20Gb which was most probably creating the problem along with no disk space available.

Cubase 8.5 works well, no issues at all.

Cubase pro 8.5
Steinberg Mr816csx sound card
Intel core i7 3.6GHz
32Gb Ram
128 SSD
3x 1 Tb harddisks
Windows 7 64bit

I recently switched systems. From AMD to Intel and I had less issues with the Intel. However, the Intel system is much newer so it probably runs on 8.5.2 better in general. The new system does have an NVidia graphics card and I experience the spike issue. It’s only when I have VSTi’s though, when I make a project with just guitars, drums, vocals, etc. I don’t seem to have the issue. Even if I put a bunch of plug-ins on the system.

In some other threads some people were referencing the last Windows 10 update as the possible culprit. This might be true, but I didn’t do a lot with VSTi until recently. I’m hoping cubase can find the issue eventually.

Has this problem been resolved yet? I could not find any other reference on the forum, or anywhere else on the net, including Steinberg FAQ. With a single Cubase track, I get the message “Recording Error: Audio dropout detected” after about 1 1/2 minutes of recording. This is repeatable even if I remove the audio input (i.e., blank recording). I have no spikes. LatencyMon reports there should be no issues. My system is:

WIN 10
Intel i5 6600
Cubase Pro 8.5.2
8 GB Ram

This appears to be a Steinberg issue…

Sintie

Oh, I forgot to include audio interface is Scarlet 18i8
Sintie

I get spikes when the network adapter is connected

So when i’m working with cubase i pull the usb network dongle out and usually get no spikes

-Floid

Im having performance issues aswell, 100% Performance Load Spikes and certain Tools and Event handling causing unusually large increase in the performance load meter. If you’re interested you can check out my detailed thread here:

I really really hope steinberg is prioritising program stability and performance above adding new features that we do not need.

Same problem with spikes ans drop-outs, and latency issues. I have UR 44. No matter what size is the buffer, i have 0.5 sec latency using VST instruments. When i’m starting a new project everything seems to be ok, but when adding a few VSTi,some audio tracks, latency issue appear again.
Everyone know if Cubase 9 solved this problems?
I have tested same configuration with Ableton and there are no problems.

I I did an upgrade to Cubase 9 Pro, fresh install…same problems…big latency and drops still there.
Don’t know what to do…StudioOne and other DAW has no problems…


Cubase 8.5.20 PRO & Cubase9 Pro

Win7/64
Intel I5-4460, 16GB RAM
1 TB HDD 7200

I’m on a macbook pro with the latest Cubase 8.5 and experience dropouts every time I select or deselect record for an individual track during recording of multiple tracks. Also whenever I add an insert effect during play. Pretty frustrating! Tried all the above. nothing so far.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
2,5 GHz Intel Core i716 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB

One year ago I worked on a MacBook Pro (8GB RAM) When I saw drops and CPU spikes I thought that the computer is weak (not powerful enough). That’s why I bought a Mac Pro in the best possible configuration (64GB RAM etc.). But nothing has changed and the problem also appears on the new MacPro. I usually use an external hardware, MIDI, thus, everything the Cubase offers. All for what I paid !

It’s sad that Steinberg is unable to remedy such a serious mistake for several years. Maybe its competitors will be pleased new client.

I have the same issue with cubase 8.5 on windows 8 with a decent 8GB RAM PC.
It didn’t happen before, so I’m pretty sure it started with on of the latest updates.

Is Steinberg really looking at it ???
My system is basically not usable as of now, it drops or stops during recording !! with only one (!) instrument (driven by a midi keyboard) with the default config and one vocal audio (default settings as well).
Is Cubase really a professional software ??

Looking at this thread, I see many cases with very powerful HW getting the same issue, even with v9…
I am now seriously thinking of giving up Cubase for a competitor.

I am very unhappy with Steinberg.

A case was raised vi “My Support” on 08 March 2017 and as yet Steinberg haven’t even acknowledged it.

This is not the level of service I would expect from others. And yet they want me to spend £60 upgrading to Cubase 9?

Time to find another DAW.

BTW - who do you have to write to @ Steinberg to complain?

Still no reply? The problem hasn’t got any better and this is dreadful service from Steinberg! Where are you?!

There has evidently been a conflict with Cubase, VEP and Kontakt for some time. They all deny it’s their problem and blame eachother. Im getting sick of this. Can’t get anything done, one week everything can run smoothly the next Cubase#s meters are going nuts. It’s almost like Cubase forgets to release CPU that’s not being used anymore. There are big problems with ASIO Guard. STILL… One of these three programmes causes serious problems and it needs to be resolved.

One thing i’ve noticed - i switch between templates alot for different purposes. I have a mixing template that requires alot of Plugins where i have to up the buffer count and use High ASIO Guard. I also have an orchestral template which has barely any Plugins running in cubase but VEP is connected with all the Kontkt Libraries. In that template i lower the buffer on the Mixcontrol to reduce latency and use a Normal ASIO Guard setting.

The very act of changing the ASIO Guard setting between one project and another (which changes it globally for the other projects) screws my projects up that were previously working pretty smoothly. CPU levels don’t go down. If i bypass all effects it still says CPU is at 50pc. Whereas in Task Manager i am barely using any CPU.

Still nothing. Terrible :frowning:

I havent had problems with drop outs and spikes, in a loong time.

I do scoring and a lot of heavy mix prossesing.

A few tips from me on windows setups.

  1. Get the hardware sorted.
    You dont want your sound interface on same bus with other components (wifi and graphic is the whorst). So check your irq/lanes.
    You dont want your cpu or any of your usb ports too use powersaving scedules. So turn them all off and run at full power.
    Is your sound interface supported by the onboard chipset?
    Using dsp cards? They need same care as your sound interface.
    Is your bios and drivers up to date with your windows?

  2. Asio guard and hyper threading.
    The asio guard is made to support hyper threading. HT slows down the cpu respons. So the asio guard is there to give the cpu some extra buffer, to get up to speed. The HT/asio guard combo will improve preformance when you start to use bigger cpu loads. It is not so good with low cpu loads, low latency direct monitoring or any real time audio with low buffer settings. Simply to the fact, that HT slows down the cpu acceleration. So I take HT off at tracking, and Turn it on at Mixing if cpu load is heavy.

  3. Multicore support.
    This is where Cubase have issues IMO. When you enable for multicore support in Cubase. It only works partualy.
    Every plugin that I have with a multicore option in settings, dont seam too be handled by Cubase multicore setting. This is probly due to the fact the plugins dont take use of the multicore setting in Cubase.
    So I enable it direct on the plugin. Dosent matter if it is a steinberg plugin or 3 party. But enabeling the multicore support from the plugin, drasticly improves preformance. So check your plugins and try multicore support direct from plugin.

  4. Dont use more Cpu then you need.
    When ever you arm a vst instrument. It will start monitor for a input and task the cpu extra.
    So on a heavy project where you are mixing and just doing simple mouse corrections to midi and such.
    Make shure to take off the arm track at select track option. It has bin the source for many crackle and pops.
    If you are not tracking, The real time meter should be way lower then the cpu usage meter. If it is not. You are arming a track. Also there is litle point having a low buffer setting, when you are not tracking. So adjust it as you need it. Streaming samples direct from disk, will also task the cpu. But not that much. It migh smooth out a heavy project loading more samples to ram. I never hit that limit my self. But it can happend.

  5. Dont enable more use of your sound interface then needed.
    You dont need to use your wdm driver in windows, when you use Cubase. You also dont need to have the asio driver running in the back ground, un less you are using a stand alone program that needs the asio driver. Keep it as simple as possible.

So these are my few main tips.

When ever I help out a fellow engineer/musician with unstable real time preformance. It is usualy these things that are fault for the bad preformance. Rest is just software bugs, wrong settings/use of functions.

I just discovered this myself while trying to reduce real-time peak spikes. Whenever I highlight an Instrument track with record enabled, I get fairly severe real-time peak spikes. If I simply switch to an audio track (with record enabled or disabled), or disable record on the Instrument track, the real-time peak meter drops to almost zero! So, I unticked the “Enable Record on Selected MIDI Track” setting and now only enable record on Instrument tracks when I need to.

Thanks for posting all this info; it’s useful to know that this is not a problem specific to my system, but rather a problem with Cubase. Cheers…

I had this problem and it drove me crazy for a few months. I’m on 8.5 Win 64. What worked for me was:
Going into device settings and activating Steinberg audio power scheme SAPS.
Going into my Windows power settings and making sure that the SAPS was enabled when Cubase was opened. It should automatically revert back to whatever setup it was on before opening Cubase.

The weird thing for me was that originally, if I’d enabled the SAPS, I’d get the spikes. At some point it all reverted to normal and this is how I now have it set up.

Has this been fixed as have had this issue for years with 8.5 Pro and now it’s in 10 when arming midi. Seriously need this fixed or have a work around without being told to turn the buffer size up!