In regards to the Audio processing clips, I too, am experiencing this sudden annoyance. I researched and found only one thing that reduces but does not eliminate the problem and that was an apparent conflict with my NVIDIA video card. Strange conflict I thought. No other solution yet.
I am running an I7 PC, windows 10 latest update, 24 gig of ram , 7200 rpm hard drive and 2gig video card running two monitors
DAW Cubase Pro 9.03. Hope Steinberg can provide some input .