do you think cubase is falling behind?

[AstralExistence]

i ask that in a very neutral way. i hope we can discuss this without anybody getting upset.

ive noticed somethings in cubase7 that make me kind of wonder this. in cubase i constantly get asio overloads/cpu spikes. also, using vst 2 plugs, the cpu does not shut off when a plug is not being used leading to mass cpu use. i loaded up my fav vst plugin in absynth in mutools and it not only shuts off absynth when it being used leaving me with a lot of cpu it also never spiked as in cubase. also in mutools, and my other daw reaper cpu is much better then in cubase.

also i was very surprised when i found out that roomworks/se is just magnus ambience with a bit of new features and the leasing of voxengo curve eq and maybe but unconfirmed oldskool verb in padshop. among those problems/benefits is cubase 7 new mixer which steinberg released very unfinished. also, the brick wall limiter kinda sucks as it just does not prevent loud signals from clipping. so im wondering, is it just me, or is cubase not the great daw that it used to be being out done by smaller developers like mutools, and reaper?

[chk071]

My advice would be: Try it on another computer, and then analyse again. You really can't judge this with only trying it on one machine, maybe there is something in your configuration which Cubase just doesn't like, or the setting are not perfect, audio driver could be a problem etc. It really isn't that easy. What is true of course is that due to the fact that Mulab and Reaper lack a lot of functionality, and are in general lighter on system than Cubase. But that shouldn't be much of an issue with a powerful computer.

[AstralExistence]

i do love cubase man, but am quickly falling out of love. i constantly get asio overloads/spikes, my vst plugs dont shut off when not in use except my vst3 plugs. and that combined is making for a very unhappy cpu intensive experience.

im still on an old q9450 using 3 gigs of ram. cpu/ram wise i have no issues in other daws because fl studio has smart disable, reaper i think does too and has very low cpu usage and mutools completely shuts off the plugin when not in use.

id love to find a solution for these issues.

[AstralExistence]

im gonna try asio for all. maybe, my maudio delta 2496 is the problem?

[jeffh]

Steinberg has been botching Cubase releases for over 20 years now... They do always eventually get it right, and once they do, it's pretty good.

Even if Reaper is generally more stable, AFAIK it still has very little market penetration with big name artists and studios, which still overwhelmingly favor Cubase/Nuendo, Logic and Protools... That may just be that a lot of those people are set in their ways, ie: "I got myself famous with Cubase, it must be doing a good enough job...".

This could change over time as new people who started with Reaper could become famous, and continue to use Reaper... But does Reaper really, truly offer anything that Cubase and Logic don't? IMHO, it's mostly:

1. Low cost, and/or freely pirate-able
2. A bunch of goofy UI over-customize-ability that shouldn't be necessary with a proper UX design
3. A bunch of hacks and tricks to get more possible VST processing power, albeit it only matters on a slow computer, because a fast computer ought to be able to do what you need with any host.

When I transitioned to Reaper, I didn't find it lacking compared to Cubase, but neither did I find myself saying "OMFG, I COULD'VE NEVER WRITTEN THIS CHOON IN CUBASE!!!". It was basically the same thing when you get right down to it, the only feature Reaper has that might truly make it better than Cubase is stability, but that's it.

[chk071]

Have you been using another version of Cubase before? Would be interesting if you had the same problems with it, or if it's a problem which only occurs with Cubase 7. Don't think your audio card is the problem, as that is kinda the standard card par excellence. You could try asio4all though of course. For my card it gives me a better latency, but that's because the default drivers for it suck.

[jancivil]

I remember when I didn't have enough machine to run very much Absynth in Cubase.

I very rarely use Steinberg plugs. I never liked the reverb in C5. I don't think the amount of content in Logic makes Logic any better for me as a host, I didn't care for what I tried. I use Cubase as a sequencer and a final mixer and use things that to me sound significantly better than its plugins. For me it's too slow on a Mac so I found another solution. For you that might be Reaper, its handling of resources.

I reckon turning off plugins that aren't in use is a feature to judge what's for you. It is true that the Cubase I work with only does that for VST3 which for me is restricted to their plugins, VSL and 'Izotope Iris'. Of that the only thing I plug in that's going to process something is Vienna Suite, and I haven't noticed the strain on my system like that.

But the term 'falling behind' is going to annoy people as it is kind of overarching and there are going to be people that understand the differences you may be less interested in, and other features Cubase has that Reaper has yet to approach, you know.

[jancivil]

maybe, my maudio delta 2496 is the problem?

I doubt it is 'the' problem but I personally have had dodgy drivers out of M-Audio more than once. I don't think you're going to find 'ASIO4All' is going to improve your experience dramatically if at all though.

[tehlord]

I run Cubase 6.5 on my crusty old Q9400 quad flawlessly.

I think you're all doing it wrong

[jancivil]

the only feature Reaper has that might truly make it better than Cubase is stability, but that's it.

it's lighter on resources. it, like Logic, uses special strategies to achieve that.
calling that "stability" is just inaccurate. Concluding that your experience is universal is bad logic, that's using anecdotes over methodology, it's unscientific.

I don't have stability issue with Cubase. It isn't 100% crash free but all the crashes I have experienced are related to GUI interaction where too much math is being done and Apple might be the culprit. I work day after day, ridiculous hours with no issues. If too much math is being done by a processing unit, there's your 'stability' issue, and typically problems with this or that host owe to particular issues in a system and there are many factors. one of them I have encountered was I had not enough CPU for what I was doing. sometimes there are plugins sharing a sandbox contentiously.

[AstralExistence]

ok this is getting REDICULOUS! i just checked, my driver after installing kx/asio for all. what was it on??? you guessed it, DUPLEX/GENERIC. switching to delta2496, spikes are gone. WHY does cubase just switch drivers. this the second thread ive made about spiking and sure enough the driver switched note to self, check driver before posting. still, i wish my vst2 plugs shut off. but i do feel like an idiot so please don't ridicule me.

[jancivil]

3 gigs of ram.

[AstralExistence]

no problems cpu wise anymore. cpu is at like 3 percent with three absynths idle and like 5 percent playing the three.

[AstralExistence]

Have you been using another version of Cubase before? Would be interesting if you had the same problems with it, or if it's a problem which only occurs with Cubase 7. Don't think your audio card is the problem, as that is kinda the standard card par excellence. You could try asio4all though of course. For my card it gives me a better latency, but that's because the default drivers for it suck.

im pretty sure this is a soundcard or rather soundcard switching to duplex driver issue

man i feel like an

:edit: no i still get cpu spiking with delta drivers. ok, well, ill hold off on using cubase7 till the feb 18th 7.02 update.

[chk071]

I wouldn't say Reaper is more stable than Cubase either, after having used both for a time. One major instability issue is plugins... actually i had massive crash problems with the Waldorf Edition plugins in Reaper, while those worked well in Cubase. On the other hand a lot of Synthedit plugins crashed Cubase for me.