KVR Audio

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:40 am

Over the past few weeks my problems with Cubase have been steadily mounting, to the point where now there is only one out of 8 projects I've been working on that I can open and play reliably. Even then, I can't actually play along with it because with a buffer of just 256 samples, the latency is more than half-a-second in Cubase. OTOH it is unnoticeable in Orion using the same Steinberg I/O device (UR44C). This latency problem is random but occurs often enough that I could never even contemplate trying to record a performance into Cubase from my MIDI controller.

I have one song that will not play from the beginning but will play, with lots of glitches, from any random point in the arrangement. I have songs using 8-10 VSTi, 4 or 5 effects and a couple of audio tracks that cannot play more than a few notes before the CPU is overwhelmed by a spike and no further play is possible. The same songs use around 10% of my CPU in Orion and play smoothly. I have one project that crashes Cubase if I try to open it before I've opened any other project but usually (not always) opens after I've being working on something else.

I can't see any pattern as to specific plugins that may be causing problems. The one common factor is that all the projects started as MIDI song files exported from Orion, imported into Cubase and then populated, where possible, with the same instruments used in Orion.

It's bad enough now that I can no longer do any work on our album. I have half-finished songs and a few more yet to be imported into Cubase but I don't want to waste any time on those songs because it seems likely they'll end up screwed as well. It's driving me nuts.

Passing Bye · Post by **Passing Bye** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:52 am

Have no personal experience, but heard from some colleagues that newest version is quite buggy, so they are still at 9.5, maybe try that version...

Also, do you have disabled turbo mode and other recommended stuff in BIOS?

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:27 am

Let's forget about bugs for a moment. Your problems, you say, are getting worse.

Do you have WiFi enabled on your system? Do you have any Sharp or Samsung TVs in the house?

Trust me, relevant questions.

ls1xxx · Post by **ls1xxx** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:05 am

Every version of Cubase above 6 has been nothing but problems.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:09 am

thejonsolo wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:27 amDo you have WiFi enabled on your system? Do you have any Sharp or Samsung TVs in the house.

I don't have wi-fi on in my home unless I turn the modem on, which I only do when I'm using it. But neither do I have any Sharp or Samsung TVs. Good thoughts, though.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:50 am

It just feels like going outside the box on this one is going to be important to get to the root of the issue. Does not sound like plugin issues.

Is there some noticeable moment when this started? I mean was there a point where things were working great and then just broke? Windows update maybe?

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:50 am

No, quite the opposite. From pretty much the get-go I had problems with files that would crash Cubase when you tried to open them. It was easy enough to deal when I was mostly just trying to learn my way around and when I got my new laptop last August, it seemed to settle down for a few weeks before it started ramping up again. At first it was a minor annoyance that I could work around but lately it has made it more and more difficult to get anything done, with more and more problems surfacing all the time. One of the reasons I bought the UR44C was in the hope that a Steinberg device might be more stable but, if anything, it's been worse with it than it was with my Zoom (and it's just the same generic Yamaha driver I was using with my AG06 anyway).

Weasel-Boy · Post by **Weasel-Boy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:40 am

I can only guess you are using either the latest version of C10.0 or C10.5 from your description of problems. Steinberg introduced a bug in the last update of 10.0 and all versions of 10.5 that really screws around with VST3 plugs that appear to cause a lot of what you’re describing. They finally identified the problem and the next 10.5 update (due, I’m guessing, 1st week of Feb) is supposed to solve the issue. If you’re using 10.0.50, roll back to 10.0.40 which didn’t have the bug. Hopefully, that should improve things for you. If not...I tried.

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:04 am

BONES wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:40 amThe one common factor is that all the projects started as MIDI song files exported from Orion, imported into Cubase and then populated, where possible, with the same instruments used in Orion.

That's curious. Perhaps you could make an experiment - record (track, paint in - whatever you normally do) the same MIDI sequence in Orion and Cubase and compare the MIDI files? Perhaps there's something in them that's causing the problem further on after transfer?

Passing Bye · Post by **Passing Bye** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 6:47 am

Weasel-Boy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:40 am I can only guess you are using either the latest version of C10.0 or C10.5 from your description of problems. Steinberg introduced a bug in the last update of 10.0 and all versions of 10.5 that really screws around with VST3 plugs that appear to cause a lot of what you’re describing. They finally identified the problem and the next 10.5 update (due, I’m guessing, 1st week of Feb) is supposed to solve the issue. If you’re using 10.0.50, roll back to 10.0.40 which didn’t have the bug. Hopefully, that should improve things for you. If not...I tried.

So it's known bug after all...

thejonsolo wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:27 am Let's forget about bugs for a moment. Your problems, you say, are getting worse.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:57 am

Weasel-Boy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:40 amI can only guess you are using either the latest version of C10.0 or C10.5 from your description of problems. Steinberg introduced a bug in the last update of 10.0 and all versions of 10.5 that really screws around with VST3 plugs that appear to cause a lot of what you’re describing. They finally identified the problem and the next 10.5 update (due, I’m guessing, 1st week of Feb) is supposed to solve the issue. If you’re using 10.0.50, roll back to 10.0.40 which didn’t have the bug. Hopefully, that should improve things for you. If not...I tried.

That timeline fits with when things started to get really bad, so definitely worth a try. Thanks for the info. Now I have to work out how to roll back to 10.0.4, which I don't have an installer for.

Sahul · Post by **Sahul** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:03 am

BONES wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:57 am
Weasel-Boy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:40 amI can only guess you are using either the latest version of C10.0 or C10.5 from your description of problems. Steinberg introduced a bug in the last update of 10.0 and all versions of 10.5 that really screws around with VST3 plugs that appear to cause a lot of what you’re describing. They finally identified the problem and the next 10.5 update (due, I’m guessing, 1st week of Feb) is supposed to solve the issue. If you’re using 10.0.50, roll back to 10.0.40 which didn’t have the bug. Hopefully, that should improve things for you. If not...I tried.
That timeline fits with when things started to get really bad, so definitely worth a try. Thanks for the info. Now I have to work out how to roll back to 10.0.4, which I don't have an installer for.

Known work-around:

- Disable the “Suspend VST3 Plugin Processing when no audio signal is received” preference in Cubase
- Use the VST2 version of the affected plugin
- Revert (or install) Cubase 10.0.40

Info taken from https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewto ... 6&t=178016

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:38 am

Not using Cubase, but... that's really helpful.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:12 am

Not directed at Bones at all but why anybody would choose to be an early adopter is beyond me. Sure if you’re just a hobbyist wanting the latest toy then great but if you actually need to get work done then stick with the version that is tried and tested.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:18 am

I usually update to the latest versions as well though, when it's being released. It's just that I would think that it actually has been thoroughly tested.

I'm pretty sure such bugs apply to specific hardware configuration. If everyone would have the bug, and it would be a general thing everyone runs into, then it would have been noticed when the update was tested. Early adopter != using the latest version.

Overwhelmed With Cubase Problems