Cubase 11 Issues

[Paul Vicory]

After a year of enjoying the wonderful Bitwig as my main DAW, I decided to purchase an update for Cubase - a program I used extensively up to version 6.5. I have it installed on an old Windows XP machine, and while being a bit underpowered vs. a modern DAW setup, it worked perfectly, flawlessly.

One drawback of Bitwig is the lack of tools for audio recording. So I thought I'd upgrade to the latest version of Cubase on my new Windows 10 machine and use that for audio tracking and editing only, and then import the results into Bitwig.

Unfortunately, the whole process of installing Cubase 11 didn't work for me. Most of the issues seemed to involve the elicenser system. The bottom line is my USB elicencer is now fried - and my old Windows XP won't recognize it either, leaving 30+ Cubase 6.5 projects inaccessible; Cubase 11, even when I got it to run, crashed repeatedly and one of the functions (audio alignment) wouldn't work at all. Also note that very little of the process of installation, and dealing with any issues along the way, is guided by the process - virtually no error handling - with a lot of room for error.

I uninstalled all the Steinberg software on the new machine, ran CCleaner, and will be asking for a refund. Please note that my new Windows 10 machine has been running perfectly for a year now. And it really was a joy to find out how easy it was to update around $30K worth of audio plug-ins, VST instruments and sample libraries when I got back into music recording a year ago. So these issues with Cubase are totally unlike anything I have experienced at all with this machine.

And one last thing - frustration is the enemy of creativity. I spent hours, days, weeks from 2000-2012 struggling to get a stable system based on Cubase running. So much time lost to crashes and dealing with other issues, it's amazing that I got anything done. My impression now is that nothing has really changed with Steinberg. Cubase is still buggy and unreliable out of the box. The difference is that I just no longer have any interest in dealing with it. No interest in jumping though hoops to make this work.

[WasteLand]

this can happen, indeed. bitwig does not work flawless on my desktop, and bitwig does not react with a solution. although most problems seem to be gone, but one.
cubase pro 11 on the other hand works flawless... windows 10.

very system dependent. although i would never claim that cubase is bugfree, we all know it. but still.

not a very usefull reply. in a way, a reply that doesn't say anything.

a new eLicenser dongle would save it all, by the way, perhaps. but i would wait. try a refund, buy an upgrade in sale.
buy a new eLicenser dongle, at a local dealer. (or 2, i bought 2, when one fails...)

[dionenoid]

My advice would be to contact support. An Elicenser can be replaced and all your old licenses will be available (a new Cubase license always also contains all previous versions).

I never had any issues with Cubase, but the smallest of things can lead to problems.

[LeVzi]

If your elicenser is fried, get the zerodowntime, and buy a new elicsenser. They are about 30 quid, and don't take long to come, and you get a month zero down time I believe.

[pixel85]

If elicenser is fried, how do you run C11? Even demo require elicenser and without shouldn't let you do anything besides exiting app.

I wanted to test C11 recently but then I read thwt after demo expire, I need to reinstall my full C10.5 again. I have no idea what they messed up with licenses in C11 (it wasn't the case until this version) but this is enough of red light for me to not install the demo. I would expect stupid issues like my C10.5 license disappearing or something like that. I'm leaving betq testing like that to others.

[lessera]

How does one 'fry' an elicenser dongle anyway?

The original post sounds more like a lengthy rant, than a request for assistance.

[Paul Vicory]

Note that my USB Licenser was working earlier yesterday. I then spent 2 hours on the phone with Steinberg support, and they used Teamview to log into my machine and check everything out. And they could not fix the problem with the "audio alignment" component, so they removed it, and had me run Cubase 11 without it. And it did boot up. But then crashed whenever I did something like scan for plug-ins, etc. Seemed very unstable even when it was running. And then later, after getting an email from Steinberg support telling me to try to use CCleaner to clean the registry and re-install Cubase 11, the "audio lignment" problem returned, and I wasn't able to run Cubase - it couldn't find my license. I check the elicenser software and it now says the dongle is broken and cannot be used. Doesn't work on my old XP machine now either.

[Markus Krause]

Also had problems with my elicenser today. The license for Cubase 11 was gone after I plugged it into another computer.

I installed a new version of the 'elicenser control software' on the computer. Then syncronized the dongle. After this the license appeared again.

I also had problems when i plugged the elicenser into a USB hub. It was not detected and the red light was not visible. Moving it to an USB slot directly on the computer did work

Cubase 10 and 11 on the Mac crash frequently when I open a new project. It seems it is instable when scanning plugins. This does not happen in any other host.
Furthermore Cubase 10 and 11 show GUI glitches with certain zoomfactors of VST 3.7 plugins on MacOS 10.14. It does not happen on MacOS 11

[Sahul]

The elicenser is likely not "fried" at all. It's simply that the version of the elicenser software database installed on your Windows XP machine can't recognize the new Cubase 11 license that replaced your old one. It's a very common issue. Steinberg support should give you access to a special version of the elicenser software for Windows XP that solves that problem.

[WasteLand]

Note that my USB Licenser was working earlier yesterday. I then spent 2 hours on the phone with Steinberg support, and they used Teamview to log into my machine and check everything out. And they could not fix the problem with the "audio alignment" component, so they removed it, and had me run Cubase 11 without it. And it did boot up. But then crashed whenever I did something like scan for plug-ins, etc. Seemed very unstable even when it was running. And then later, after getting an email from Steinberg support telling me to try to use CCleaner to clean the registry and re-install Cubase 11, the "audio lignment" problem returned, and I wasn't able to run Cubase - it couldn't find my license. I check the elicenser software and it now says the dongle is broken and cannot be used. Doesn't work on my old XP machine now either.

it can be that the eLicenser dongle was already malfunctioning, how old is it? you say 2000, that is printer port age?? till 2012, so at least 10 years old.

if wánt to give it a try, buy a dongle via a local reseller (fastest way), and ask support for, o well, don't the procedure. but if you registered via steinberg, they have the old eLicenser information.

zero down time is only 24 hours, i believe, by the way. i think. can be 30 days, but that is the trial period. and that is another kind of activation??

or try another USB port.

(my is one very populated hub, no problems. i already mentioned it, what the problem can be, can only be solved by troubleshooting..)

but it can be system related, not all systems are equal (...), i mean, even i great rig, can give problems. it can be many things.

but you have still cubase 6.5, so an eLicenser dongle is worth to buy it, to get it working again...
(don't know if the latest version of the dongle, is also XP compatible..).

-----

another message appeared, indeed deinstall the eLicenser program, and reinstall. and do maintance in adminstrator mode.

[WasteLand]

The elicenser is likely not "fried" at all. It's simply that the version of the elicenser software database installed on your Windows XP machine can't recognize the new Cubase 11 license that replaced your old one. It's a very common issue. Contact Steinberg support and they will give you access to a special version of the elicenser software for Windows XP that solves the problem.

that i didn't think of. good idea. but if it refuses to work also on the new system....
perhaps the problem; changed from one pc to another, with different eLicenser versions. and OS versions.

[Paul Vicory]

I should also add that I have 2 other USB dongles, mostly for Waves plug-ins plus a few other things. No issues on using those on both the WIndows XP and WIndows 10 machines. I was so pleased with how easy it was to get all my audio SW updated and running on my new machine last year, and how Bitwig ran so smoothly and flawlessly. But I did miss some of the audio recording and editing features of Cubase, so that's why I decided to get the Cubase 11 update recently. Sorry that I did. Oh and I almost forgot, I demoed Cubase 10.5 last year around the time I bought Bitwig. Ran fine, had no issues with the USB elicenser either.

[Ah_Dziz]

Just want to confirm that, having had a broke elicenser before, they were very quick to fix up all my licenses when I got a new one. Hope you get things worked out. I'm still using cubase 8.5. The new bugs didn't seem worth it to me.

[Paul Vicory]

Last post from me. No refunds from Steinberg after authorizing the software, which Chris from USA Steinberg support neglected to mention. Funny. So let the buyer beware.

[mladi]

Cubase 11 works great here. I have two eLic-dongles in an active USB hub, no problem.