Cubase 11 Pro: Automation being ignored & then works & then does not?

[event2020]

Cubase 11 Pro
Windows.

I am having issues where Cubase (or maybe the plugin) is not reacting quick enough to my automation and even just does not react at all in places.

I have a guitar track playing chords which fall on the kick, nicely distorted and with a great full tone.
I have a Kick that is likewise full and beefy in the low end.
I am trying to duck out a very specific frequency range 75hz - 85hz from the guitar on a certain chord as that chord has some bass that clashes with the kick (first kick of each bar for 8 bars)

I cant duck it out of the kick as the kick is driving the track and I want to leave the kick alone.

Using sidechain is easy but does not have the control I need so in my chosen EQ (Fabfilter Pro Q 3) I have created a notch (bell) that removes exactly what I need, and just after the kicks transient I have written some automation that changes the Gain from 0db to - 3db and back to 0db each time I need to do this.

The gain is only at -3db for milliseconds and when it works it sounds great, none of the ducking effect you get with the side chain method but....

Either Cubase or the plugin is not reading or reacting to the automation each time it should and there is no pattern to this.
It will react to the first occurance, ignore the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, react to the 5th, 6th, ignore 7th, react to the 8th and so one - it does not make sense.

I have been all over the Steinberg forum looking for this issue and found nothing, same with Gear Sluts and here at KVR. Nothing in the online cubase documentation or in the results of a google search.

Has anyone ever come across this issue?

[WasteLand]

Cubase 11 Pro
Windows.

I am having issues where Cubase (or maybe the plugin) is not reacting quick enough to my automation and even just does not react at all in places.

I have a guitar track playing chords which fall on the kick, nicely distorted and with a great full tone.
I have a Kick that is likewise full and beefy in the low end.
I am trying to duck out a very specific frequency range 75hz - 85hz from the guitar on a certain chord as that chord has some bass that clashes with the kick (first kick of each bar for 8 bars)

I cant duck it out of the kick as the kick is driving the track and I want to leave the kick alone.

Using sidechain is easy but does not have the control I need so in my chosen EQ (Fabfilter Pro Q 3) I have created a notch (bell) that removes exactly what I need, and just after the kicks transient I have written some automation that changes the Gain from 0db to - 3db and back to 0db each time I need to do this.

The gain is only at -3db for milliseconds and when it works it sounds great, none of the ducking effect you get with the side chain method but....

Either Cubase or the plugin is not reading or reacting to the automation each time it should and there is no pattern to this.
It will react to the first occurance, ignore the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, react to the 5th, 6th, ignore 7th, react to the 8th and so one - it does not make sense.

I have been all over the Steinberg forum looking for this issue and found nothing, same with Gear Sluts and here at KVR. Nothing in the online cubase documentation or in the results of a google search.

Has anyone ever come across this issue?

i assume you use the VST3 version of fabfilter.
the automation of cubase, i find it quite excellent, but it isn't sample perfect it seems.

the problem can be asio guard, you say some milliseconds, but asio guard pre-renders, and must do it ok.

it reacts only to the first? the 2nd 3rd, etc time nothing, or out of time??
it seems like you say, nothing. also not on wrong moment.

i never had automation that is in milliseconds, i use and like automation... but that fast i never needed...

it can be the plugin, VST3 'propaganda' says sample accurate automation*, but it has to be implemented. me thinks, don't own fabfilter stuff, that fabfilter will do this. but you never know.

did you render it, is the outcome different.

problems can be, the accuracy of cubase itself. the reaction of the plugin. a mismatch between plugin and daw. asio guard, sample buffer size.

but in a way this must not matter. you see no reaction from the plugin?

it is strange that it reacts the first time. mostly this points to a real problem. contacting fabfilter about, wouldn't be a strange move.

EDIT:

*many things that VST3 offers, also can be done in VST2, VST3 is a labyrinth. so, perhaps, it can be mismatch. but i assume fabfilter tests cubase.

EDIT 2:

also windows/cubase pro 11. no fabfilter.

[jancivil]

I haven't.

a typical Cubase project for me uses a few hundred plugin parameters from a number of instruments and FX, hosted in VE Pro and all has to be pretty much in time; including some where the delay set to sync host tempo really had to nail the tempo track changes and absolutely did. And I have done EQ cuts etc in automation, which at the least had to turn off in time.
So it's not easy to feature Cubase having this problem per se for me, but it could. Is there a Fabfilter forum or support channel to consult?
If it's unsolvable as it stands, is there a way to simply automate switching that one EQ parameter on/off?

[jancivil]

what's your round-trip latency?

I have certain things - not in host automation so much - which need more time than there apparently is to make a switch

[Weasel-Boy]

I don't know if this will help or not, but try this:

Open:
Project/Automation Panel/Settings Tab...
...and check Return Time, Reduction Level and Spike Detection settings. For a node response to behave closer (and more accurately) to what was inputted, try dropping the Reduction level to 0. Anything above 0 will “smooth” the Playback curve.