Yes i recommand a fresh install of Windows 10 with Cubase 9
For my first upgrade du Cubase 9 , i was on Windows 7 pro and i had always crashes and instability
Now with a fresh install on Windows 10 and now cubase 9.0.20 evrything run much better !!!
Great thread and very informative. Dilemma of 8.x.x or 9.x.x on a 100pct fresh Win10 64 install…any input appreciated 
Been thinking through this as there are a few dilemmas, pros and cons…I am leaning towards 9 at the moment.
Pros of 9
1)Probably more stable - old 32 bit plug ins blacklisted, stability does count for a lot in creativity and enjoyment/overall feel of control.
2) A couple of new features I would like
3) 9 will get updated
4) Won’t need to do fresh install of Windows/Cubase9 which is suggested if/when going from 8 to 9 (in the future) for maximum stability. i.e. plug in install/auth job again. Some people reported having problems with 8 and 9 on same computer.
5)Seems Access Virus works ok with 9 (even though this guy had some problem related to input latency which I won’t be using)
Cons of 9
- Some forum reports suggest 9 does not work as stable when 8.x.x installed previously (probably reading VST .dll’s and possibly other data from Cubase 8 folder locations) Win10 fresh install has been suggested when upgrading to 9 from 8 (could be a problem if I install Cubase8)
- Is v9 workspace a little smaller? I only have 1 x 17inch monitor on this machine.
- Some people reporting problems with 9 and going back to 8.xx (could relate to con 1?)
- I will lose a few freeware effects etc. and need to find paid alternatives for 64 bit probably. Things like gates and weird quirky delays I like… simple and effective plug ins. Might be tricky finding replacements.
So I need to think a little bit more (with your input) but 9 seems to make more sense. Many say it is the most stable Cubase they have experienced. Any further reports appreciated.
- Right now I have 7.5, 8, 8.5 and 9 on this installation together and have no big issues like crashes or performance issues. I sometimes have sessions of 8 hours or more and have had no crashes since the installation of the latest 9.0.2 update. With 9.0.1 I only had crashes sometimes when closing Cubase, but that was after everything was already saved. So it’s not always necessary to have to reinstall your OS and Cubase.
- You can close the left (inspector) and right (Instrument Rack/Media bay) zones with a key command to gain more workspace and only have it open when you actually need it. And you can use the transport in the lower zone which takes up less space in the workspace view.
- People will always report problems also with former versions they did. By nature Cubase is a complicated program and with lots of third party plugins installed it becomes unpredictable how a certain sum of software applications will behave. Some things have pretty straightforward solutions others may not but most of the time there is one and if not updates most likely will fix it. It shouldn’t keep anyone from starting to use Cubase 9.
- Also this should not stop you from using Cubase 9. Most of the time there are already alternatives in Cubase’ own included plugins. But there’s a whole universe out there with very good and reasonably priced plugins that can do exactly what you are looking for and sometimes even more.
The above looks like an ad for Cubase but this is not my intention. I just want to point out that not everyone has all the issues you read about on forums. A lot of issue that people post on forums are user issues anyway. Badly configured computers, interfaces and a lack of technical knowledge of the hardware and applications they use. And in their frustration they blame it all on Cubase because in Bitwig or Reaper they didn’t have these issues. Well try switching from Cubase to another DAW and I can promise you you’re also going to have issues. If not technical it will most likely be that you’re missing functionality these other DAW’s don’t provide.
Using a DAW is like being in a relationship. You have to put in time and effort to make it stable and reliable. You don’t abandon it the minute you encounter issues. And believe me I’ve known some pretty rough times with Cubase. But I never actually got to the point where I couldn’t see a solution anymore. And if you’re really hopeless there’s always this forum to help you through the hard times. 
I had it once before in the past with an update. Just reinstall the Pro content and it should be fine again.
Thanks Nickeldome, sounds like a sensible well reasoned response to me. I agree you do need to have good knowledge of PC and your chosen DAW to get the best out of it. I tend to test things out for 3-6 months when a system is work related and for my music making set up at home I am more likely to jump in. But a stable system does mean a lot in terms of creative flow so it is worth pausing and considering the approach.
So far there is a lot going for version 9, I am looking forwards to getting the new software all installed and up and running. Also been using Cubase since the 1040 STE days !
Here too, a very old install of win7 (years) ans stable with C9.0.20.
I wouldn’t say it looks like an ad, it’s just naive. I’m sure many of us have had experiences with very stable systems over the years. Doesn’t mean others won’t run into major problems along the way…as I’m sure you’ll experience in the future.
If the software was rock solid, then bug fixes wouldn’t be required. And we’ve already seen major bugs reported / fixed other C9 lifespan already. The bug surrounding i7 Extreme / Xeon setups is already posted as sticky in this forum regarding 9.0.2 & Win 10. No surprise it doesn’t apply to you, because you’re running a pretty modest computer where this bug doesn’t apply. Some of us that are running much more elaborate setups, with stronger / complicated machines, will run into MUCH different problems than you. Same goes for those having to run certain older programs for legacy support will have any number of issues to deal with.
So, as usual on the internet, you have to remind people that the world isn’t just made for just you. Cubase is running on 1000s of machines, with 1000s of different variables - this is the nature of the beast. What works brilliantly for you, may not work for someone else - regardless of their technical wizardy. Bugs are bugs. They exist and are fixed routinely for a reason. And unless you’re coding Windows and designing all the hardware / drivers from scratch, you have absolutely no idea what kind of problems another user may run into.
Reducing other peoples problems down to lack of technical knowhow may be appropriate in some cases, but not all. No amount of god like computer skills is going to remedy major legitimate conflicts between OS, Cubase, various hardware / driver / 3rd party software setups. As I said before, if that was the case, bug fixes wouldn’t be required.
As posted above, reinstalled OS on test machine, only running Win 10 + Cubase 9.0.2 and working 99% flawless so far. Still sticking to 8.5 on main machine, as it’s silly to run your main setup on completely brand new untested software and expect not to have problems.
Absolutely rock solid
Yes, I agree that for work (production) related systems a more careful approach is desirably. In this case it’s not so much about new features you can gain but more that the existing once are not compromised after an update. So I fully understand you don’t jump on the bandwagon in this case and want to test for a few months.
Nice to hear! I borrowed my first Atari ST1040 early '90 and started using Pro-24. Pretty soon I switched to Cubase 1. After a few months I bought my own Atari with a Midex 5 (1 in/5 out) and later upgraded the ram from 1 to 4MB (!). Somewhat later I enriched my system with a 105MB harddrive. The sky was the limit!
And believe it or not, I still have it and it and it still runs! I only don’t have my Atari dongle anymore because I replace it for the PC version around '95.
Quite a lot has changed since then…
- You can close the left (inspector) and right (Instrument Rack/Media bay) zones with a key command to gain more workspace and only have it open when you actually need it. And you can use the transport in the lower zone which takes up less space in the workspace view.
How please? This is not a problem on my desktop as I have dual monitors but when I’m on my 13" Macbook it’s a challenge
Sorry if you feel offended in any way because that was not my intention. Of course I encountered issues in the past and had to sort them out but also with other software this happens. But I’m just not sure that you can look into the future and know that it will happen again to me? Anyway, poopies happens all the time so it will most probably won’t be the last?
I agree that Cubase is not the most stable software in the world and it’s in a constant state of beta but it always has been and it probably always will be. That’s how Steinberg seems to attend to his business so that’s nothing new. The Extreme/Xeon bug is something they should have detected earlier and frankly I’m surprise it didn’t surface much earlier. You don’t have to run legacy programs. it’s a choice you make and that hardly Steinberg’s responsibility! I know of people that would like to run a 16 bit plugins in Photoshop on 64 bit windows 10 machine because for years they’ve been so very attached to this, but is Adobe to blame if it doesn’t work? Lots of people went haywire when Steinberg announced the Plugin-Sentinel so they couldn’t run their 32 but plugins anymore but that was a choice Steinberg made to enhance the stability. By now most people have solved this by either running something like J-bridge or look for alternatives. You present yourself as a high profile user with a very powerful and complicated setup so why bother with this forum? You’ll have a different route to get support anyway. No need to mingle amongst us simple souls with our pretty modest machines and simple setups?
I believe I already stated that it’s impossible to predict how any given setup will behave with a new update. I do think that most bugs that appear within the boundaries of Steinberg’s own applications should not be as high as they have been in the latest versions. I mean something like instrument panels not working in C9 is something they could have known if they would have tested this. And broken installers and content not being found after an update is at least slobby.
I never said that other people’s problems are by nature due to a lack of knowledge. I just stated that a lot of question asked eventually boil down to this. If you also look on other forums you know what I mean. And it doesn’t matter at all if a question originates from a lack of knowledge. I just think it’s not right if people start to put the blame where it doesn’t belong before they even know what causes the issue.
I fully understand that in a production environment where time is money and you’re dealing with clients you don’t want to take any risk and have to test any change or new update before implementing it in your studio. And I probably didn’t fully appreciate that fact in this context. But I still think this is a ‘general’ forum that tries to provide answers to ‘general’ users. It’s not tailored to or aimed at a specific group of users, be it Joe Average in his little studio on the addict or the big shot producer in his 10 million dollar studio. Everyone can get something out of it. Also remember that registered user here post on a best effort basis and have no commercial benefit in doing so. So I’m only trying to help others with the knowledge I gained over the years but by no means claim to have all the answers.
if you in any way feel that your particular situation is left out of scope then just don’t reply. You can hardly expect me to make an impact analysis for every single type of user that might read posts on this forum. I merely pointed out that most issues mentioned are hardly showstoppers for ‘general’ users. If one thinks some aspects might have more impact on his particular situation then by all means take the necessary actions to test the new update before implementing it in your studio. But please don’t blame me for not fully assessing your particular situation.
Show/Hide Left Zone - Ctrl/Cmd-Alt-L; Alt-I
Show/Hide Right Zone - Ctrl/Cmd-Alt-R
Show/Hide Lower Zone - Ctrl/Cmd-Alt-E
Show/Hide Transport Zone - Ctrl/Cmd-Alt-T
It’s not hard to make any DAW fall to pieces. All it takes is cranky plugins or unusual hardware configurations. A manufacturer could easily invest all of their resources into trying to accommodate all of the edge cases out there – and for something as broad and expandable as a mature, VST-compatible DAW, there are a lot of edge cases.
Hence I find it difficult to get exercised about the supposed stability boogeyman hiding in Cubase’s closet (and I’ve filed my own bug reports, check my post history). Oh, it turns out that the latest Cubase crashed with your five million plugins running on Windows ME deployed on the Amazon Cloud? I’m shocked, shocked I say.
stupid
I will add my 2 cents yet again and say it is working very well as usual here on my new computer but it was a fresh install on Win 10 Pro and Cubase 9. I was hesitating but went for it and added some heavier variants to some tracks to stress them more but it all held up well. No spikes, no stuttering and no freeze ups.
Cubase is stable… it’s the Plugins by Plugin Alliance, which causes crashes and freezing… at least in my case!
Cubase 9.0.20, windows 10 1703 (installed in 2015) Stable as rock!
Plugin alliance,SoundToys, jbridge - no issue, also as many others plugins, updated to lastes versions.
Audio processing - no issue
Rendering - no issue
CPU spikes/peaks - no issue
Crashes - never got
One issue is GUI - but, Steinberg already working on it, so in future with every new patch we will se new GUI fixes(i hope)
I’m pretty sure 80% problems happened because: Unstable Pluging’s, background processes from other software (antiviruses,daemon etc.), and corrupted system files
Sorry, but it’s a known issue: http://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/support.html
Noise and CPU issues in Cubase on Windows
There have been reports of problems from primarily Windows 7 users in Cubase 8.5. These can include audio glitches during playback, brief noise bursts, or host crash / hang.
We are working closely with Steinberg to track down the issue and provide a resolution. Until then, there are a few things you can try to mitigate the problems:
Troubleshoot by temporarily removing any connected USB flash drives from your system.
Try removing the VST3 version of your plugins and only use VST2; you can either do this by manually deleting them from the installation folder (usually ‘Program Files\Common Files\VST3\’), or deselecting the ‘VST3’ option when performing a clean install.
Use legacy versions of your plugins (pre-April 2015). You can obtain these by providing a list of required installers to Tech Support.
Update the drivers for your audio interface.
For users of antivirus software, try disabling real-time scanning.
Please note that some newer plugins will not be available as legacy versions.
If you continue to have issues, please contact Tech Support and be sure to provide as detailed information about your system as possible. The more in-depth information we have concerning your system, the more efficiently we can help solve this issue.
I wish I could be using 9 like I paid for because there are certain features I want. But for some reason it seems to be using dramatically more CPU. Not to mention the fact that when I was on Sierra with 9 I couldn’t use my Apple Magic Mouse 2 because double clicking doesn’t work in Cubase currently. So not a good experience so far.