I’m experiencing consistent ASIO real-time spikes and peak fluctuations in Cubase 12 Pro, even on an empty project with just one Kontakt instrument (CSS Full). The audio is generally fine unless I run LatencyMon (which causes massive dropouts), but the real-time meter is constantly jumping, even during idle or playback.
Drives: NVMe SSD for the operating system + SATA SSD for libraries and projects
Audio interfaces tested:
Apollo UAD FireWire
Focusrite Scarlett 16i16 4th Gen (for compatibility testing)
Even on a big template with over 1000 tracks, there are no dropouts or glitches during normal use — but the ASIO real-time and peak meters remain unstable. I’ve already done the following:
Disabled real-time protection for Cubase-related folders in Windows Defender
Set power plan to high performance in Windows
Tried different buffer sizes (128–1024)
Switched between Apollo and Focusrite interfaces
I haven’t yet disabled GPU acceleration in Cubase (couldn’t find the setting), nor modified any BIOS settings — only Windows-side optimizations so far.
Has anyone experienced this behavior in Cubase 12? Could it be related to my NVIDIA GPU? Any other suggestions?
Yes, I’ve already tested my system several times using LatencyMon.
The report always says:
“Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts.”
However, when I run LatencyMon and play Cubase at the same time, I get massive audio dropouts, even with an empty project using just one Kontakt instrument.
During the dropouts:
Cubase’s ASIO, Peak and Real-Time meters freeze at 0
Audio completely disappears for several seconds
It happens with both big templates (1000+ tracks) and minimal projects
Buffer size doesn’t change the behavior
I also noticed that LatencyMon consistently reports NVIDIA drivers (dxgkrnl.sys) as the top contributors to ISR and DPC execution time.
Only one time LatencyMon marked the system as not suitable, again with NVIDIA drivers being the cause.
I’ve already tried:
Adjusting NVIDIA Control Panel settings (power management: max performance, etc.)
Disabling GPU hardware scheduling in Windows
Setting High Performance mode in power plan
Adding Windows Defender exclusions for audio folders
Focusrite 16i16 4th Gen and also Apollo FireWire interfaces
Any advice would be highly appreciated – I’ve put in a lot of effort to diagnose this, but the issue is still unresolved.
Are you using the nvidia studio driver as recommended. LatencyMon probably would kill it with a template that big. You say there is no problem which all these tracks so it’s probably ok. The asio guard on mine is always flickering when nothing is playing. Especially with Kontact libraries
Yes, I’m using the NVIDIA Studio driver and have also optimized the panel settings (set to maximum performance, disabled GPU scheduling, etc.).
I didn’t run the LatencyMon test on my full 1000+ track template, but on a minimal project with just one Kontakt track. Even there, every time I play a note, the Real-Time meter spikes heavily, sometimes close to red, even though there are no actual dropouts or glitches.
With my full template, even when nothing is playing or recorded, the Real-Time bar sits around halfway or higher.
Last time I checked on my system , running Cubase and LatencyMon at the same time also gave me quite some dropouts. I don’t really care, though, cause else the system works fine, even without the Nvidia Studio driver (which is only available for their expensive graphics adapters and not for the entry level one, as I had to find out).
Re: the high real time peak. If it isn’t causing dropouts, I wouldn’t bother too much.
When you experience those spikes, is any track record enabled? That will of course put the track in the realtime path, and if there is a demanding instrument on in, the load will increase, even more if you have further effect plugins in the signal path, like on groups or the master bus, or even the control room (I have a headphone correction plugin that alone accounts for ~30% on the RT meter.
Just to clarify: the real-time peak meter spikes even with a single Kontakt instrument track in an empty project. Of course, it gets more intense with my big template (1000+ tracks, FX on groups and busses), but I’m not experiencing any dropouts or glitches during normal use — only when I run LatencyMon, which heavily affects the system.
I’m using the NVIDIA Studio Driver (GTX 1650) I’m on Windows 11 — and I’m about to activate the hidden Ultimate Performance power plan
→ Any tips on how to do this properly? I’ve excluded Cubase, VST folders, and sample libraries from Windows Defender I’ve optimized NVIDIA Control Panel settings for performance
I haven’t modified anything in the BIOS yet
→ Should I disable power-saving features there (like SpeedStep, C-states, etc.) to improve real-time performance?
If you have the power plan visible then just enable it. If not then google it. That’s what i did. You need to open the command prompt as admin and enter the string you will see in the google results. I did mine ages ago so I’m not copying a link in case I get it wrong.
You can try the bios tweaks but it sounds like they won’t make a difference. I tried them and it made no difference with mine. Yours sounds like it’s working fine. You run latencyMon when Cubase is t running anyway, not when it is running.
If I read your post correctly it appears that you have no audio performance issues, even with a 1000 track template. If so, there are other folks on this forum that would probably give their right arm to get that kind of throughput.
If all you’re getting is jumpy meters, don’t worry about it, or don’t look at them.
Trying to run Cubase concurrently with Latencymon is a lost cause as they will interfere with each other. Latencymon is really only intended to run on an idle system.
Try this out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sbXzM60ad8I&
It helped me a bit with performance issues, especially on my laptop.
I think that there is still a room for improvement on the Steinberg side.
Interested if you found a solution. I am having similar issues. Real-time peaks causing drop outs, despite a fast hi-spec computer. Via LatencyMon I tracked it down to the driver NDIS.SYS causing the spikes. Not much I can do about it. Ive looked at all those videos and tweaks, nothing works. I’m buying a mac, sick of it.
I’m using the NVIDIA Studio Driver (GTX 1650)
I haven’t modified anything in the BIOS yet