AUDIO DROPOUT!!!

Maddeningly frequent audio dropout issue in Cubase 9.5 Pro that basically bricks the entire program when I am trying to record. I have ONE plugin running (Vintage Compressor) and am recording five tracks simultaneously. When I try to punch in, it triggers the error. I am running a laptop with TONS of drive space, 16GB RAM, i7 QUadCore processor - all systems optimized for power and speed, background processes all disabled etc…I have plenty of power for this. WHY CUBASE WHY?

Have you tried using different buffer sizes on your audio interface?