Audio dropouts Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core in Cubase 12

Cubase
1

I just got an Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core Thunderbolt Interface. It is impossible to use it in Cubase 12 Pro because sooner or later there is a crackling noise no matter how high I set the sample size. I tried on different Windows 11 high-end machines with the same result.

It works in standalone versions of HALion or The Grand. But in Cubase it starts crackling immediately. Audio Performance monitor immediately jumps to maximum (Peak meter). Even when pressing a single key of a “low budget” VST instrument like a general MIDI piano. The PC workloads were not even close to 25%. When opening the “Audio Connections” window, the crackling becomes less.

I have tried everything now. LatencyMon, BIOS-Settings, optimized PC for audio etc. Nothing helps. It is not an issues of the interface or the thunderbolt cable.

Steinberg support is not responding. Does anyone have an idea? I am really out of it. The interface is by means of connectors, ports and peripherals (plus great deal incuding plugins an a mic) satisfying all my needs…but I cannot use it :sob:

2

And what does your dealer and/or Antelope Tech Support say?

3

That it is supposed to work.

4

Have you tried the machine with a other vendor of thunderbolt card? Or using as USB device?

5

It is supposed to work. But it doesn’t. That’s it?
Great service.

6

It is supposed to work. But it doesn’t. That’s it?
Great service.

Well, the conversation per se was much longer. It contained stuff like “Try another PC”, “Try another DAW”, “Another cable”, “Deactivate Anti-Virus” and so on. Nothing helped. But one of the latest replies was “It is supposed to work”.

I am sure it does on various systems. But I really would like to know, if someone managed to use it on Cubase 12 on a Win11 PC.

7

Have you tried the machine with a other vendor of thunderbolt card? Or using as USB device?

Steinberg UR824…check
Low Latency ASIO…check
Boss RC505 Loop Station…check
AVID Eleven Rack…check

Antelope Zen Q Synergy Core…krrrrkrkrk

Using its generic mixer panel software does not cause this problem.

8

Maybe that will not work but I have a suggestion.
Can you try tweaking the core affinity for the Cubase12.exe process in Task Manager ? Just uncheck any core and see if there is any improvement. OR, try disabling Multi-Processing in Cubase.

I’m asking for this because there is a similar issue with the Spitfire player, under certain circumstances the Peak meter maxes out when we hit MIDI notes and it causes dropouts. Doing one of the tweaks above fixes the issue.

9

Looks like the Steinberg UR824 driver/software caused the problem!
After removing it, there is no more crack noise. Even at sample sizes that cause input latency of far below 1ms.

Thanks for your help!

1 Like
10

So the simple fact that having the Steinberg driver installed was causing issues with Antelope, but the UR824 itself worked fine ? Wtf.

11

So the simple fact that having the Steinberg driver installed was causing issues with Antelope, but the UR824 itself worked fine ? Wtf.

Yes. So I thought. Well, a restart later the problem is back again :man_bowing:
Not the solution.

Multi-processing, core affinity did not help either.

I guess sending it back and go with another vendor will have to be my solution.