Hello, we have some further discussions here:
I can’t personally check Apollo’s Console, but I’d say it’s a process external to Cubase, a separate piece of software; it should address its own dll/FLS space (ready to stand corrected on this…).
Inactive project in the background can affect the count, yes. There are plug-ins which do not release the slots when they are removed, a few even when you close the project.
These plug-ins will keep their slots in use if the project is in the background.
Plug-ins that are not used in the project will not count (the sole exception is the plug-ins not releasing the slots as described above), so removing them from the Manager won’t help.
But moving some components out of their folder (C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase *\Components) will ease it a bit:
euconadapter (support for Euphonix / AVID controllers)
hubservice (Steinberg Hub - you will only have the Project Assistant, the web-based Hub on the left will be missing)
omffilter (you will be unable to import OMF files)
video (all files, these differ in 9.0.30 and 9.5.x - of course all video features will be missing)
vstconnect
If you need one or more of these features, the corresponding files can’t be moved.