So I’m starting to suspect from that pic and the fact it still does it with prefs disabled that your problem is outside of Cubase.
Try playback of some music in windows media player…is this glitch free??
interesting ! I’ve got four cpu parked
they are still active though, running you can see the spike at the moment of the recording glitch
shall I un-park them ?
Yes un-park them. I do this as a matter of course
honestly from what I read on the web I have my reservations about unparking the cores.
Does a musician have to spend 400£ for a license of Cubase pro and in order to get it working, just to record a couple of tracks in audio, should have to go manually to mess around with the windows registry.
Frankly I think that’s a bit much …
I don’t think is a good idea and that shouldn’t be the problem.
If that’s the problem I think Cubase pro 8 is wasted money really and in that case I want my money back.
Windows 7 should handle just fine the unparking of the parked cores when the task needs them which is the case of Cubase.
From what I read there will be no advantage really having all the cores using power when Cubase is not running.
Did you have to do that on your machine to run Cubase ???
Nah no mate !
Disable core parking may not be what is causing your problem but there is no point in having cores parked. You paid for all your cores so you want them all working all the time, right? Unless maybe if you need to conserve power sometimes or something.
It’s the first thing I do after installing Windows on a machine.
I tried to unpark all my cores. Had nothing to loose, really…
Now I can record 10 tracks of audio in mono at 48 KHz - 16 bit on a blank project for about 10 minutes, after about 10 minutes with no interruption I decided to push the system to see when it would crash and started adding in real time while recording some mastering effects on the master channel, maximize, compressor, eq reverb … at certain point the recording dropped but hey! that’s quite a change !!! Big change!
Can un-parking the cores improve so dramatically the performance?
I’m seriously impressed. From what I read that should be an issue in windows 7 only, since in win 8 Microsoft tweaked and improved the feature…
So looks like the problem was on the processors not the hard drives.
will do more testing tomorrow.
Thanks a lot for your help ! 
media player is glitch free, yes.
even after un-parking the processors I still have the feeling that my system should be able to handle more load in Cubase.
I mean, about 4 years ago with Cubase 4 and a much lower spced pc in win XP I cut a record with more tracks more effects more data … now Steinberg claim this is a more efficient Cubase and my dell should be a fast machine although it was configured and used for cad and 3D modelling and architecture rather then pro music.
will do more testing tomorrow.
Just a note: These steps were all I had to do to make my system perform best.
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/pc-optimization-guide-for-windows-7/
You’re very welcome 
Disable CPU core parking is something I originally heard about from the serious gamer fraternity. Those people are serious about directing every last cycle of CPU power to enhance their graphics, audio and game play. So yeah, un-parking cores will improve performance. Paste “Disable CPU core parking” into a youtube search and see what peeps say about it.
All the best.
You might want to check that processor scheduling tweak (background services) is actually doing you any good.
Steinberg recommend this be set to programs since the introduction of C7.
I’ve tested this in both modes and have been unable to perceive a noticeable difference in performance. Though my subjective perception is hardly scientific, ASIO drivers are a background service so I leave it set to that.
Steinberg also recommend disabling hyper-threading but I don’t think that is a good idea…
Steinberg also recommend disabling hyper-threading
Doesn’t look that way to me
Hah, they’ve finally changed that. About time
There is also in your CB8 settings an option to select a dedicated Steinberg power settings (similar to the high performance setting)… Could be an solution?
Good luck!
I suspect your problem lies somewhere with your Mixer/ASIO4ALL/Dell combination.
They all might individually work fine with other combinations but I suspect these 3 together are causing the problem.
Even an un-tweaked, unoptimized OS for audio recording wouldn’t make a system with your CPU/Memory specs this fragile. I experienced weird issues where everything worked perfectly until I upgraded to a new computer. I tried everything like you’re doing now until I gave up and it ended up that my motherboard was the culprit. Once I replaced it with another brand, all my issues went away. Dell isn’t exactly the computer of choice for audio recording either.
If you could could try Cubase, your mixer and the ASIO4ALL driver on another computer temporarily to see if it is the PC causing the issue, that would be a great step in troubleshooting. That’s the next step I’d be doing if this were me.
I agree.
I tried the same project / same settings / same asio4all / same mixer already on my laptop, a sony vaio with i7 processor and windows 8.1 and recorded smootly with no problems .
I heard that DELL are not ideal for pro music production. You might well be right…
This weekend will try the same test with my girlfriend Imac laptop.
Did I mentioned that I use USB wireless kayboard and mouse?
(just like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Wireless-Desktop-MK270-layout/dp/B00CL6353A/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1420648549&sr=1-4&keywords=wireless+keyboards+%26+mouse
Could that interfere somehow with the USB flow of the allan & heath ZED 10 mixer? boh?
On my sony vaio didn’t use any usb device (except the ZED 10 mixer) and no tweaks whatsoever to the win 8.1
Thanks
These tweaks seem to be very effective too so far.
Thanks to all of you looks like now I have Cubase 8 pro up and running properly.
Thanks for your help and time ! I hope this post can help other people too.
All the best 
My DAW is a Sweetwater Workstation so I can attest that these tweaks work well.