Consistent crashes while trying to record MIDI controllers

Cubase
#1

Hi guys,

I’m getting very consistent crashes every time that I try to record MIDI controllers. This is a clean Cubase install (only 2 months old), so the preferences, etc should be pretty clean.
My system:

Mac Pro 2008 2.8 GHz Quad 26 GB
NVIDIA GeFOrce GTX 2048 MB
OS X 10.8.5
MOTU 2408mk3
VEP with 2 PC Slaves
Cubase 7.5.2 (running in 64b)

All my sounds are coming from VEP and audio. However, I only get crashes when I record MIDI controllers. Playing back MIDI is fine. Recording/playing audio is fine.
Cubase is running pretty light (all the instruments are loaded on a slave computer). I tried changing the audio buffer from 256 to 512, but same thing.

I’m including the crash report which shows all the plugins that i’m using, etc. Hopefully someone can give me a clue. No idea of what’s going on. This is a pretty light session.

I’m attaching a text file with the crash report.

Thanks so much for the help!!!
Crash Report.txt.zip (28.3 KB)

#2

Here’s also the CB crash report which might be more useful (I don’t know how to use it).

EDIT: Please notice I edit the post to reflect that Cubase crashes when I record MIDI controllers. If I record just MIDI notes it records just fine.
Big.csh.zip (31.6 KB)

#3

A couple of updates:

I ran CB without the Vienna Instruments Pro connections to make sure it wasn’t related to it and I sill get the same crash. Just by sending MIDI controllers. CB wasn’t connected to any VIs this time. Same crash.

I also check the Device setup window and the Generic Remote, the Track Quick Control and the VST quick control are all disconnected (to avoid conflicts), so that shouldn’t be conflicting with the MIDI controller input.

The only thing sending MIDI right now is my MIDI controller through my MIDI express XT. I don’t hear weird loops or anything (it’s been working like this for many years!).

I have no ideas left… Any suggestions?

I sent this to tech support, but haven’t heard form them yet.

Thanks so much guys.
Imz

#4

Have you actually eliminated corrupt prefs as the cause of this?

#5

No, good point. Will do right now.

What are the usual files should get rid of? I come from DP, so I"m not really sure what are the usual suspects.

Thanks!

#6

Simply Launch Cubase holding down opt-cmd-shift.

#7

No, never mind. I restarted Cubase with the Option-Alt Command option and reseted all preferences and still got the same crash…

EDIT: Yeah, exactly. We posted at the same time. Still the same issue. Very strange…

#8

the .csh file is not a crash report, it’s a file Cubase uses in the project.

Does this only happen when you record CCs, and not when you operate one during playback?

Is there any condition where you can record CCs where Cubase does not crash?

On a hunch- is there a midi loopback occuring somehow?

#9

the .csh file is not a crash report, it’s a file Cubase uses in the project.

Oh, thanks for the info!

Does this only happen when you record CCs, and not when you operate one during playback?

Correct. Playback works perfectly.

Is there any condition where you can record CCs where Cubase does not crash?

Yes, I can record just fine in several MIDI tracks, just not the ones I actually need for some reason.

On a hunch- is there a midi loopback occuring somehow?

I had a similar hunch, although I don’t see anything suspicious. I don’t hear double notes, etc. Everything gets recorded normally. CB is only receiving MIDI from my MIDI ctr.
BTW I did try controlling MIDI from my iPAD with Lemur (it’s deactivated for now) and I also get the same crash, so I can discard the MIDI interface.
Maybe some internal loopback in CB I’m missing? Where else should I check?

And more thing. I just got a crash just playing MIDI notes. So its not only controllers, I was hasty concluding that. It might be due to the fact that controllers are sending much more information and trigger the crashes much faster.

#10

So I’m still having this issue. I’ve been in contact with tech support and they are trying to help, but so far no luck…

If anybody has a guess please shot it! Anything is a good idea at this point.

Something new I realized is that is not necessary to actually play MIDI to crash CB. Just by record enable the MIDI track CB will crash eventually.

It might be an apple thing (Coreaudio), but not sure.

#11

I’ve had many different performance issues from different midi devices (Win7/XP), but not so many crashes, they usually go off-line or stutter the notes. I’ve never got to the bottom of it. My Midex8 (made by Steinberg) was (still is in fact) notorious for going offline when faced with complex CC messages! Not much help to you really.

So, perhaps consider it may be a project that is corrupted somehow, try using a new project, or try importing the existing tracks into a new project (open two projects at once and cut/paste). This sometimes gets people out of trouble.

Mike.

#12

Things I have experienced with strange results and freezes/crashes with any daw - is having some kind of loop that cause feedback. You send stuff, it is monitored and sent again and repeated by remote, and monitored again etc.

Since playback runs fine, I mean. What is special is that record also monitors stuff according to settings.

One way to figure this out:

#1. Have the setup as to record but don’t run transport - just play through system that cause controllers to be sent.
If anything freeze or crash here it might be a loopback/feedback thingy.

#2. If not #1 makes a difference - try record with different monitor modes, like whether existing clips are played back until recordpoint and with/without preroll or precount on monitor etc.

Maybe some of this might help narrow down…

**EDIT: did a poor reading and some I suggested was tried.**Some things that bug me with midi recording is that arming for record always monitor thru. Would be better to control with monitor button when you want this. Either way , if two tracks are armed - two events will be sent of everything. I used this for experimenting with having ASIO compensation on one track, and not the other, to see what I liked better, timeingwise, and found this out.

What I would try further would be to experiment with check/uncheck midi record and midi thru options in preferences. A midi monitor plugin might also be useful to see what is the last action coming through before crashing.

Another pitfall is that new midi tracks are armed with next midi channel - not every new track get Any as channel. A set midi channel means any channel info on the track gets converted to the chosen channel and sent. One thing to look out for.

A few more things that might be relevant…