I had to stop using Cubase because of CPU spikes and resulting artifacts (pops) in the sound, that I don’t get in other DAW’s.
I was able to replicate the same configuration (same VST’s, EQ, limiters and MIDI routing) in Studio One without any problems and a lighter CPU load.
Here’s the evidence (you can hear the sound pop in Cubase):
https://user.fm/files/v2-4d36aed74616f388738c96b734eda55a/cpu%20load%20-%20cubase%2010530.mp4
https://user.fm/files/v2-c6b96e6804ebb7bcd3ebf592459143da/cpu%20load%20-%20studio%20one.mp4
The only plugin producing sound is the ARIA player (last update: 1.959) which is gentle on the CPU but there are a few more in different tracks, and particularly Analog Lab V (VST version) seems to be CPU hungry even if it doesn’t receive MIDI notes.
If Cubase had a per plugin performance meter we could examine if there is another plugin causing problems but it would be strange because this doesn’t seem to be the case with Studio One.
Those are my Audio settings in both DAW’s for more details: