Cubase 10.5 Pro is the most unstable version I've used

Cubase
1

In the last 15 years or so, I’ve worked my way through SX2, SX3, version 5, version 7, with nary an issue (at least, not one that couldn’t be solved with a bit of Googling or forum searching), but since moving up to 10.5.20 Pro a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been plagued by constant problems… the program crashing when closing a project, randomly quitting in the middle of playback/mixing, glitches and crackles on playback, audio dropouts, and various other things that are making the recording and mixing process absolutely no fun.

It’s impossible to get into a flow or a rhythm, or to enjoy the process when you’re constantly worrying when the next crash is coming. My hand now hovers and twitches over CTRL+S, and on the occasions when I do get a little excited and forget to save after every single thing I do, the crash happens and I end up losing the last 15 minutes or so of work. This has built up to hours of lost work that I have to redo over the last couple of weeks.

I don’t want to switch to another DAW. I’ve invested years into learning Cubase, and when it works, it’s amazing. I fear that I’m going to have to roll back to version 7, which means the upgrade to 10.5 has been a waste of time and money. Such a shame, because some of the new features are great.

I’m on a new custom build audio PC, which I don’t connect to the internet (aside from installing, registering, or updating new software). i7, Win10, 64GB Ram, etc…

Anyway, I get the impression that this is a user led forum, and Steinberg don’t get too involved. So I’m not expecting any answers, but sometimes you just need to vent for a while…

Cheers!

2

Hey Pete, I must agree with you here. Just upgraded to 10.5 from 9.5 and Cubase is now totally unstable. Recorded Audio tracks playback fluctuate
in volume and sometimes completely cut off (no sound) !!! Driving me crazy !!! Resorted back to 9.5 which has none of these problems. STEINBERG
support is nonexistent. Yes a waste of money upgrading to 10.5. Come on Steinberg get your poop together and fix these problems.

3

The problem is that steinberg isn’t being forthcoming about the scope and realities of some of these issues, such as the ASIO internal overloads (pops, clicks, dropouts, meter hits red) that are related to hyperthreading on some platforms.

The crashes are various, often related to plug-ins, midi devices, etc. On my own new, stable, clean, custom built machine - - rebuilt twice during the troubleshooting process for Cubase 10.5 just to make sure windows updates hadn’t caused a mess - - I can get a crash 100% of the time if I turn off the power to my microKORG XL while it is connected to Cubase. I was able to stop the pops/clicks that were due to ASIO overloads by disabling all virtual cores on my CPU.

I’ve also been using Cubase since sx2, and I’ve had few issues all these years that I could not resolve on my own or with the help of the close friends who trained me in Cubase.

Right now, if steinberg was more FORTHCOMING with pinned posts and pages dedicated to better explaining some of these problems, I would be 90% less frustrated and angry, but… On top of the 4 months I’ve been working with support (3 responses total in 4 months between 2 support addresses), support has told me to GO TO THE COMMUNITY FORUMS TO SHARE THESE ISSUES.

But when you go to the forums with these issues, you encounter caustic personalities who defend steinberg and try to cover up the scope and depth of the issues currently present in Cubase, then they mock and insult you when you become frustrated - - and steinberg allows this to happen. Then the over-eager mod censors your comment if you become too frustrated and say things like “you are brand-protecting sycophants!” (I was literally banned for 3 days for saying this to someone.)

The frustration of the lack of transparency about these known issues coupled with the attitude of the elitists and brand-protectors on the forum is enough to make someone swear, yeah. I’m glad others are also frustrated with the nature of the support and current state of the software.

Being told “you are the only one experiencing this” by brand managers on this forum… Really chapped my hide, and now I’m making sure I comment to everyone who experiences these same issues.

4

First of all I would suggest listing your custom build audio PC specs below here so people know what kind of system you are running.
Secondly, have you tried starting C10.5 in safe mode? If not, check the options that say do not load any 3rd party VSTs. Also check the option that says it will load factory preferences.

Then, how does your system work? Have you run DPC latency checker? If still the same results, I’m pretty sure once you list your system specs, more users here might help. It certainly is frustrating. Keep in mind for most users, these things are not happening with C10.5.

Yeah, its pretty much a peer-to-peer forum, but employees do lurk. Keep venting, but too much venting because it can be a turn-off for some users who might otherwise suggest a solution. Some people are really smart, but have a short temper. As for official USA phone Steinberg support or even creating a ticket, I have found forums a better solution for technical issues like this.

Good luck.

5

By chance, have you checked your buffer sizes???

6

I’m probably going to share something risky… but in turn… it’s probably the only way for Steinberg to pay attention to what’s going on, if several users start submitting the bug explanation and crashdump files.

support@steinberg.de

Sorry Steinberg! for sharing the official email, but we paid for a DAW too expensive! its time to pay attention to the problems!

7

Having used Cubase since the Atari years, I must agree with the statement about 10.5 being unstable. I may be lucky but I can’t actually recall having had a Cubase crash prior to 10.5. After the upgrade to 10.5 I think it was about 3 minutes until Cubase just disappeared from screen and this (and other problems) has continued now and then ever since.

This brings uncertainty and frustration to the project and hinders creativity and workflow.

I think the recommendations on checking buffer sizes, running in safe mode and the like have good intentions but miss the main point. And the main point is that Cubase 10.5 is unstable.

I run the same OS, the same hardware and the same VSTs - the only thing that is changed is the upgrade of Cubase. And from being rock solid it crashes within 3 minutes, I have a very hard time believing that this is caused by anything else than Cubase itself being unstable. You might argue that some VST might be poorly implemented and cause the crash (which technically could be true) or that some ASIO driver might cause the problem (which might also technically be true). But previous versions of Cubase could interact with those very same components without any problems whatsoever so the focus goes back to Cubase as the component that can’t handle the situation.

I think it would be a positive thing for all parties if Steinberg would acknowledge that there are stability problems with 10.5 and that they are working hard to restore stability in Cubase 11 (at the latest)

8

Thanks all!

@greggybud - thanks so much for the advice. I haven’t yet tried starting in safe mode or running DPC latency checker. I’m currently mixing an album project, but I will do both asap.
Yeah, I’m not really a moaning and complaining kind of guy, but I had just experienced yet another crash, and lost part of a mix. I jumped on here within a couple of minutes of it happening, as I needed the release :slight_smile:

My system specs are as follows -

Intel Core i7-10700k CPU @ 3.80GHz (8 Core)
64GB DDR4 3000Mhz Ram
ASUS Z490-Plus motherboard
Nvidia GT710 2048mb graphics card
850w PSU
SSD Program Drive
Separate HDD drives (one for audio, one for sample libraries)

Focusrite Clarett 4Pre USB interface (changing buffer size makes no difference to my issues)

3rd part software - Soundtoys 5, NI Komplete 12 Ultimate, Waves RVox and RBass, Toneboosters 3 + 4, numerous Izotope plugs, IK Sampletron (via Sampletank 3), various Valhalla plugs, McDSP Futzbox, LASS 2, BFD3, Scuffham S-Gear.

Other stuff that gets plugged into the system -
Kemper Profiling amp
Korg Midi Keyboard.

Cheers!

9

I am so sorry to hear that you’re experiencing these issues. Just so you know, for me and others I’m sure, 10.5 is incredibly stable. I wish I could offer some advice that actually helps, but I’ve had a very stable Cubase for many versions now, on both Mac and Windows. Your post is valid and I can’t imagine how frustrated you must feel…just know that it can be very stable even for truly gigantic composing/mix sessions like I have (sessions that overload the CPU of the PC in my signature!). I hope you can figure it out.

10

I suspect then difficulty for anyone who uses a computer for music is the constantly shifting sands of the entire software landscape. A DAW has some bugs that affect some users, as do software instruments and effects. All these changing applications are resting on (for the most part) Windows or macOs. Cubase has been very stable for me on macOs for the last two years. Pretty much the same on PC, until this week. Windows 10 2004 is now on my desktop, and on Bootcamp on my Mac. My Thunderbolt 3 card in my desktop has stopped working and so can’t use my Apollo Twin with PC. I’ve uninstalled Windows from my Mac because my keyboard and mouse won’t work amongst other things. (Have you seen how many driver-related conflicts have arisen through W10 2004?)

My point is that any tiny thing in the colossal, constantly changing software/hardware matrix that is a DAW on top of an OS can go wrong. Important to keep an open mind about what might be causing problems.

Steve.

11

For you and others it’s stable? It is not stable, and for a variety of users/profiles whose posts and comments you can see here spanning many months. 10.5 is unstable for many, glitchy for many, and steinberg isn’t doing a good job concierging, communicating, addressing, nor FIXING these issues. Thank for the note of support, though.

The issue (with hyperthreading, audio glitches, overloads) is that many environments suffer from the issue, and some do not, and sometimes SIMILAR ISSUES overlap and cause similar symptoms.

Those who never experience the issue have this odd tendency (here) to make their experience seem typical, I notice, despite how many people actually have the problem.

The last time a user here tried to suggest to me that this issue was localized or rare, I went ahead and found THIRTY threads on these forums involving the identical or similar issue by other users, and dumped all those links in a thread. The issue is NOT rare, steinberg ISN’T being forthcoming, and it’s quite frustrating to be stuck managing the entire thing here on these forums.

Yes. We know the environment and ecosystem are very complex. We understand the philosophy, and the product. I’ve been working with Cubase nearly 20 years, and it sounds like the OP and others also have tons of experience. That has nothing to do with clean, blank, freshly built, optimized environments crashing, glitching, etc, on 10.5 which were not exhibiting those things on prior versions, etc. I don’t know if fluctuating global economies have caught steinberg with too few QA staff or devs, or what the core issue really is, but HONESTY about these issues would help greatly.

12

Another one here with a generally very stable Cubase 10.5. I think I’ve had two crashes since upgrading and use it most days.

I have an old PC, maybe that helps?

Yes, there have been some reports of instabilities but from watching for many very years I can’t say this is anything like the least stable version (from watching reports here).

13

I would doubt that. Mine was custom built by an audio PC builder November 2019 with windows professional.

For mr, there has been no noticeable difference in Cubase versions.

14

Just that it seems a lot of those having issues have newer computers, it’s not scientific just an observation.
Mine was built by an Audio company too which I would hope ID a factor, the only mod I’ve done is to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro (From 7 Pro) and change to a larger SSD.

15

I’m running Windows 10 with an old computer. I had many problems too with 10.5.15. I didn’t test 10.5.20 and honestly I’m not planning to. I don’t trust new official releases anymore. I found that 10.0.60 can be used for production after disabling “Retrospective Record” (Preferences>Record>MIDI). I’m quite happy with it. Hope it helps!

16

Cubase 10 was never solid for me. 10.5 has been very very stable though.

Have you checked crash dumps for causes? Usually 3rd party plugs

17

Hi everyone,

Same here, the 10.5.2 is a disaster for me. Impossible to use it professionaly, which is a disgrace.
The computer is a custom PC (Ryzen 1800X - 64 go DDR4, SSD M2, SSD SATA, 2 HDD, GTX 950, Asus Prime X370 A) thats works perfectly.
I made a proper installation of Windows and Cubase. I have no cracked plugins.
I got constat freezing on plugins, crashs when closing a project, crash without NO apparent reasons, etc, etc and… etc.

I worked during the last six months with the 10.5.0 on my laptop, and it’s the most stable version I got till now (since Cubase7!). So I’m going to run this old version on my PC, and we’ll see…

18

Sorry if this is obvious. You’ve no doubt tried already. But just in case, have you tried trashing preferences ?
That’s sometimes solved issues I’ve had. Then it’s been rock solid ever since (touch wood)

19

Here also older PC without troubles running latest Cubase. HT disabled since last version of cubase, which helped.
Only problem i got was after upgrading to W10 2004 which caused audio dropouts, so i went back to 1909, runnign just fine now.
I am very a worried of buying a new PC…

20

Also pretty stable here on the latest version of Windows.