I’ve been runnign C14 since release everyday and I can say it’s been rock solid here on both a AMD 7950x and recently the 9950x . Running windows 11 24H2 and an RME UFXIII . ASUS P670- 64BG DDR5-NVMe drives. I run Avid S3 and Avid dock (Eucon) and various Midi devices.
I’ve not had a single crash in months.
M
Same here:
no dropout or crash problems in normal Cubase use with either C13 pro nor C14pro since many months. I only get dropouts with some new extremely CPU-hungry plugins - whenever I need too many instances of these, I just freeze some of their tracks.
Win 11 latest, 3 year old AMD 5900X, Gigabyte B550 Vision D Mainboard with Thunderbolt, UAD Apollo 6 Gen. 2 Thunderbolt Card (MOTU 828ES before).
I’m getting these issues and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve found that VST3 versions of the same synth are more likely to cause them that the VST2.4 version.
Steinberg needs to INVESTIGATE THIS poopies BEFORE RELEASING THE MAJOR VERSION UPDATE, PERIOD, END OF STORY.
This is completely unacceptable to have to go through this every goddamn time. I’m so, so tired.
STOP THE LINE and FIX THIS, Steinberg!!!
Yes. Agreed. And I also strongly suspect that E-cores are being chosen for certain synth voices when the system should be choosing P-cores.
Steinberg really, really needs to drop what they’re doing and work with Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, Asus, and whoever else may be part of the equation to make sure the system is unable to make these stupid decisions randomly and that nothing, NOTHING gets to have higher priority than the things making and processing the real time audio stream for any reason whatsoever. These deeply technical issues should not be left to the customer to solve.
I bought myself a $6000 MacBook Pro M4 and it has similar dropout issues, but under different circumstances.
Point is, it’s ridiculous: we have gobs of computing power available, but apparently we do not have competent audio software engineers who can figure out the basics of the basics: how to protect that real time audio stream and ensure processing is evenly and properly distributed among the cores so these dropouts are all but impossible under reasonable load for such modern, expensive silicon.
As a matter of interest, is that M4, M4 pro or M4 max?
Steve
It’s an M4 Max. 64 GB memory, 8TB SSD. It’s a monster, basically. And at 24-bit/96kHz, Cubase manages to choke way, way earlier than I would like.
And my PC? Well, same story it’s always been: it’s a roll of the dice. Some sessions behave themselves. Other sessions, it’s like the system assigns a bunch of E-cores to processes it really shouldn’t be assigning them to, and it chokes.
Utterly maddening. All of it. I cannot believe that here we are in 2025 and real-time audio is such an insurmountable challenge for the professional audio industry.
I’m not wishing to pick at wounds here, but have you watched the Youtube videos of James Zhan? He is measured and not hyperbolic and in my opinion offers good insights into the differences between processors in the Apple silicon range. He also seems to have extensively tested DAWS and concludes that only Cubase, Reaper and ProTools can efficiently utilise all power and efficiency cores in Apple silicon chips. He is quite a fan of the M4 architecture compared to earlier M chips.
I have a MacBook Pro with an M2 Max and 64 Gb. It is also in my view a monster. It has been utterly stable with Cubase 13 and 14 and runs beautifully. I don’t do big projects but it’s so relaxing to know that you can just keeping adding tracks and not get anxieties about whether there will be dropouts. The only overloads I’ve experienced have been with old external disks struggling to read and write quickly enough and the use of a newer SSD solved this problem. TL:DR - I’ve never had such a capable machine with such a smooth Cubase experience.
There’s few things as annoying as a smartass (me) saying how nice everything is in my garden when that is not the case for you. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for you when you describe the multiple problems with your PC/Cubase combination. However, if you’re still being frustrated with your M4 max/Cubase combination, I wonder (genuinely with all due respect) what hardware/software combination you will be happy with. Having said that, fingers crossed you get it sorted and running well.
Steve
I’m primarily an electronic musician, so “number of tracks” is a lesser factor for me. I’m mostly just interested in my VSTs & VSTi’s behaving themselves. Apparently, that’s an incredibly tall order, even today.
Some companies do proper optimization, some do not. And then you have the DAW makers themselves missing the boat on this stuff. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it should not be up to consumers to waste countless hours optimizing their systems for audio. The developers should have already figured out how to tame anything that could potentially pose an undue issue for the real time audio stream. They should work with their partners in the industry to make sure that the audio application and any subprograms (plugins) have exclusive priority to any system resources needed to make sure that stream isn’t interrupted by stupid poopies that should have no right to interrupt it.
Some DAW developers get this and are developing accordingly. Others, especially those with a lot of legacy code and a storied history, seem to have a significantly harder time with it.
Thanks for the crossing-of-fingers for me. I’m working on it, but it’s always some new bug to squash. Just gets really old, especially when you have a fresh project with almost nothing running and are already finding something’s managing to spike the VST meter and cause a pop. Just irritating.
@deleted_by_self I feel you pain … however… with all due respect , with regard to this statement:
it should not be up to consumers to waste countless hours optimizing their systems for audio
Certainl with Windows, there are so many possible combinations of hardware/software that it’s impossible to test everything. Even on Mac OS with limite hardware, the DAW still has to deal with plugins made by everyone from a guy in his bedroom too large corporations. A single plugin can bring Cubase down. A single midi device can too.
So I’d say, again with ll due respect, that it’s your job as a professional/Hobyist to optimise your system, for your workflow .
I’m not a big VSTI person, I produce and Mix failry organic music for a living and I can say Cubase 14 on my 9950x and M1 max runs like a dream, stable and powerful.
I’ve had to work on this though to get my Hardware/plugins/workflow to this point.
It’s a 2 way street and as a user we have to take responsability too.
M
I couldn’t disagree more: that’s exactly what we’re paying these very well-funded Yamaha subsidiaries to do on our behalf: thoroughly test their software before releasing it.
I can tell we’re just not gonna see eye-to-eye on this point, and I’m not going to restate what I’ve stated elsewhere in fine detail, that those making the plugin standard should ensure that those entities out there who know less about what they’re doing should not be able to bring an entire system to its knees.
And yes, I’m speaking from the perspective of an electronic musician. I frankly do not care at all about the perspective of those who make traditional music, because any DAW’ll do ya, basically: lots of audio tracks is not and shouldn’t be hard to manage in this day & age at all.
For those of us who rely on VST instruments, the story is quite a bit different: we’ve been sold a bill of goods by this entire industry. There has been an absolute explosion of audio plugins on the market, but they’re seldom maintained in a way we would hope/expect. See the whole “Apple Silicon Ready” situation that’s still a situation after all this time. On my Mac, there’s no way to tell on-sight if a plugin is ready: I have to go look it up. What a hassle.
There’s no way to get insight into what processes are doing what to choke the audio stream. There’s no way for me to really troubleshoot this and oh, how I have TRIED.
So please, save your polite advice. I’m not having it.
well I’ve scored a couple of films over the last 10 years and used VST instruments heavily in those projects, and again I’ve had no problems.
Somone in another thread has just posted the EW opus test project running at 32/96 with over 370 VST instrument tracks no problem at all.
So I’m sorry your having issues and hope you can find a solution that makes you happy.
M
Just read all the feeds. I feel your pain.
I’ve just upgraded from Mac mini 2012 (intel) to a new mac mini M4 (apple silicon) - 16gb memory for both. I wanted to get new vst3 plugins and also use splice bridge (internet running). I also upgraded from Cubase 7 to Cubase 14 artist and kept the same audio interface (steinberg ur44). Changed the lead to connect from usb 2 (ur44 to usb-c M4) . Upgraded Kontakt 5 to 8. Then upgraded all vst plugins from 2 to 3. Just Superior drummer/waves left to upgrade -£££
Upgrading from Cubase 7 to 14 - For what I needed it for (new vst 3 plugins and the ability to use Splice bridge) I only found 2 things that made a difference to my work flow. 1. Moving audio manually to tighten up the recording. Snaps into place. 2. Can use vst3 plugins.
Unfortunately after a very stable cubase 7, upgrading to cubase 14 has created audio dropouts. + crashes.
I’ve had older projects (over 50 tracks audio + midi) that needed to be worked on. Never crashed nor had any audio dropouts using cubase 7 + old mac mini 2012.
This is what I noticed in my new mac m4 + cubase 14 (rosetta mode to use vst2 plug ins not apple silicon)
Older projects that I worked on in cubase 7.
New projects: no crashes or audio drop outs at all even when working with studio drummer vst2. / kontakt 8.
As the interface + vst2 plugins worked with new projects these are ok. These don’t need updating.
Could it be using vst instrument rather than midi (this is what i used before)??
Could it be the old waves plugins that aren’t registered in Cubase 14 but are still in the project? Have to delete/or upgrade to see.
Could it be ASIO settings?
Summary: f* knows 
If only old projects opened in v14 is causing issues, perhaps trying Import Tracks from Project would be worth a shot?
Thanks. I’ll give it a 
wrong thread…
I thought Rosetta was used for vst 2 plug ins? I know what you mean though. Once I have updated all the vst 2 to vst plug ins then switch to apple silicon hopefully things will be more stable.
sorry I replied to the wrong thread… I’ll remove..
M