Mine is mostly virtual instruments. Komplete 8s collection (Kontact, Massive, Absynth, Battery) and Steinberg’s Padshop.
It may have something to do with the way VST plug-ins are hosted in Cubase, too.
I know that buggy scripts inside of Kontakt will cause ASIO spikes and audio dropouts - I have confirmed this. Even with only one Kontakt loaded and nothing playing. No disk access. No real CPU use to speak of. But glitches nonetheless. Really frustrating.
It just overwhelmingly points to something about how plug-ins are threaded in Cubase on a Mac (or Mac & PC in general? I don’t have a PC to test.) Hiccups in poorly coded plug-ins or the VST spec seem to spill over into Cubase’s overall performance in a way that shouldn’t happen.
It’s kind of like if a lug nut was loose on the body of a car and that made the car stall. It just shouldn’t happen.
Some of the ones I use the most are Softube’s FET Comp and Passive EQ. Waves C1 Gate. PSP85 Delay. Lexicon Hall and Plate. Decapitator. Voxengo Gliss. That’s most of my core plugins I think. I almost always have Battery set up with 12 channels or so. Usually Kontakt running samples and another synth like Massive.
What do you have your latency set to? I usually start it quite low on a project since I tend to play out some idea on piano. But after I’m getting into the grit of it I raise the latency until it’s on the highest setting. Otherwise I would have clipping and what have you.
At this point we can only say, C7 does not work as expected under OSX becasue PC users are almost happy and they have only graphical problems and some crash. I’m definitively back to 6.5.3 (because 6.5.4 does not work too with Komplete Ultimate 8). CPU performance under C7 it’s dramatically spikes and somethimes impossible to export the mix in real time and off line. It seems The big problems are for the osx users only.
Could Steinberg finish to work on 6.5.4? We brought 6.5 almost one year ago I would like to have a stable version if is possible thanks. 
I work with Macpro 16gb ram, 5 hds with OSX 10.7.5, RME Ufx audio board, some external FX hardware.
Plugs: Komplete 8 Ultimate, Izotope, PSP Plugs, no waves.
Cubase 7 on Mountain Lion has been an infuriating experience. It runs like I’m on a 3-yr old, virus-infested Windows PC. Completely erratic. Comps open and crash. Screens are drawn funny. Performance is MUCH worse.
I am trying to run a business off of Cubase and I cannot have these embarrassing issues constantly popping up!
For mission-critical jobs with serious clients, I am forced to use C6. Which is too bad—the changes made to C7 are fantastic, for the most part.
Here’s hoping C7 stabilises.
Another thing that gets very annoying. I save, and it saves fast. Once it is done I click close project and it takes forever to close. Don’t get it.
So far I’m angry that I’ve spent 500 US Dollars on a beta program, this is getting ridiculous. I’ve spent more time cursing at the program than I do recording on it. /rant
I really hope that Steinberg fixes the major OS X issues, it would be a brilliant DAW once the problems are addressed.
-Random Crashes (the program simply exits for no reason whatsoever)
-Reverence Plugin Problems - adding three plugins to the mixer inserts causes cubase to crash every time - i’ve tried it on every channel with same results. Note* does not occur with the other reverb plugins.
-Key Editor goes blank - Random persistent white screen window; other times the Key Editor blinks white screen for a millisecond or so for a few times during a window load.
-Poor Performance - The program seems to be jumpy and especially when certain windows load - VST loads very slowly at times…
But my sounds/plugins when they’re not crashing are working fine and I am not experiencing terrible sound artifacts in the recordings - if it doesn’t crash.
Macbook Pro Specs
(8,2) i7 2.0ghz quad core
12gb RAM
Focusrite Saffire 6 USB
10.8.2 OS
512 Samples ~7.4 ms latency
CPU usages: not maxing out in the activity monitor
Halion Orchestra Full Plugin - Use it a lot (some of my VST window issues may be related to it)
** Cubase 7.0.2
NO MORE PROBLEMS HERE !!! 
Runs like a dream on my Mac
NO MORE PROBLEMS HERE !!!
Runs like a dream on my Mac
My performance here is OK but, I get random audio drops and freezes. This behavior takes 3 or more seconds of silence…
Saving a project sometimes results in unexpected application quit in OSX Mountain Lion.
On a strong positive. I really like the new look, the new functions/features are excellent and the whole program has a very sleek feel to it…NO MORE PROBLEMS HERE !!!
Runs like a dream on my Mac!
I’m done now 
Agreed
Hi,
the graphics and response on my system is definitely slower with C7. Also i get the random spikes & dropouts too.
My system works fine most of the time, but C6 was much more stable and faster.
I also think C7 is a great update, but i would be very nice if it would become more stable & reliable on OSX.
Sometimes i have the impression that Cubase is developed and written for PC and than being adapted for OSX
using some compiler or whatever software. The performance difference between both platforms is quite significant.
Don’t want to be negative here, because this has been discussed to death already on other threads….
But it would be so cool if C7 behaves at least as smooth than C6 on OSX.
Regards,
Paul
+1 
Ok, I think we have a good consensus; Cubase 7 is HOTT, but it needs some work for the industry (OSX). Can this poll be deleted and we re-open the “Cubase for OSX” category? just a question/suggestion
I loaded it on my PC tonight and wow, blazing fast without any drops or hickups. I guess I’ll retire my MacBook until they get this fixed. 
Jes.Also the darkness was funny like funeral, so i changed the colours but buttons still stayed dark greyish.I wonder how to change them more white. I hope by 7.5 its stable as 6.5. I like the mixer. Waiting for retina support!
++++ Yes, that would do quite a lot for the morale of OSX users who feel like an afterthought.
Just to add in another one to say that this is not limited to Macs.
Cubase 6.5 worked flawlessly for me but Cubase 7 is unusable. Major stuttering, clicking, popping, meter maxing out, even on a 3 track, 3 vst test project.
Removed and reinstalled latest version of ELCC
Updated to Cubase 7.0.2
Tried all the various suggestions from other forum posts
No improvement at all!!
Cubase 6.5 still works perfectly with huge projects. Really hope this can get fixed soon!!!
Is there any way to go back to 6.5?