Hiya I’ve completely updated this.
This is for all those reverbs and hefty plugins like waves plugins etc that will suck your performance dry.
This new method can be used on old and new projects with out the need to change anything in the project.
I’ve found this is giving me on my system over 2x3rds performance boost, around 70% ish plus.
Ok let me explain quick, some users with some cards, devices so on and so on have massive performance issues on Cubase 8.5, so much so that performing simple tasks means freezing the hell out of their projects, and even then plugins are not correctly turning off in the background.
For this fix Jbridge is needed, preferably v1.74 as it has cubase 8.5 and windows 10 tweaks.
I brought Jbridge way back, cost me about $16’ish but it also allows you to get 32bit plugins working on 64bit daws or 64bit working on 32bit daws, we’re going to be using it to rap either 32bit on a 32bit daw or 64bit on a 64bit daw.
So basically if you got Cubase 32bit installed then you want to choose 32bit host and 64bit host if your using 64bit version of Cubase which I’ll explain in a sec.
Ok so go get the demo of jbridge, least this way you can check if it helps you before needing to buy jbridge.
PC Version: jBridge ( for Windows ) | J's stuff
Mac Version jBridgeM ( for Mac OS X ) | J's stuff
BTW, no VST’s were harmed in this post. 
Install Jbridge.
Now run Jbridge, and follow these instructions, jbridge is used to wrap a vst plugin then it runs it external through its small auxhost.exe or auxhost64.exe with settings selectable via the plugin window.
Once Jbridge is runing you will see this window.
If your using 32 bit version of Cubase then select ‘I’ll be using a x89 (32-bit) host.’
If your using 64 bit version of Cubase then select ‘I’ll be using a x64 (64-bit) host.’
Now your get this screen.
Make sure all is ticked the same as in the image, and select Create bridging files inside a directory I’ll specify ’ → HIGHLY recommended! ← ’
Now you will get the Browse window, titled ‘Step3: Select VST plugin(s) to be scanned (a directory or a single file )’
This window is the plugin or plugin folder you want to wrap with jbridge, so select the folder or plugin’s dll file you want to jbridge.
If you want to wrap all your Waves plugins then you can select the waves shell dll, you need to select the wavesshell folder in the waves installation directory, not your waveshell files in the plugin dir, these files will need moving out of the plugin folders and vst3 folders so that only the jbridged versions of the plugin is used.
So find your waves dir, by default it normally would be C:/program/Waves/Waveshells/WaveShell-VST 9.3_x64.dll or files or 32bit version on 64bit windows would be c:/Program files (x86)/Waves/Waveshells/WaveShell-VST 9.3.dll
Once you’ve selected the waves shell file you can click ok, next you will get another browser window up, this wil be Step4: Select destination directory for bridging files.
In this window you need to go where you want to put the bridged files, recommended not to select vstplugins, click C: or another hardisk volume and then click Make New Folder button at the bottom of the window.
Make a folder called something like VST Jbridged or Waves Jbridged etc.
Select the folder you’ve made and click Ok.
Jbridge will now scan the file or folder you selected and make new dll and txt files in the destination folder you just selected.
You will see this window.
If you look in the directory you created you will see the new vst dll’s and the txt files just have the settings for each plugin should you set anything later.
Ok now you need to first check to make sure there are no VST3 versions of the plugin you jbridged.
If there are they will be in these paths. ‘C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3’ and/or ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3’
Make a directory outside of the vst3 dir, maybe like this C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3 backup files.
Don’t make the directory inside of the VST3 folder or the older vst3 files will still be seen and be used instead of the jbridge files.
This image shows how your folders may look, with the Waves files from the VST3 folder moved to the VST3 Backup folder.
Now run Cubase and close any initial windows so just the tool bar is showing, now select
Device then Plug-in Manager.
At the bottom part of the plug-in manager you add folders with plugins you want to use in cubase.
Add your Waves Jbridged or whatever you called the destination folder from the earlier previous steps.
For me I added ‘D:\Waves Jbridged VST Shells’ which is the destination folder I used for my waves shell Jbridged files.
The red censored bit is just my other vst dirs hidden.
Ok almost done, now you need to Click OK out of that window and close cubase.
Once cubase is closed you now need to right click cubase’s icon and select Run as Administrator.
If not and your scanning a folder of vst plugins you will get lots of jbridge popups for every vst it scans telling you cubase isn’t running in administrator mode.
Do not set cubase to administrator mode permanently, or else drag and drop into cubase or from other windows in cubase will stop working.
Ok now your running cubase in administrator mode it should have done a quick scan of your plugins and they will be available as normal in your plugins.
Now select a plugin you jbridged and the window will look the same but have an extra bar like in this image.
I’ve again censored out serial info which for you your info will show.
Ok if your seeing the jbridge addition to your plugin window and the settings button everything has worked.
If not and you followed the instructions correctly then make sure you have no more copies of the plugin’s dll files in any of your vst dirs. Click plug-in manager again to check which vst dirs you have setup and check all them dirs and backup and remove any other versions of the plugin you jbridged.
If all is find go ahead and click the settings button.
In this window you want to select 1 or 2 options.
Select Performance mode so it’s ticked.
The 2nd item most should tick too which is Run in existing auxhost, what this does is rather than open another auxhost.exe for all plugins it uses just one for all plugins that are loaded that use jbridge.
If your system is good spec and cubase isn’t using all that lovely cpu then you can untick that option or leave it unticked and see if you get better performance.
The other 2 options are default, so whatever other options you have leave them ticked, as jbridges install may set different options for different machines. So just select the 2 I mentioned.
Now click the close to close the window, ten close cubase, you don’t need to save any projects for the jbridge settings to save.
Once cubase is closed you can now run it as normal with out run as administrator.
Now load a project up that had performance issues making sure you have jbridged the plugins that made cubase grind to a chug, and now you should be using loads less audio, as the 2 images show a before and after.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
I will read over this later and fix all the bad grammar and maybe explain things better if some don’t make sense.