Cubase 9.0.3 "real-time peak" spikes on OSX

Hi All,

I have just bought a second hand late 2014 4.0GHz i7 iMac and am having problems. With only a tiny track count of 2 or 3 VST instruments I’m getting massive “real time peak” meter readings. The setup is new with all the latest software versions of DAW and plugins.
Im running
OSX 10.12.6
Cubase 9.0.3
Native Instruments Komplete 11
d16 Group instruments
Slate
Soundtoys
Metric Halo MH2882 Audio Interface with MIO console software.

I couldn’t find the correct location to lodge a support request as the pages seemed to go around in circles :stuck_out_tongue:
Loading up the 2nd or 3rd instrument send the meter over 50% . taking it out drops again, but putting a different one back in causes the same problem. Its no one particular instrument or vendor causing the problem.

I tried the terminal hack to turn off GPU acceleration which worked once, but then new instruments set it off again…
The performance is much worse than the 2.3Ghz i7 MBP I have running here too.

The real time performance meter will show a lot of activity, even when activity monitor shows little load… the red light is constantly on at the end of the meters and the sound quality is deteriorating fairly quickly even with a big buffer size.

no responses?

So is this normal??

This is not normal at all, no…unfortunately I don’t know what to tell you to fix it. Cubase CPU performance is below most of the other major DAWs out there when you start to load up lots of plugins and tracks/groups/auxes, but what you’re experiencing should not be happening at all.

I’m getting high spikes (on PC). One thing that did help in Cubase (but not Nuendo) is to remove the Ableton rewire component. Drops the spikes by about 15%-20%. They still top out at 30-40% % which isn’t right but at least it’s an improvement.

I’m currently exploring other solutions (next step is to ditch the GeForce gfx for a Radeon then try a different interface than the RME). I only have this problem with Cubase/Nuendo - even Pro Tools can run the same small size session with the same plugs at a 64 buffer with no problems but Cubase/Nuendo peaks on the real-time performance meter. Something definitely amiss with C9/N8 on certain systems. Interesting that you’re on a Mac & I’m on PC with the same issues.

From my experience Cubase is the worst when it comes to CPU usage (OSX). I tested against Ableton and Logic, Cubase CPU usage is 60% more than Ableton and 30% more than Logic. Plus Cubase GUI is sluggish.

Yes, same here (tested against Pro Tools, Reaper, and a little bit of Studio One). But what the OP is posting about should not be happening – there’s got to be something else going on there.

Maybe obvious, maybe not…When I’m working on a project with a large track count, lots of plug ins, instruments, etc., I’m sure to go to Device Setup and set the buffer size to the highest setting. When tracking I have it set to the lowest setting but often forget to change it back - until I open a large project. Then wham-o, what the heck, oh yeah…low buffer settings.

Yeah it can be easy to overlook this but in my case (not sure about the OP) even at a high buffer there are still spikes (albeit at a lower maximum) in the real time properties even with no project loaded - definitely not normal. It’s only Cubase and Nuendo displaying this behaviour - even Pro Tools doesn’t have spiking on my system.

It’s obviously something Steinberg is aware of and working on because of that recent survey regarding performance and what systems we use.

I dont have performance issues however the gui on my system is more sluggish than C6 used to be.

A quick clarification question: Are the VSTs instruments on separate tracks, or are they a combo of VST instruments and effects on a single track, or VSTs feeding an sux with VST efx?

If it’s one of the last two, then all of the VSTs are hitting a single core and that might be contributing to the issue?

Good luck in any case.

YES same problem here very annoying , on a mac desktop pro with high sierra using UA apollo ,everything installed fine now , latest versions of everything and massive cpu spikes, only using plugs-ins and virtual synths that i own as well