Cubase crashes on exit when I have Ableton Live 9 installed

This is a weird one…
I am setting up a new system, Windows 10 Pro. Installed most of my plugins and Cubase Pro 9. Everything worked so far.
BUT! when I install Ableton Live 9, Cubase crashes everytime when I exit it.
Uninstalling Ableton makes the problem go away, but that is obviously not a preferred solution…
Anyone know whats going on?

I had the same problem and tracked it down to abletons rewire plug in in the users propellorheads folder. Delete and Cubase exits as it should. Launch ableton and it will install the plug again.

Neither company is interested in dealing with it and point to each other.

Been there done that.

Definitely a weird one!
I have Cpro9.0.1 installed alongside the latest versions of Ableton Live Suite (9.7.1) and FL Studio and have no issues working on a project in both and in Cubase and exiting without a crash.
I am also on Windows 10 pro (anniversary) 64 bit.
You probably already have done so, but if not, check that you have the latest versions of all software and hardware drivers installed.

thanks for the replies!

I do have the latest version of both programs and my drivers are up to date…
Tomorrow I’ll try and see if deleting the rewire plugin works for me. Would be a fiddly workaround, but if it works I can at least get stuff done.

I contacted Steinberg and Ableton support, let’s see what they come up with.

Please feedback if it works or not.

I wish ableton had the option of not being rewire and not automatically installing the rewire plug.

Yes, deleting

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Propellerhead Software\ReWire

causes Cubase to shutdown correctly again…


so, it seems that cubase cannot deal with the rewire.dll that ableton live automatically installs…

I wonder if this is the famous cause for the Cubase crash on exit?

FYI, selecting Save before close reduces the risk of crash with the rewire plug in place. Also, using File menu to close the program is better

thanks for the tips

I hope a solution is coming soon. It’s weird that others (fretthefret) don’t have this problem…
Anyway, for now I’ll just refrain from using rewire in Cubase and delete the rewire.dll everytime I close out Ableton Live.

It is definitely weird floris!
I did have a similar problem (crashing on exit when opening a blank project and NOT saving then closing the project and exiting Cubase = crash) under the first cpro version 9.
However, the only thing I can think of that I did differently under 9.0.1 was leave the mediabay open all night to scan my many TB’s of samples and projects.
The crash problem did not occur after and since.

If you don’t use rewire you could try disabling it. Add the following (except the part in parenthesis) to Live’s option.txt

-ReWireMasterOff (disables ReWire Master functionality)
-ReWireSlaveOff (disables ReWire Slave functionality)

yeah, I tried that, but although that effectively disables Abletons rewire functionality, Ableton still writes the Rewire.dll in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Propellerhead Software\ReWire - causing Cubase to crash on exit.

However, I noticed that my UAC pops up when I launch Ableton (whilst having the rewire.dll deleted), asking me if Installhelper.exe is allowed to make changes to the system. If I select “NO” Ableton wont replace rewire.dll
So I think Installhelper.exe is what causes rewire.dll to be rewritten, so block that in the UAC and it’s ok (you need to have the proper UAC level though, and be ok with that…)

It’s a somewhat easier workaround - although I should now keep an extra eye on updates because I assume that’s also what this Instalhelper.exe is handling.
Still, this needs fixing, especially for those who do use Rewire and have this problem.

Cubase has other issues with Rewire, so I do wonder who is at fault. Steinberg should start supporting Link and dump rewire.

I wouldn’t want to see rewire disappear!
I’m using rewire every day and don’t have issues!
Though adding LINK would be great!

So, got the word from Ableton saying it’s something to do with Cubase which Steinberg has to fix.

No word from Steinberg as of yet.

Said the same to me. It’s tiresome don’t you think?

Just wanted to chime in and say that I’m glad I found this thread since I am also experiencing this issue. Mega thanks :slight_smile:

Nah, not for me really since I don’t rely on Rewire atm and the workaround is very simple now (just one extra mouseclick upon opening Ableton)
That being said, this is ofcourse needs to be fixed. Got a message from Steinberg, apologizing for the delay in responding to the issue. So, they will be on it - hopefully soon.

Please report it to Steiny!

I’m still on 8.5 at the moment. Not sure if it’ll get fixed on that version.

Thanks a lot guys! It fixed my “crash on exit” problem. Great work finding this. Hopefully Steinberg will fix the problem with a future update.