FLAC big file recording freeze

Cubase
1

This problem is common to Cubase 7 and Nuendo 6 on Mac OS.

I tested long recordings (between 30 and 60 minutes) of six channel FLAC files at 192 kHz / 24 bit.

When the recording is stopped, Cubase will freeze for a period equivalent to about half the recording time (around 30 minutes for a 60 min recording). During a 30 minutes freeze, the computer hard drive will be read from at maximum speed for the first 25 min (about 200 MB/s on my MacBook Pro with a standard HD and about 340 MB/s on a MBP with a flash drive) and, for the last 5 minutes, the computer will read and write to the HD, hovering between 15 and 20 MB/s.

This was tested in Cubase 7.0.2/0.3 and Nuendo 6.0.2/0.3 on a MacBook Pro with a 500 HD and 16 GB of RAM, a Retina MacBook Pro with a 256 GB flash drive and 8 GB of RAM and a Mac mini with a 1 TB HD and 16 GB of RAM. I tested with a Metric Halo ULN-8 and a RME Fireface 800. All with OS 10.8.3.

2

So, nobody else experienced this?

3

I can confirm. Recorded output from a live desk, 44.1/24, stereo only, around 90 minutes. Took at least some minutes after stopping until Cubase became responsive again.

For normal work with files of some minutes I haven’t experienced a noticeable processing time after recording. There’s not much talk about how Cubase handles .flac files but at least I guess there is some kind of decoding neccessary. Perhaps the longer the file the less realtime feeling happens :question: