Huge Audio Dropouts Despite Low CPU, Memory, and Disk Usage

Cubase
,
1

Hello everyone,

I’ve been experiencing significant audio dropouts in Cubase, even though my system shows minimal CPU, memory, and disk usage. I’ve already tried optimizing my PC for audio production, but the issue persists.

Here’s a summary of my setup:

  • DAW: Cubase
  • Issue: Severe audio dropouts
  • System Resource Usage: Low CPU, memory, and disk usage during the session
  • Troubleshooting Steps Taken So Far: Adjusting buffer size

I’ve recorded a screen capture to demonstrate the problem and can provide additional details about my system if needed. Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help.

2

Audio interface/driver used? Buffer settings? Have you run latencymon? What did it report?

3

Audio interaface: Audient iD4
Buffer Size: 512 samples (Tried it at 1024 samples and 2048 samples too without any luck)

This is what LatencyMon reported:

image
image1359×478 20.2 KB

4

Not any single core overloaded either:

image
image746×340 9.53 KB

5

Now run it for ten minutes, post driver tab sorted by highest execution.

Did you also look at core loading…from task manager select performance, then the three dot menu on top right select recourse monitor. With 30% overall cpu use it’s still possible in some circumstances to max out a single core…(OK…I see you just posted that)

Could you confirm if this is an issue across multiple projects or if just one and if it just started or has always been an issue.

6

This is my Task Manager Performance Tab:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz

Base speed:	2.59 GHz
Sockets:	1
Cores:	6
Logical processors:	12
Virtualization:	Enabled
L1 cache:	384 KB
L2 cache:	1.5 MB
L3 cache:	12.0 MB

Utilization	44%
Speed	3.02 GHz
Up time	0:00:29:42
Processes	230
Threads	4179
Handles	133169

Also this does happen a few times on certain projects. Definitely not on every project but on a few projects for sure and this is one of them. Many times, going up till 512 or 1024 samples should work but for this project, even that didn’t work.

7

And this is LatencyMon for 10 mins:

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image2547×1289 329 KB

8

Do you use the Nvidia studio driver…or if not did you make the “prefer maximum performance” setting in Nvidia control panel.

9

I don’t use the Nvidia Studio Driver, but the “Prefer Maximum Performance” setting is enabled in the Nvidia Control Panel for me. Could this be affecting the dropouts?

If there are any specific optimizations or adjustments related to Nvidia settings that I should consider, I’d appreciate any guidance.

image
image647×630 23.1 KB

10

You may want to try that.

11

This is what I get when I try to do so:

image
image744×552 102 KB

And when I try to update GeForce Experience, this is what I get:

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image1920×1037 43 KB

12

Well that’s the setting you want enabled (it’s not by default) so should be good. You dpc results aren’t to bad so not sure what’s going on…maybe a bad plugin or something?

I guess as you said you optimised the PC for audio you probably made these settings already but they’re the couple things I always do for audio??

Set windows power scheme to high performance.
Disable USB selective suspend
In device manager open properties of anything called a USB hub and in power management tab untick turn off this device etc etc…

13

Power Scheme is Steinberg, I’ve used Windows High Performance too but no luck.

Set windows power scheme to high performance. :white_check_mark:
Disable USB selective suspend :white_check_mark:
In device manager open properties of anything called a USB hub and in power management tab untick turn off this device etc etc… :warning:Didn’t understand this

14

You don’t want to install Geforce Experience if you can avoid it.

You can’t find a studio driver that works by searching your gfx and your windows version?? What windows version is it?

15

Search device manager in windows and follow just what I said. Under USB controllers section.

16
Edition Windows 11 Home Single Language
Version 23H2
Installed on ‎26-‎11-‎2024
OS build 22631.4541
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1055.0
17

So wouldn’t the latest studio driver work? You seem to be installing an old version for some reason.

18

You’re right. I was trying to install an old version by mistake. Yes now I did remove GeForce Experience and installed the latest graphic drivers and it still doesn’t seem to get any better.

Also FYI:

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image2092×281 22.6 KB

19

this looks like a windows issue…
could also be the audient driver or a bad clock source?

if windows is feeling a bit stuttery in general, i recommend running THIS from an admin powershell:
irm “https://christitus.com/win” | iex

details on what it does here: The Most Popular Windows Utility
i use this on all the windows installs i put out at work (10+ per week) strip out all the garbage. its got to be a good starting point. i doubt this is a cubase issue.

even better, do a rebuild with the autounattend file in the root of your install media found here: GitHub - memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall: Personalized Unattended Answer Files that helps automatically debloat and customize Windows 10 & 11 during the installation process.

which will make windows feel like your computer cost you twice as much.
this is pretty aggressive and you may need to google how to turn a few things back on, but if this is a dedicated DAW it will be like night and day.
enjoy!
dave./

2 Likes
20

Wow, huge thanks to @davidhine99 for the incredible suggestion and everyone else who pitched in! I’ve finally resolved the massive audio dropout issues, and now my projects run smoothly, even with 512 samples. Here’s everything I did step by step so that it might help others:

Steps I Took to Fix the Issue

  1. Checked Resource Usage:

    • Monitored CPU, memory, and disk usage in Task Manager to ensure there weren’t any obvious system bottlenecks.

  2. NVIDIA Settings:

    • Enabled the ‘Prefer Maximum Performance’ option in the NVIDIA Control Panel under 3D settings.
    • Made sure I was using the latest NVIDIA Studio Driver for optimal performance.

  3. Ran the Optimization Script from @davidhine99 :

    • Ran the following command in an Admin PowerShell to debloat Windows and strip unnecessary background tasks:
      irm "https://christitus.com/win" | iex
    • This dramatically improved system responsiveness by removing bloatware and disabling unnecessary services.
    • Full details about the script can be found here.

  4. Updated Windows and Drivers:

    • Ensured that both Windows and all drivers (especially audio interface and GPU drivers) were up to date.

  5. Audient Driver and Clock Source Check:

    • Verified that the Audient audio interface driver was the latest version.

  6. Windows Tweaks and Rebuild Suggestions:

    • As an additional recommendation for DAW-focused setups, I explored using a lightweight Windows build based on the resources provided here.
    • While I didn’t do a full rebuild, the optimizations above made a significant difference.

  7. Cubase-Specific Configurations:

    • Double-checked that Cubase was running with the correct ASIO driver and buffer settings.

Results

After completing the above steps, the performance issues completely disappeared! I can now smoothly run my project without audio dropouts, even with a buffer size of 512 samples.

This solution worked wonders for me, and I hope it helps anyone else facing similar issues. Thanks again, David, for pointing me in the right direction!

3 Likes