This issue is ancient. Yet I can find absolutely no trace of it within the tracked issues/bugs section of this forum. It was been discussed a million times but not in the “Issue Reports” section. For this reason, I am starting this thread so it can be tracked and an official response can be sought. I’d be grateful if someone would please confirm…
Steps to reproduce
Do some work in Cubase.
Exit the program
Cubase will hang and will need to be terminated in the task manager.
Now, as previously reported, this happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. It is therefore impossible to reproduce every time. In my case I must shut down my machine. When it starts up again, I have to recall all my studio settings and power cycle my MR816CSX. I’m shutting down and restarting around 10 times a day. This is a serious problem for me. For some this problem happens occasionally. For others it happens continuously. I have tried trashing the preferences, uninstalling the antivirus software, hitting save then moving something and quitting etc. Nothing works. I have tried making a circle of salt around me and turning round three times. It is NOT a plugin. It happens with some tiny sessions with no plugins and sometimes it doesn’t.
Well, it seems to me that when the application shuts down good when you disable the VST audio system to “no driver” it has something to do with that driver. Something in it is hanging obviously.
The “hang on exit” is not unique for Cubase. I also had the same thing with other (audio or video) applications when a driver is in a “wait loop” and just never “releases”. The application is waiting forever to make a clean shut down, but the driver never gets the “all right” sign.
I guess there has to be some work done on that driver…
The problem with a “hang” is that there is no common cause for the culprit. In some cased it can be a VST plugin that’s hanging, in other cases it is a MIDI device that won’t “release” properly and in other cases it is a “dirty”, aged or faulty driver (like a “Vista” or “XP” driver running under Windows 8 as an example). And in some cases is can be a driver that is just plainly crashed, letting Cubase wait forever to make a “clean” shutdown.
That’s the reason why there is no simple solution to the “hang on exit” problem. That cause of the problem is so diverse that it is extremely difficult to give a general solution.
I myself had only one time the “hang on exit” problem in Cubase, and I tracked it down to a (probably not too good written) VST plugin. After removing the offending VST plugin I never ever encountered that “hang on exit” problem any more. Strangely that plugin did not let hang a application like Sonar. But I have seen it also the other way around - an VST that let Sonar hung was not giving any problem in Cubase.
Anyway - in your case you seem to have narrowed it down to your sound device. It does not have to be the device itself however. It can also be some MIDI device attached to your sound interface (using the MIDI ports - if your device has them). I think it is wise to contact the maker of the device (being SB or Yamaha themselves) and see if this is a known problem.