Mac Users - Experience & Thoughts of Cubase 8.

any more Mac Users out there that can report and sharing they Experiance and Differents on Cubase 8 relating to 7.5 ???

Absolute zero problems updating from 7.5.3 to 8.0

Sometimes it crashes when going from project to project but that’s a JBrigde problem

it would be useful to know which system do you have so that we could compare it to each other

Sure does help, say it’s is encouraging! Same Nehalem MacPro here with 32 Gig and >20 Terabyte in multiple Raid’s. Currently testing 7.5, keen to check out 8 when available. Left Cubase with Version 4, now considering moving back again.

It’s been a few days now, and I can update my initial, glowing report:

Cubase Pro 8 crashes about 60% of the time on closing a project, about 30% of the time on opening one, and about 10% of the time before it even gets fully booted up.

The performance meter shows great improvement (the main reason I purchased the upgrade right away)… Until I start watching the peak meter, which spikes uncontrollably to 100% even when Cubase is sitting idle!

Performance steadily drops over time, to the point where I’m getting dropouts and pops even on the simplest projects. Only rebooting the Mac restarts the “performance clock” (which is ticking away the second until Cubase becomes unusable again).

I feel a little misled and gullible right now:

ASIO Guard 2 is feeling like they just rewrote it to show better performance in their own meter. In reality, performance is worse.

Render In Place is basically a macro: it’s Batch Export with some tweaks.

VCA faders is really just Channel-Link with a graphical element.

I think I’m going to transfer my iPhone philosophy to Cubase now:

Only the .5 version is worth spending money on.

Obviously, there are some tweaks to my system that are making it fragile on C8, since many people are not having any issues. But, I’m problem-free with all earlier versions of Cubase. So why is mine unstable?!

Hi,

Can you try to take out the videooutput.component from the main executable folder strucutre and try again the performance? I’ve always had CPU spiking due the videooutput.component problem and I’ve fixed that taking it out from the component folder.

Hey Antonio,

Thanks. I’ve heard of this workaround. Also, my brother, who has an identical rig to mine–and who was unable to even open C8–got a great performance boost by removing some of the third-party OS X mod apps (Finder enhancements and such).
I run a couple of these.

I’m editing, mixing, and mastering a 25-song Xmas album right now and had to revert to C7.5. When I’m done, I’ll start killing processes and maybe try the video component…

But I don’t want to, and I shouldn’t have to!. All was fine with these up till now, and I do have projects from time to time that require video. I’m a business and want to be able to offer post as a service.

I was about to chime and say that I’ve solved my “can’t open Cubase” problems by uninstalling and OS enhancements, VM, etc, but I see you already covered that. I’m torn how enjneer and I can experience such wildly difference performance issues with C8 on the same machines—MR816 CSX vs RME, perhaps?

Personally, I’m still super-happy with C8, with the exception of VCA fader, which simply doesn’t work as advertised. But we’ll have to see how it performs from here on.

Ive only had a quick chance to work on a project on the imac and I was up and running with zero problems. I feel its alot quicker and Im really liking the render in place. Not sure what all the complaints are about with it being slow tho. Works really quick for me. Mind you, I just bounce down synth parts to mess with the audio but I love it. In big projects before I always had to search to the bottom then drag back up, now its right there. On my macbook, 15" screen, its hard to get the most of the small screen so I set up a few workspaces and I think it works really well. I know its not the exact same as a fully docked window works great for a quick view that I can toggle back and forth with a key command between the main arrange page and a slpit arrange/mixer shown below. Cant comment on the performance of the macbook yet, but will update when I get a chance. Overall I think it was a great update, especially for a .0

Seems like you have an old mac with a new os. Seldom a good combination.

Except for how it’s perfectly and officially compatible with 10.9;
And Cubase 7.5 (and all other apps) runs perfectly on it.

So my issues have to do with some incompatibilities with Cubase 8. Period.

Hi Folks

Sorry to hear there are so many issues out there at the moment.
I have to report that since my upgrade to 8 from 7.5 I have actually not had an issue worth mentioning even with running on Yosemite.
I guess the one thing that is helping is that the machine is pretty new and apart from the standard applications I have next to no additional software.

Will keep watching this topic with interest!

I might have to chime back in. After several long days of working on large sessions, it seems to me there isn’t much of a difference in Cubase 8’s engine stability. I’m getting audio break-ups at the same thresholds that 7.5 was having them.

Yes and no. There are always 4 elements working more or less togehter.

  1. The OS
  2. The hardware components
  3. The applications
  4. “Sand”

The three first are very dependent of eachother. You know Cubase 8 won’t run on real old MACs. Older versions of Cubase do. As Cubase developes it it is harder and harder to make it run on old computers. The same goes for the OS. The OS maxes at the current models.

“Sand” is “everything else” (different applications. different add on hardware) and the more sand you put into a computer the slower it gets, the more likely it will crash and so on. To manage a big studio installation the 4 elements must be at optimum. I have no “sand” in my mashine. It is only used for studio stuff (Although some studio apps can be “sand” as well). I have a good match between the OS and the hardware. I also think I have a fair disk set up (important to avoid crash), thus Cubase 8 run smoothely on my computer. If Cubase was the only thing to blame, I would have the same problems as you, but I don’t so there should be no surpise that more is involved. And even if Cubase is said to be compatible with 10.9 you still have old hardware.

Look what DaveP is writing. New computer, new OS, new Cubase and the mashine is so new it is problably not filled with sand. Smooth environment equals smooth performance.

I have the same 2008 Harpertown MacPro 3,1 as Enjneer (a damn powerhouse!). According to Apple;

"Official System Requirements

Apple formally notes that OS X Yosemite runs on the following Mac categories:

iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
MacBook (13" Late 2008 Aluminum, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13" Mid-2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (15" Mid/Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Pro (17" Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)"


I would give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe a fresh install of OSX, bone dry, maybe he’d have better results. Probably an old machine clogged up with sand, as you say, but I wouldn’t say that these 2008 machines are out of the upgrade running just yet! These machines are powerhouses! In the future, we are going to hit a brickwall, but now isn’t the time. Just wait for 8.5…

Yeah, Sonofnothing. Well put. These Mac Pros are still completely capable of having anything thrown at them.
They aren’t MacBooks or iPhones. And if Apple says the hardware is compatible, it’s compatible.

And this isn’t even Yosemite! It’s 10.9. And this is a pretty fresh install. Wiped clean about 8 months ago after testing 10.9 for weeks on another, bootable sandbox hard drive I keep for just such a purpose. This ain’t my first rodeo, Rumdrum, and I run a tight ship.

Obviously some people are having a better go of it than I am, and there’s probably some setting or app that is causing trouble for me. It’s just odd that I’ve had perfectly normal function until this upgrade.

Gotta say, today C8 is running pretty damned smooth. Maybe it’s barometric pressure? :stuck_out_tongue:

Ha! Well, damn!

Yeah, I’d have to add that running the latest software on my older 2008 machine is probably not the wisest move—however, I do tend to advance carefully and keep my old Cubase versions around until the new ones perform well.

And oddly, I’ve seen performance improvements with 10.9 and C8; I’m getting some of the best latency and overhead since I bought this machine! I’m finally getting back to good levels of performance (there was an awkward stage somewhere around Lion for the MR816…). So at least with these Mac Pros, it pays to test out these newer OS’s and Cubases. But I am taking a chance.

Hi all,

Thank you for chiming in on this thread for the latest iteration of Cubase. I’ve been evaluating the discussion as Im interested in taking the leap of faith soon. I need to wait out a production deadline before doing so, but am looking forward to the purchase because of the feedback!

I hope it gave some of the mac users here some clarity and thank you all for contributing your time, knowledge and effort to providing a real world experience for the rest of us to follow.

If you have anything else that flops up, please by all means let us know here! Happy Cubasing.

Best Regards,

Hi All,

I would like to add my 2 cents on this thread as well as a fellow mac user.

I am running C8 on 10.9 and after the initial wow period of updating to C8 I regularly experiencing the following problems:

  • Random CPU spikes - Although the general performance has improved and the cpu meter has dropped significantly for me on rather huge projects (140+ channels), I am getting random spikes which are cutting out the audio completely. I didn’t have these spikes in C7.5
  • The dreaded crash on closing project - It’s back with a vengeance. I had serious problems with this on 7.5.3 and had to revert to 7.5.2 to stop the crashes happening. Now its back again, not every single time but still often enough to cause concern.
  • Cubase 8 & Midi - I am using a Waldorf Blofeld as my main master keyboard controller via USB (connected to the port on the computer and not a hub) and after loading in any vst plugin, Cubase seems to forget there is a midi device. Also I have a few outboard synths (Jp8000, Access Virus C etc) and Cubase seems to mess up the midi a lot. Again, I have never had these problems with external devices since I started using hardware.
  • Another possibly insignificant problem i have, which hopefully can be solved, is midi tracks always seem to arm themselves to record and I can’t seem to get them to disarm.

I have experienced other crashes relating to render in place as well, and find it annoying that the instruments tend to disappear when you render, but again this may be my settings and I will continue to tweak. I do love C8 and think despite the problems above it is a great program. Hopefully an update soon to fix the crashes mentioned in this thread will come soon (!)