New Mac Pro and Cubase: How many cores is optimal?

Ambient_Sound · December 11, 2019, 8:44pm

Can those using multi-core processors provide some insight? I’m looking at purchasing a 2019 Mac Pro for orchestration within Cubase, 50-100 tracks per project (EW, Spitfire, and VSL mainly), individual instrument effects, a handful of plug-ins including Kontakt.

What would be the optimal processor to avoid any latency/CPU overuse during real-time midi playback? I’m not sure at what point tick speed/core becomes more important than number of cores used.

8-core, 3.5GHz Intel Xeon W, 24.5MB cache
12-core, 3.3GHz Intel Xeon W, 31.25MB cache
16-core, 3.2GHz Intel Xeon W, 38MB cache
24-core, 2.7GHz Intel Xeon W, 57MB cache
28-core, 2.5GHz Intel Xeon W, 66.5MB cache

Thank you.

boom · December 12, 2019, 11:33am

Be interested to know this as well!

I found this video that could be helpful maybe: This 2019 Mac Pro Review is Different... - YouTube

simsung · December 24, 2019, 1:35pm

Rumor 1: Logic can handle multiple cores better than cubase → that makes that video irrelevant for cubase user
Rumor 2: Cubase and Multiple Cores:

many user had problms with Mac pro 12 core 5.1 claiming very bad performance
it seems since Cubase 10 the multple CPU performance has become better (id like to see evidence)
but still Steinberg writes: better performance when less cores with higher Speed https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/de/articles/206929270-Computer-für-Audioanwendungen-DAW-

So i think the only way to find out is to test it …

Freya009 · December 25, 2019, 7:46pm

The 12-core, 3.3GHz Intel Xeon W, 31.25MB cache option is powerful enough for Cubase

RuskinF · December 27, 2019, 9:05am

I would suggest you use 16-core, 3.2GHz Intel Xeon W, 38MB cache. It would serve well for any version of Cubase you choose to use.

simsung · December 28, 2019, 7:20am

i don’t want to be rude but that wasn’t the question.
it won’t help to find out which constellation fits best for working with cubase. or is there a reason why you think 16 is best? if the multiple cpu problem still remains 8 core will have the best performance, right?