Nuendo 11 Freezing on a BEAST Mac Pro Machine

Nuendo
#1

hello, im strug eling with an issue on Mac Pro 160 GB RAM, Mac Pro 2019 HI End Machine.
Nuendo is freezing for a very few seconds while I work. Its freezing. When I tried to record the screen to show this issue with a scrren capture on Mac Pro, the issue is gone. How can I solve this problem to make it work vey smooth ?

All software is up to date.
I use:
Kontakt
UAD
Spectrasonic

can you please help me?
I wrote to Steinberg support but is didn’t received any response from them yet. (waiting over 3 weeks)

Thanks in advance.

#2

It helps if you tell us the following:

  1. Model of computer, along with details on RAM, video card, etc.
  2. Operating System.
  3. Version of Nuendo.
  4. Versions of plug ins that are causing the issue (in this case, are they?)

I imagine you are using the latest operating system. Is it fully compatible with Nuendo 11.0.0?

#3

Macos Catalina 10.15.7
Mac Pro 2019
160 GB Ram 2933 DDR4
AMD Radeon Pro Vega II 32 GB Ram Video Card
Nuendo 11.0.0

There is no specific plugin which is causing the problem. Just Nuendo. everything on Nuendo 10 was extremely fine.

I have a fresh system installation.

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#4

This is a GPU driver issue on macOS 10.15.7 which Apple fixed for macOS 11. We will add a preference to disable GPU acceleration in the next update. But if you can update to macOS 11 (make sure all your other hardware and plug-ins work) you can enjoy fast graphics. The other option is to downgrade to macOS 10.15.6, but this is not easy.

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Nuendo 11 locks up when saving the session the first time
#5

hello, I upgraded to Big Sur and the problem is stil but if I do not run any other software like fcpx, the problem is gone for now.

#6

That’s valuable information. We will share this with Apple. Thanks.

#7

I’m on a similar system. 2019 16 core Mac pro w/128GB ram. OWC Accelsior 8 TB NVMe sample
drive, 8 TB Samsung SSD Raid 0 Project drive. Nuendo 11.0.10 MacOS 10.15.6, UAD Apollo x8 and
Apollo Twin X, also a UAD Satellite Octo (currently disconnected due to issues with my Apollo chain losing connection causing the dreaded error -38). I switched from a 2010 Mac Pro and did all fresh
installs - no migration assistance. I truly thought this system would be smoking but I constantly get the spinning beach ball unprompted by anything and upgrading to 11.0.10 availed nothing to cure my problems. I’ve been composing for a very long time and have always used either Cubase or Nuendo and truly thought this time that my very high-end Mac Pro would be able to handle any type of project I could through at it. Instead I have very long load times (I know I have a large setup/template but there those who have much larger setups than me) also…very long quit times which not all that infrequently end in crashes followed by a must needs force quit, in addition to really long export audio times. I am thankful that I am able to limp along and still meet my many deadlines but was surely hoping that all that money I spent would have resulted in some high-octane performance.

#8

Hi
I am also experiencing a seemingly endless list of woes on my 2020 MacPro with 96GB Ram, 24 Cores and Acclesior 8TB on board.
One thing I have learnt is that if I have a short cut in the finder bar on the left to a network drive or an iCloud location, this holds up the “save as” dialogue for a long time.
My Mac WILL NOT shut down without a panic. I believe this is all an Apple situation.
I have re-installed to no avail. I have been trying to isolate by removing Eucon, putting it back, etc etc. One thing I have not tried is removing the Accelsior. Hmmm. Interesting that you are also getting these issues.
I have basically come to accept that my Mac does not shut down correctly.
Besides this though, Nuendo 11 is not that stable - but it s really hard to diagnose when the actual Mac is so delicate.
I have also been exploring “allowing” full disk access to everything I can think of including Nuendo, in the System Preferences/security.privacy/.privacy pane and allow Full Disk Access.
Thx

#9

@avpfilms: we finally found a workaround for a VEGA graphics card drivers bug that can cause intermittent UI freezes…please update to Nuendo 11.0.20.

Have a nice day,
Erich

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#10

hello, thank you very much - ISSUE is GONE!! Thanks alot for the update!

1 Like
#11

@avpfilms : thanks for the feedback, we’re happy to hear that!

1 Like
#12

Hello @Arne_Scheffler ,

Thank you for posting this workaround, @ClendeningSound pointed out this thread when I was having a similar problem with OS10.15.7 and Nuendo 11. Disabling GPU acceleration seems to have solved the issue although we haven’t had time for an exhaustive test.

We were updating all our Nuendo systems to N11 primarily for the GPU acceleration, the features are nice but the GPU is better. We also have a number of non-Nuendo daws with this same OS and cpu configuration that do not have problems we’ve seen yet. We can’t update a number of them to OS11, will a Nuendo 11 update fix this issue on OS10.15.7?

Thanks,
Hugh

#13

@Hugh: what’s the exact Nuendo version that you’re using?

#14

Hello Erich_Krey,

Thanks for responding. I’ve included the original thread quoted below so you have details on the troubleshooting we did, the Nuendo version is 11.0.41.
We have a fleet of these systems running as 192 track dubbing/recording rigs and were looking forward to the GPU acceleration. The workaround is downgrading to OS10.14 Mojave but we’d prefer to use Catalina if possible therefore my hope that a Nuendo update will fix the issue. Here’s the original post with pertinent information -

We brought two new Nuendo daws online and are having a strange problem with both of them. Creating a new session from a template then attempting to save it, approximately 1/2 or more of the time Nuendo will stall, become non-responsive, and a force quit is necessary. Launching Nuendo again, creating the session again into the same folder, it will usually succeed in saving but occasionally will stall again. We keep trying until it succeeds then future saves are fine. We performed a number of troubleshooting procedures but were not successful.

  • MacOS 10.15.7 Catalina fresh install from wiped drive, latest OS updates.
  • Mac mini 6,2 quad with xMac Server and RME Madi card
  • Nuendo 11.0.41
  • The template was a simple multi-track record template, no plugins.
  • No third party anything installed except RME and Nuendo.
  • Set Nuendo prefs to factory default, same results.
  • Created a new template from empty, same result.
  • Used a template from another good daw, same result.
  • Created a new EMPTY session, same result.
  • Permissions look fine, and we can create the new folder.
  • Attempted with multiple external drives and also the boot drive, same result.
  • Installed Nuendo 10.3.10, same result.

Finally on one machine did the following -

  • Wiped the drive and reinstalled Catalina then Nuendo 11.0.41 again, same result.
  • Wiped the drive yet again, installed Mojave 10.14.6, installed N11.0.41 and so far working fine. Keeping the other machine on Catalina for now due to a long time figuring out an eLicenser issue.

Any suggestions? Not the drive, not permissions, seemingly specific to Catalina, maybe, but I know others are using Catalina. Thank you for any assistance.
Hugh

#15

@Hugh: that’s interesting because we found a way to fix the issue with the UI freezing on AMD Vega graphic cards in Cubase/Nuendo and the fix is definitely in the version that you are using. So my guess is that this is something else…I’ll send you a private message for troubleshooting…

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#16

Hi,
I’ve been having a random freezing issue with Nuendo 11.0.41 on a Mac Pro (late 2013) with AMD Firepro D300 graphics and Catalina 10.15.7. The screen just freezes with no beach ball etc, and have to shut down by hold of power button.
Happens mostly when moving something, like plugin window or parameter. Although happened yesterday when just playing back a sole stereo track with no plugins enabled. I disabled GPU acceleration after this, then it froze again later when moving the Slate Metatune plugin window. The last time I can remember a definitive action was last week moving the FabFilter L2 plugin window. GPU acceleration will have been enabled as only learned about it yesterday. I’ve had days with no issue. I use various FabFilter plugins with every session.
It’s a shared machine at the studio and my mate has no issues with Logic. Going to MacOS 11 is not an option as we went from Mojave to Big Sur and it was chaos with crashes galore everywhere, even after a clean install, so now on a clean install Catalina.
I also have a Cubase 11 license but haven’t installed it yet, or many other things I’m not in urgent need to use.
Would this GPU issue apply to this older mac? There’s 2 Slate Raven connected as monitors, plus an Apple TV to use as a third screen elsewhere. Never had an issue with Mojave. Also, no issues with my custom built Windows 10 PC at home, or my Windows 10 laptop.

Any info or assistance appreciated. Thanks.
Dean

#17

Hello,

I’ve sent the PM with the requested information.
Thanks again,
Hugh

#18

@Dean_Corrie: when you deactivate the GPU acceleration in Nuendo and still run into the freezes it’s not related to Nuendo’s Metal usage.

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