Hi, I was having some issues with the audio Performance in Nuendo 13 with even very simple Sound Design Sessions. Yeah, I work with high sample rates and yeah, I need to stack up a lot of plugins for processing in my sound design workflow. I’m on Windows 11 Pro, I’m using an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X on an Asus ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming Mainboard with 64 GB DDR4 3600C18 RAM and a Geforce RTX 3080. My Audio Interface is an RME Fireface UFX III. I have the buffer set to 1024 Samples, activated the “high” setting on ASIO guard, and I’m using the Steinberg power scheme. Is there Anything I can do to increase performance? Or should I get a new CPU+Main board at this point?
In the case that I would need a new CPU: What would be your recommendation for my kind of sound design workflow? I also noted audio drop out with Phase Plant patches played at high sample rates if I press more than 1-2 keys, which is also pretty unacceptable.
I would appreciate any tips on how to get a nice performance with Nuendo, what CPU to use and if you have any other tips where this kind of questions can be answered.
Hi Samllvillee,
I know Steinberg has an issue with spreading the workload over your processor cores. See my point.
Steinberg is working on it. For the time being you can “unpark” your processor cores in Windows. If you Google this theme you will find ways to achieve this. This might help. Good luck
As suggested by @MrSoundman you might well run into trouble operating at 192kHz. And if you are simultaneously working with lots of plugins on lots of tracks you could easily push your PC over the edge.
For general comparative purposes you could try using the Scan Pro audio computer performance test described here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zp05bpct3Y. AFAIK the Scan Zen Station used in this test comprised an AMD Ryzen 5950X and 64GB DDR4 RAM and scored a benchmark of 82. If you conduct the test, you should probably get something similar with your PC. If you don’t, something may be amiss with your PC. Also look in the comments section as there are around 200 test results from different systems which are good for comparisons.
@MrSoundman I produce SFX that were recorded with hires Mics like the Sanken CO100k and the Schoeps CMC6XT bodies and the Sennheiser MKH. That’s why I produce them in 192 kHz, to provide a high quality asset that can be resampled in the design process.
Also: I wonder if these spikes in the ASIO guard are somehow a Windows performance problem with real-time audio processing? Maybe I should get a Mac Mini with the M4 pro maxed out with 64 RAM? My initial plan was to wait for the AMD Ryzen 9 9050x3d, but now I’m not sure if I should stay on Windows…
@stingray I did that test, thanks for pointing that out. I can open 113 instances with a buffer size of 512 samples. It’s kind of weird how I can open a ton of tracks in the test project, but my PC fails with single channel plugin chains in higher sample rates…
Okay, like @TwanV said, it looks like this is somehow a Cubase/Nuendo Problem… I did some quick testing in Reaper with a 192 kHz session, and my PC is basically sleeping. It idles at 6-7% with a similar processing chain that I showed on the Nuendo screenshots in the initial post. I’m kind of shocked… about how bad performances is on my system using Nuendo 13…
113 instances is a good benchmark and based on that you could safely say that the PC itself has no issues.
In that case you might have inappropriate settings in Studio Setup>Advanced options. If you haven’t already tried, I’d suggest not using the Steinberg Audio Power Scheme and resetting that to the factory setting by pressing the reset button.
There might be a processor issue with regard to large numbers of plugins on the same channel - AFAIK that particular task can only be achieved using a single processor and the workload cannot be spread. I don’t think Reaper does anything different in this regard. Clearly some factor in Nuendo is having an influence on the result.
I second this.
In my 15 years of game audio I never had the need for 192kHz
Always worked at 48 and always accomplished what I needed to while keeping the sounds pristine and focused
But I also have to add that I don’t usually do uber heavy pitch manipulations which may be a staple of your craft.
Either way, I think Mr.Soundman suggestion is def worth
Hi Coro,
you are right for the design session. I`m working on an SFX Library and for this type of product I want to deliver a certain quality. There are many great examples of what high-pitchable source sounds can bring to the table.
