I am having a problem with a simple project which consists of 3 or 4 MIDI tracks each with a Halion Sonic SE instrument and each playing a different patch, and 5 or 6 other audio channels which are generally sync’d drum loops. There are no other plug-ins used. When the project starts to playback, as the cursor reaches the start of one of the Halion parts, there is a noticeable pause for a fraction of a second as though the instrument wasn’t ready - no sound click or glich but just an obvious lack of smoothness for an instant. If the playback is stopped shortly after, and then the cursor taken back before that particular part and then restarted, it pays smoothly. This issue only ever happens on the first playback of the project once it has been loaded into Cubase, and occurs at a specific point/area which appears to vary from project to project.
I had noticed this also happened on previous Cubase 5 projects and I think that this initial “stumble” could happen with an audio part, or with a midi/VST instrument part (one of the VST instruments supplied with Cubase, I don’t have any others) but I never took much notice because it only ever happened on the first playback, after that first one it was fine and smooth for the rest of the session.
However, instead of just stumbling, this effect now appears to be causing Cubase to crash to the desktop. When I immediately restart Cubase I get the following message “ASIO Direct Sound Full Duplex Driver Impossible to record audio because the Audio Input is not active. Open the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup dialog. Make sure that a device is selected in the Input Ports section and that its check box is activated”. WhenI then try to change the VST Audio System driver to Yamaha Steinberg FW ASIO via Device Setup, it gives the same error plus “Driver Is In Use”. I have to shut everything down and reload.
The only way I can get the project to run now, is to load the project and then mute all the tracks. As I playback, I unmute the channels one by one and I will probably hear the stumble at some point. After that, I can unmute everything and it will all work fine and smoothly. I can play/record over the same point time and again without the effect occuring.
I have uninstalled Cubase plus the MR816 driver and reinstalled but it doesn’t seem to help.
I recently saw that the P6T motherboard Firewire is VIA and so I have sent off for a Texas Inst PCIe Firewire card - don’t know if that will help, but really want to sort out this issue so willing to try anything.
Sorry if this is a bit rambling, but does it ring any bells with anyone? Can anyone suggest a cause of the problem? Thanks.
