Well, I did the stuff on the desktop with the audio priority. Enabled Steinberg power scheme too, and nothing changed 
I also did some experimenting on my laptop (dual core i5, 4 GB ram) and had no problems. No overloading or stuff like that.
I have no clue what to do now since it’s seems there’s only a problem when I open Maschine on the destop.
Idk, maybe I’m just overreacting to where the VST meter needs to be. (Can you guys give me an example of where yours sit?)
And after experimenting on a laptop maybe I’m just underestimating the power of Native Instruments plugins
As long as I route channel sends to inputs of audio tracks I should be good. I didn’t anticipate using the instrument tracks anyway I guess.
Maybe it’s also a good idea for me to remove the VST meter from my transport while I’m at it so it doesnt distract me 
I mean what do you guys think? Surely my computer is more than capable of handling stuff right? The best CPU I can have in there, most RAM, best CPU fan… Tascam makes solid stuff so I don’t see either of the two interfaces being responsible… I’m probably going to buy a Steinberg interface later this year anyway.
As long as your audio isn’t breaking up, the ASIO meter isn’t really all that important. Although it is strange, mine usually sits at 15-20% on a WIP project. I run a lot of midi controlled hardware though, so much of the audio doesn’t even pass Cubase untill I go for the final mix.
Excuse me for butting in here. These ASIO issues do seem to point to Power Saving, which is why you were told to switch on Steinberg Audio Power and pointed at the BIOS settings. I was surprised that the SAP switch didn’t work but maybe there is some other feature your CPU has that SAP is missing and you need to take a peek under the hood.
SAP was designed to stop the CPU speed ramping up and down with usage (all in the name of a cleaner, greener planet 
). To see if yours is still doing it even with SAP engaged:
In any case, it’s worth seeing for yourself that the CPU clock is holding steady. With Cubase still running:
The green line is what you’re using, the blue line in the top graph is the clock speed of the CPU, reflected in a small meter to the left. You need the blue line to be glued to the top. If it’s moving about then that’s at least part of the problem.
I don’t know if this will turn anything up but from what I’ve read you could do with checking it out to be sure that the changes you made (and don’t seem to have worked) have in fact done their job, meaning that you can look elsewhere (like your plugins).
As for these:
AMD Turbo CORE Technology
AMD PowerNow!™ Technology (Cool’n’Quiet™ Technology)
AMD CoolCore™ Technology
Dual Dynamic Power Management™
I would try turning them all off if you can’t get SAP to work.
Sorry Crotchety, must’ve missed your reply
I’ll do what you’ve recommended when I get back there and follow up.
I’m also aware of the 6.0.5 update… you guys think that would fix my problem?
maybe it’s just a little glitch or something since I haven’t really experienced drop outs or anything serious
And with the old specs I was running Le5. Which is where I wasn’t experiencing VST meter problems
Ok, SAP is indeed turned on.
Blue line is glued to the top on the CPU total bar. I don’t see it on the individual core graphs though. Just the green line there on those.
I would feell so much better if I could be certain Cool N Quiet is off.
Everyone directs me to the BIOS but I see nothing there.
Some say if you set min/max proc. state at 100% it automatically turns off.
Some on a computer forum told me turning it off wouldn’t be of much use anyway.
Some said since it’s a prebuilt I might not be able to turn it off
If I could just be 100% certain cool n quiet is off at least I could “close the case” 
Try "CTRL, ALT, DELETE altogether to bring up the Windows Task Manager, go to the Performance tab and then minimise the Task Manager.
Open Cubase and do whatever shows the CPU spike.
At bottom right of your screen you should see a small green chequered box. Click on that to see what your CPU usage is there. You could maybe be using only one core?
I think the boys helping are on the right track. New rigs always give a headscratching session first off. It’s probably only one setting. Not too familiar with AMD but it should give equivalent performance to Intel.
I would think "Cool nQuiet should be switched off, as someone suggested earlier, by going to Windows Control Panel and choosing “Power Options” (mine is set to Balanced).
That’s correct. You only get the blue line on the top (overall) graph.
Just following on from Conman - my machine (Dell i7 4-core) also ran like a dog out of the box but now it’s fine and it was just one setting, clock speed, which you have now have effectively disabled with SAP while Cubase is running but can still take advantage of when it isn’t). It might be worth opening up Power Options again and having a deeper look.
With Cubase shut down:
I have three sub-categories: “Min/Max processor state”, which would be at 100% when SAP is running and a third: “System cooling policy”, which increases the fan speed before slowing the processor. I leave it on Active as the processor doesn’t slow down in Cubase so it’s not important. I mention it, though, in case you have something more relevant here. Anyway, have a good look round here. Your current settings are carried over into SAP, except for the ones it exists to change (Min/Max CPU - and one other, I think…).
Cool’n’Quiet in on Wiki: Cool'n'Quiet - Wikipedia. It’s supposed to be like Intel’s SpeedStep, which I leave on and SAP handles.
Finally, and perhaps importantly, there is another BIOS setting called C-State, which are power-saving modes (levels of wakefulness) of the CPU and, I think, common to all CPUs. It is distinct from CPU Speed and I have it turned OFF in BIOS. See if you can find anything like that (what is your BIOS, btw?).
Sorry for the wait to reply.
I did what conman suggested and see that the CPU usage meter is going up and down from 0% to whatever (which I assume is usual right?) the highest it hit was 52%
In the CPU screen of resource monitor of task manager I saw that core 0,1,2 and 3 all had a moving green graph. That means all four cores are being used right ?
Core 0 seemed to have the highest graph. Is it possible that the CPU usage bar only gives info for 1 core or is a monitor of the entire CPU?
I went into the BIOS again just to peek around. Here’s what I found under “Power Options”:
After AC Power Failure [Stay Off]
S5 Maximum Power Savings [Disabled]
WOL in S5 [Disabled]
NX (No Execute) [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology [Disabled]
I’ll be honest… Idk what that stuff means … Anything seem unusual?
And I opened msinfo32 and it says BIOS version: American Megatrends Inc. 6.09
Also, in “Processor Power Management” I have the same 3 sub categories. I run High Performance when SAP isnt running and it’s got 100% min/max with system cooling policy passive?
Yep, all four cores. And hyperthreading is off (if you have the option, try turning it on). If h/t is on you get two cores per core, so you would see eight graphs in your case.
If by “CPU usage bar” you mean the meter in Cubase, that’s an ASIO usage bar. Not the same thing. The CPU is doing more than running the ASIO system.
WOL is “Wake On LAN”, which is the setting by which you can wake your computer up if the network tries to access it. Not relevant to this case, I’d say.
S5 seems to refer to a deep-sleep state and sounds a bit like my C-States I mentioned earlier. I don’t see anything in that list that sounds like a means of disabling the whole feature. I think you need to get some more knowledgeable help for this BIOS.
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Are you asking me or telling me? I wouldn’t assume that High Performance is set in Min 100%. Mine isn’t. Anyway, I wouldn’t say that’s necessary - my preference is to run a low-consumption power profile for normal use (I have two or three set up that turns off disks and monitors after a couple of minutes).
I’m beginning to run out of ideas…
Btw: promise me you’ll stop being about not knowing this! It’s highly specialised stuff. Most people - like me (and you…!) only have to learn it when they have problems. Be patient, I’m sure you’ll get there and at the end of the process you’ll be better informed about how your system works. 
I’m still running XPSP3 with a C2Q processor but I want to add that on my setup, the Gigbyte MB came with all these power options, ramping up and down, which I turned off via the Bios. So when it was suggested that I engage the SAP - and I did - I had crackles in my audio that weren’t there before. So, from my experience, the SAP is designed to override the MBs settings as you use Cubase - HOWEVER - with XP if you have already set your computer up to run at full speed with no idling or ramping up and down, the SAP may perform as intended but the result was interference in my audio.
So I don’t run SAP on my setup. And of sourse, SAP is no doubt about Win7, right? Which says to me that SAP will override the MB setup as you use Cubase if you run Win7. Am I wrong about this? What does Steinberg say on this subject?
SAP creates a modified version of your current Power Profile (you can see it for yourself, see an earlier post) when you launch Cubase, makes it current for the duration and deletes it when you exit. I would class it as modifying Windows settings, not MB. Having said that, you are using the very same function that Windows itself uses to control the MB. It’s a very neat solution, imho, but you are right to suggest that if the functionality it moderates is switched off in BIOS then there’s no point running it. As for XP, Steinberg no longer support it, so you wouldn’t expect it to run on it.
Which I think is pretty much what you thought, isn’t it?
Are you asking me or telling me? I wouldn’t assume that High Performance is set in Min 100%. Mine isn’t. Anyway, I wouldn’t say that’s necessary - my preference is to run a low-consumption power profile for normal use (I have two or three set up that turns off disks and monitors after a couple of minutes).
I’m beginning to run out of ideas…
Btw: promise me you’ll stop being about not knowing this! It’s highly specialised stuff. Most people - like me (and you…!) only have to learn it when they have problems. Be patient, I’m sure you’ll get there and at the end of the process you’ll be better informed about how your system works. [/quote]
I thought hyperthreading was just an intel thing 
By CPU usage I meant the green graph on the bottom right that shows up when you minimize task manager.
with the processor power management thing that was my way of asking if system cooling policy should be active or passive 
And ok, I’ll stop with the 
Thanks for all the help you guys have been giving me.
The thing that really baffles me about all of this is that I experience the problem no matter what settings I change.
Whether I’m on balance power or high power or SAP; whether my latency is set to highest or lowest; whether my samplerates are different; 32 bit or 64 bit.
It’s all very strange.
Especially since I experience it on two completely different systems. AMD and Intel. 16gb ram and 4 gb ram. Desktop and Laptop. Two different interfaces.
By CPU usage I meant the green graph on the bottom right that shows up when you minimize task manager.
I imagine this will be the overall usage.
I thought hyperthreading was just an intel thing >
So it is! See motto in sig…
I’ve just been reading your product page (http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/phenom-ii/Pages/phenom-ii-key-architectural-features.aspx) and there seems to be an awful lot about power-saving, about which I know zip. If you can’t find an AMD expert here it might be worth looking for help on a more specialist forum. In fact, have you tried GearSlutz? Maybe AMD are worth a try direct. The Wiki entry ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool%27n%27Quiet refers to utilities. Did you check them out?
Right, back to the footie!
Think it’s finally time to take this to AMD?
I mean, N.I. causes ASIO spikes on my laptop too. But, it’s only got like 3 GB Ram and and i5 @ 2.4ghz
But it just makes no sense for this to be happening on the desktop.
No, it doesn’t. I’m only suggesting you pursue the CPU line until you’re confident you’ve got all those time-consuming power-management issues sorted out and for that you’ll need better knowledge than I have. But it’s just a line of enquiry in the end, there may indeed be other causes instead - or as well.
If you’re getting nowhere with this, 3rd-party plugins are another area worth looking into, as I think has already been suggested. Pick a project that gives you trouble, remove all the 3rd-party plugs, Save As and see if that gets rid of the spiking, then load them back in one-by-one and monitor performance. If you identify a particular plugin, check to see if its settings can be changed.
Anyway, sorry but I think I’ve said all I can think of. I’ll keep an eye on the thread but I think it’s time to step back for others to take a fresh look…
Good luck,
C
kidkage wrote:
Also more concerning is that a couple of times ( random start up occasions) my computer has flashed to a “CPU Fan Failed” screen and shut itself down within 5 seconds. But on the start up immediately after the fan failure screen it starts up fine. Now out of the 10 or so times that I’ve started up the computer since I’ve got it back that’s only happened twice, but still, I don’t think that’s a normal thing at all
I work in IT and HP motherboards in some recent models used in business are having failures - one in particular has been backordered for over a month. Sounds like a bad (intermittent) MB.
Thanks for the help Crotchety
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it here or over at homerecording, but I’ve installed a new CPU fan that’s taken take of that problem . At least I hope it has. Its been in there about 2 weeks and I guess close to 30 boots with no fan failure screen.
My temps are a lot lower too.
Most signs though seem to point to it just being Native Instruments making crazy strong stuff 