Hello. So… I’ve had a million problems with Cubase that led to dropping $1800 on a brand new Alienware computer. It resolved some of the audio dropout problems but my midi notes are still early. But, Cubase has developed a NEW problem that is making it unusable. I’m going to try one final thing before writing and asking for a refund, which I doubt I will get, but it will be telling of the integrity of Steinberg none the less.
So, the issue now is that VSTs are being loaded with the wrong sample rate!!! I thought something funky was going on with my music but I just duplicated a VST and one track is playing at what sounds like the project rate 44K and another one is playing at what sounds like 48K. So I have two identical VSTs, two identical midi events, and one is playing lower than the other one and out of tune.
My Digital / Audio converter, a MOTU 896mk3 is set to 44K. Wmdows devices are set to 44K. The project is set to 44K. This is absurd and given that I just spent about 2 grand on top of the initial $700 (and a few hundred more on instruments), I’m getting pretty upset that it’s been a month of non-stop problems and it doesn’t seem like any amount of money I throw at it will resolve it.
Please help. Thank you.
Oh. the other issue is Cubase stops recognizing my MIDI controllers. Both the AKAIMPK49 and the Oxygen 25 so I know it’s not my midi controllers. I know it’s not the USB connections because it’s still happening on a brand new PC. The resolution is to unplug the midi controller and plug it back in. The other thing that keeps happening is that a note will get stuck and play repeatedly. The resolution to this is to go to midi-> reset. But this thing with the sample rates is absolutely ridiculous. How am I supposed to make music when my synths are out of tune because of sample-rate issues?
I am 99.999999999999% certain at this point these are issues with Cubase.
If you go to menu Studio → Studio Setup.
You will then see a device called VST Audio System and right under that you should see the name of your device ASIO driver.
Click that and you are now able to see which clock source is used. Is it set to computer controlled or to use an external clock?
Thank you for the reply. It is set to internal. I don’t think it’s an issue with my A/D converter because if that were the case the entire project would be at the wrong sample-rate, correct? Not just one instrument.
It seems to be with all VSTs but primarily with Serum and Nexus. I tried my on-board card with asioforall but I’m still getting the same results, even with Kontakt. The sample-rate doesn’t seem constant. I’ll sustain a midi note (for example) and halfway through the sustain the sample rate changes. It’s quite frustrating.
I can’t say this is coming from any other source except for Cubase. Brand new computer, on-board sound card so we cut the A/D converter out of the equation. …
I will try reinstalling. But I have a feeling I’m going to switch to something like FL Studio.
There could be an lfo on the instrument that is modifying the note pitch.
Try the same patch in another day. Download a trial version of something else and verify the issue is cubase only.
The keyboard cutting out sounds like USB power saving. You might want to check all USB controllers have this disabled. The default setting is generally enabled.
You might be right about the USB suspended settings! I disabled those but when I hit “Steinberg power scheme” I see it is enabled again (not sure why they would set it like that). The issues seemed to resolve after a fresh reinstall of Cubase 9.5.0. However, all of my projects were created with 9.5.3 so I’m going to try updating it one more time but I suspect the issue might lay with the 9.5.3 update.
I ran FL Studio without an issue. I just don’t know my way around that DAW like Cubase so I can’t get into song writing with it without learning a few new things. This is frustrating to say the least. Cubase used to be industry standard. What the hell happened?
So. In a last ditch effort to maintain my production workflow with Cubase, I’m downgrading to 8.5. I will update the thread if the issues are resolved.
You could stick with 9.5.2 for now if the problem is with 9.5.3 only. There may be a bug introduced somehow that only reveals on some specific systems/hardware.
Thanks for the replies. I installed 8.5 and still had the same issues. Finally, I looked at background processes and decided to try uninstalling Avast anti-virus. The issues seem to have resolved now so perhaps it is a conflict with AV. OMFG how infuriating this experience has been. I hope it’s smooth sailing from here on out.
I think I’ve narrowed it down even more. It seems the midi controller (akai mpk49) is sending pitch bend commands to the synths. I’m not sure why this is happening on synths that are not armed though but when I go to midi → reset it resolves the problem temporarily. I also noticed that the pitch bend doesn’t work properly on the controller. I will pitch it down then bring it back to center but it doesn’t re-set the pitch.
Still, I don’t know why this isn’t also happening in FL Studio. I suspect it’s related to the issue of having to re-start the midi controller because Cubase stops seeing it.
You know… I don’t remember music being this much of a pain in the ass about 10 years ago when I used to produce hip hop. How things have changed.