Mac or Windows? sounds like a weird system/os side problem to me… but I could be wrong.
Do you get identical issues opening in Safe Mode with preferences and 3rd party plugs disabled?
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Windows 10 - which as an OS is 100% rock solid since installation last year.
Haven’t tried that - but my primary issue is when closing as if it doesn’t close properly that’s when the issues appear on the next boot of a Cubase 11 session.
If it was a 3rd party plugin causing the issue wouldn’t that be detected in the Crash Log?
The OP makes a good point. Reliability is most important but I understand the need for Cubase to keep up with the changes in music production methods.
I too have been using Cubase since the Atari days and I tend use it in a traditional recording studio setting. I have always found it reliable and I can’t remember any issues that prevented me from completing my work. My approach is to have a separate Windows computer for the DAW with a good CPU + plenty of memory and replace it every 5 to 8 years. I never load up potentially invasive software like MSOffice.
To promote reliability I would like to see Steinberg standardize on a “Public Beta” phase starting in November followed by a scheduled update with bug fixes in January.
Fully agree to the OP, unimportant how many other users may be (better) able to use this or that Cubase Version.
I have a few plugins which can be changed in their color appearance, they need to be closed and opened to see the changes 100% applied, not a bummer but noticable.
Then the redraw issue of events (change Event display to drum map for instance and see what happens > nothing, unless you hoover over or move content or open close windows).
Lately Cubase did not record or play pack anything. MIDI data came in, all Cubase VSTi’s remained mute. Closing and reopening Cubase solved it. Never had something like this before.
And there are remaining glitches and bugs (i.e. the missing highlighting of the selected tool from the Tool bar, almost useless Zone Concept, Display bug of In/Outs, lack of 2-lines in the mixer channels (WIN) etc. etc.). This should all be fixed in the product’s life cycle. By our experience it will not happen.
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Just try to duplicate a Komplete plugin instrument track and then switch back and forth between two presets on those tracks, import is also buggy, as well as if you have more than one komplete track in a song, it will display the instrument of the LAST track not the SELECTED track after loading …
Frankly, I love Cubase since Atari times, but I paused it since C11 and use for now studio one that works perfectly with Komplete and loads and feels way faster on my workflows, even if I miss MIDI program scripts for my external midi synth racks
Also having only (4 votes max?) so little votes available is crazy too, I’d like to vote for a dozen of top priorities suggestions, please Steinberg make the votes limit up to at least ten, for these that we deem to be priorities out of hundreds of great suggestions, increase that too low limit for each user in this forum …
This one thread / suggestion is definitely also something I’d like to vote on …
I would add, while focusing on quality, please ensure performances are still acceptable, especially compared to other more recent DAW’s, might be about time to use more recent than C++98 compilers (like C++17 ?), with fast move / in place constructors, constexpr and other useful runtime optimizations, especially in the plugin engine, without sacrificing code readability and quality.
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I’ve had Cubase since 3.7 VST in 1999, and now operate Cubase 11 Pro. Most of what is available on most versions I don’t use, since I make music the old-fashioned way: I PLAY it.
I have had times where I intentionally tried to break Cubase by choosing a function while it’s recording or playing back a track, and they have obviously thought way ahead of me in that regard, to their credit! But I digress.
As long as Steinberg is able to deliver software that allows me to stack as many tracks as I want (not often, but it IS a nice feature) without compromising audio quality, I’m good.
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I’ve had my complaints with Cubase but I find 11.0.30 really stable. I think most issues with Cubase are caused by 3rd party plugins. If you want to test this, install on a new PC with only Steinberg products and thrash it. I do this quite often when I’m collaborating or comping vocals and there’s never any issue. Also I enrolled in Chris Selim’s Cubase mix course and with all stock plugs everything is perfect and the projects load quickly. I’m sure Steinberg would love to ban all other plugins - what an easy life they’d have lol.
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I’m just used to Cubase being the most unstable software I ever use. I do “save as” before any major operations. Today I was re-ordering by dragging inserts and the whole application crashed . I know Steinberg can blame third-party plugins, but can’t the host be more robust?
I tell you what is reliable though. Users telling us they’ve used Cubase for decades and can’t stand the bugs any more!
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The MROS on the Atari version was a bit pernickety though.
I agree! One of the most frustrating things is that at some point, whether it is an older version project or a project that is completely built in the newest version, say, 11.0.30, Cubase starts to crash to the desktop without any warning. Steinberg always tends to blame third party plugins, but i have had this happen on numerous occasions with only Steinberg plugins in the project, and even deleted settings. If there would be some kind of mechanism that would stop Cubase from crashing like this, or at least point to the cause, that would ease the pain a little. Ofcourse i would rather have Cubase not crashing at all!!
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Waveform (DAW) has exactly this, with their Sandboxing feature. As every DAW developer blames third party plugins for crashes, perhaps one day it will become part of the VST spec? Or at least a more unified method of reporting the crash to the user.
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If there would be some kind of mechanism that would stop Cubase from crashing like this, or at least point to the cause, that would ease the pain a little
Studio One tells you which plugin has crashed. Bitwig too and keeps running even if plugins crash. Ableton Live allows you to send a crash report with a mouse click when you restart.
The mechanism exists, but for some reason the Cubase team doesn’t have the resources to implement it.
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Anecdotally: I tried 11.0.3 the other day. Immediately three renders in a row - of a ~75 second track, a two-file - hung, so I uninstalled and installed .0.0.
all in all, 10.5 was rock solid, 11 hasn’t been particularly. I don’t think it’s anything I can blame on things that aren’t Cubase at this point.
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11 has been so dodgy I’m done updating the thing, absolutely
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So inferences may be drawn from both cases.
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it doesn’t like Neutron 3 Elements. I’m suppose to blame the plugin for the crash when it works in the other host, and that host connected to Cubase? It’s some interaction between the two in Offline Processing.
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I can’t attribute other instability to anything third party per se since using an internal processing move was the extent of things which can go wrong in a very clear scenario.
So I’m rendering in Cubase, which is something I’m going to insert into a video project in FCPX for editing and then Resolve for a final render with better audio, and Cubase hangs while rendering while the others are smoking fast which have never frozen. So I don’t think I blame my computer or OS particularly.
With Logic Pro X, this is the same. At some point a project will become unstable because of a combination of stock and 3rd party plugins. It’s not even related to CPU load, IME.
What makes this worse: project works fine. Save. Reboot next day. Crash on launch.
I am experiencing this with CB Pro and Logic on a regular basis.
Logic is not using VST, so we can’t just blame Steinberg for their VST framework/SDK.
What helps a lot when working with other musicians/a band: prepare your stuff.
Bounce everything to audio and use that as backing tracks in a new project. Lots of heavy VI’s will not help stability in a recording situation, plus it is easy to make mistakes and ruin settings.
Record/overdub with as much stock plugins as possible. Watch out though, people will adapt to what they are hearing, so using a lightweight bland piano sound with the wrong velocity response may not work when swapped for your mega-multi piano sound later on.
Guitars, same.
Import your recorded stuff in a copy of the original project. Mix. Use eveything you got.
If something goes terribly wrong, you can go back to the original projects.