"Steppy" EQ sweeping -- normal?

Hi All – I just upgraded from Cubase 6 to Cubase 7 and the first thing I’ve noticed is that EQ automation is played back very “steppy”, as if there is a 50ms interval between position “reads” if that makes sense.

For example, I use a trick a lot where I automate a high-pass filter and sweep it upwards to cut out lower frequencies during song build-ups, sometimes with a high Q so it gets that nice filter sound. Sometimes I also use this in sound design (I set a high Q and go nuts with the frequency to make noises). In Cubase 6 this was all smooth as buttery, but in Cubase 7 it sounds like a step filter, which means I will need to use 3rd party plugs to do this now (and can’t render my old songs that use this technique.)

The easiest way to hear this is to generate some white noise, set an EQ with a high Q, grab it with the mouse and dart it around quickly.

I know this probably isn’t a standard use, but in my eyes, something that can be done on a $100 mixer should be able to be done in a DAW :smiley:

Anyone else experience this? Is there a way to solve it?

Try changing the reduction level in the automation preferences ?

I’ll give that a shot and see how it goes, and will report back. Thanks!

Also, bear in mind that if you change your soundcard buffer size,or if you insert latency causing plugins somewhere in the project, then the automation will sound different because it is not delay compensated. So you may “hear it” some time after you “see it”, at higher signal path latencies.