TEST VST/CPU performance C8.5 vs C9

Cubase
1

Hello!
Pulled the trigger and got me self an early Christmas gift :slight_smile:

  1. Just loaded 8.5.20 project into Cubase 9.0.1
    Audio card is set to default buffer size (10ms) and Asio-Guard to high, 24bit/48kHz.
    Cubase 9 shows up to 10% less CPU usage which results in 5-10% better VST performance.
    Overall VST meter and CPU performance are more stable with less pikes. All used plugins are same versions.
    On heavy plugin/VST instrument usage Cubase 9 performs even better and more stable compared to 8.5.
    I was able to push it further then 8.5 version which started to peak earlier into red.

!Scroll down for TEST WITH SPECIFICS AND PICTURES!

  1. VST Transit does clean and good job. Installation and licensing of C9 went perfectly fine.
  2. GUI is same as before while zooming/editing - not smoother but not worse. It’s a bit cleaner workspace and brighter look then 8.5 version.
  3. Cubase 9 program loads a bit faster, projects load and closes a bit faster too, but still get crashes on exit (never solved this from 8 version)
  4. New features - mixer undo, lower zone, sampler - might be useful, but I need to work more with those.

Overall it’s most stable x.0 release by far. From first launching C9 there were no problems, all the settings were transferred from 8.5 and also noticed a bit better VST/CPU performance.

Is it worth the price it’s up to personal preferences and needs. From my perspective I’m not disappointed nor thrilled, but it seems like C9 is very stable release with focus on under-hood performance and some useful workflow features.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

2

I noticed the crashing on exit as well.
I think I’ve tracked it down to Media Bay working on indexing my many many TB’s of samples and projects.

I’m going to let it stay on overnight with just the Media Bay running and reindexing my several local and network drives to see if that makes a difference in tomorrow’s work.

3

Here is 1st test in pictures
It’s an DAWbench project with 40 active KRAMER TAPE STEREO plugins.
There are two pictures showing VST Performance and CPU usage both of C9 and C8.5.
Asio guard is set to high, highest values are shown.

  • C9 performs slightly better with about 10% less CPU usage which shows about 5-10% better VST performance.
  • All cores are used more evenly in C9 which shows good optimization.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

C 9 asio high before red.jpg
C 9 asio high before red.jpg2560×1440 619 KB

C 8_5 asio high before red.jpg
C 8_5 asio high before red.jpg2560×1440 602 KB

4

Here is 2nd test in pictures
It’s my project with lots of VST instrument tracks - Sylenth, Massive, Synthmaster, Addictive Keys, Kontakt with mastering plugins - Izotope, Waves

There are two pictures showing VST Performance and CPU both of C9 and C8.5.
Asio guard is set to high, highest values are shown.

5

but one question , more people suggest to disable asio guard. is true? and if yes why? or why not , there is benefit on asio guard? is best now on c9 asio guard?

6

Asio guard is turned on at high level so that the CUBASE can be pushed to the limits.
Without Asio guard C9 and C 8.5 showed inconsistent measurements and more peaks.
My observation is that the Asio Guard works better and more stable on C9 and this is the biggest benefit/improvement in VST/CPU department, up to 5-10%.
Without ASIO guard both versions were closer in performance, but C9 has slightly age.

Here is the test without ASIO GUARD, VST synths - Sylenth, Massive, Synthmaster up to 57 tracks.

C 8_5 TEST no asio.jpg
C 8_5 TEST no asio.jpg2560×1440 582 KB

C 9 TEST NO ASIO.jpg
C 9 TEST NO ASIO.jpg2560×1440 623 KB

7

A 5 to 10% improvement is what I’m seeing too.

8

Now that is impressive. Was that a feature request?

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

9

Hhh :smiley:
It was fixed in an quick update x.0.1

10

I have reason to believe the crashes on exit are graphic card related (open GL and plugins that use that) I can not be 100% sure cause I never gad those crashes with cubase on my main system, but I did have them on a slave system and those were gone when I installed the latest GFX driver for my card.

11

Well I for one am not happy with the performance of C9. Most of my projects exhibit a lot of Real Time Peaks on the CPU meter where there was little or no movement in C8.5.2
It has been quite while since I have had this issue. It seems a bit much to have paid £80 to get it back again. Even stationary the damn meter is spiking.

12

Sorry to hear that!
I had those problems with 8 version, updates fixed that. 8.5 was stable as rock.
Did you try to isolate VST plugin that causes problem. Updated drivers (smart driver Updater does wonders across system drivers also), disable hyper-thread and C-states, looked for the background program etc.
I have very clean WIN 7 installation with no background programs that could conflict with ASIO.

So far, I did some heavy testing on C9 with heavy VST load, simultaneously worked in other programs while rendering and it still didn’t crash on me.

13

My projects appear to be slightly more CPU efficient under Cubase 9 - except where anything is record enabled and then it seems to be slightly worse than 8.5.20. I guess I have to get all the recording stages done before any production!