I recently purchased Cubase 10 Artist and am experiencing frequent audio dropouts (every 5 - 10 min) Running windows 10 i7 24GB RAM with an RME multiface.
I was wondering if there are any tools that their support team would have to run a trace and see what could be causing the problem. I work for a software company in their support department and we have a few tools for tracing problems. Or even if something like procmon would be helpful maybe?
Hi,
I would recommend to use LatencyMon to test your system.
Have you tried activating the Steinberg Audio Power Scheme or to manually change the “USB selective suspend” setting to disabled in the Windows Power Options?
I ironed out awfull lot of cpu spikes on an already tweaked hi spec system (i78700k/64gig/m2) by running coreparking, if it can help.
My buddy was having the same issues. We disabled the internet connection, then disabled his virus checker including his real time virus checker and his machine runs like a dream. Hope this helps you 
nexis
I’ve done a lot of this kind of debugging over the years and other than fixing gross problems it really takes a programmer with real-time programming knowledge (i.e. not 99% of programmers) to get to the bottom of this kind of problem.
Latencymon can help to identify problems that cause constant spikes but it’s not very good at identifying the kind of problem you’re describing - spikes/dropouts every few minutes. The closest thing I’ve found to a decent tool is Windows Media Experience Analyzer (MXA). I installed it and worked with a bit but I could never fully wrap my head around it.
OT a bit, I suppose, but I’ve noticed that real-time performance has gotten worse over the last 3-4 years of hardware and software changes. I run a large orchestral template (around 700 tracks) with a bunch of VE Pro slaves and five years ago it ran just fine at about 7 ms total latency (3.5 ms sound card buffer + 3.5 ms VE Pro buffer). The same template now needs to run at about 17 - 20 ms to avoid dropouts and crackles.
I think the best bet for rock-solid, low-latency real-time performance is Windows 7 and maybe Cubase 6.5. Since switching to Win10 a few years ago I’ve never been able to get my latencies as low as they were with that setup. But 20 ms is still fine and perfectly workable so it’s not really a problem. It’s just annoying that it’s been getting worse…
rgames
Hello, Latencymon shows “your system appears to be suitable” but i have like 1 second long dropouts. Also i can see in Cubase’s transport audio processing is peaking high. So i am confuse
ASUS Z97-A
Intel Core i7-4790K
16GB G.Skill DDR3
500 GB Samsung pro SSD
Focusrite Scarlett 18i8
W10 64 bit
Project setup
44.1 kHz
24 bit
1 X polysix
4 X battery 4
1 X kontakt
1 X dimension pro
1 X Ana
2 X Massive
Hi,
Isn’t any of your plug-in in Trial/Demo mode?
Non of them is trial. I increased buffer size to 1024 Sample rate 44.1khz 16 bit and i get 47 ms latency, it’s better but i still have dropouts.
512 sample sate 1 instrument will dropout
update all your drivers, especially Intel. I had many problems lately (as MS had some dodgy updates) with my computer until I did install the correct rapid storage technology driver. If updated all you should try experimenting with settings in the bios. Some have problems with HPET, some have problems with turbo features and so on. it is a process that can be tiresome sometimes, unfortunately.
Last night i tried some optimization suggested by focusrite help page.
Power management,
Windows sound,
Usb devices power management,
Background services.
Updated Intel lan drivers from Asus
Dual Intelligent Processors 5 update v1.05.14 patches an issue that resulted in the Windows power plan…
I also take a look in the bios,
Ai Tweaker tab
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology-----> Enabled
Turbo mode-----------------------------------> Enabled
Long Duration Package Power Limit---------> Auto
Package Power Time Window----------------> Auto
Short Duration Package Power Limit--------> Auto
CPU Integrated VR Current Limit------------> Auto
Frequency Tuning Mode-----------------------> Auto
Thermal Feedback-----------------------------> Auto
CPU Integrated VR Fault Management------> Auto
CPU Integrated VR Efficiency Management->Auto
Power Decay Mode-----------------------------> Auto
Idle Power-in Responce------------------------> Auto
Idle Power-out Responce----------------------> Auto
Power Current Slope---------------------------> Auto
Power Current Offset--------------------------> Auto
Power Fast Ramp Response-------------------> Auto
CPU Saving Level 1 Threshold ---------------> Auto
Power Saving Level 1 Threshold-------------> Auto
Power Saving Level 2 Threshold-------------> Auto
Power Saving Level 3 Threshold-------------> Auto
Advanced Tab
Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor------------> Enabled
Hyper-threading------------------------------> Enabled
Active Processor Cores-----------------------> All
Limit CPUID Maximum-----------------------> Disabled
Execute Disable Bit---------------------------> Enabled
Intel Virtualization Technology--------------> Disabled
Hardware Prefetcher(L2 Cache)------------> Enabled
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher------------> Enabled
Boot performance mode---------------------> Max Non-Turbo Performance
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology------> Enabled
Turbo mode-----------------------------------> Enabled
Turbo Mode-----------------------------------> Enabled
CPU C-States---------------------------------> Auto
CFG lock--------------------------------------> Disabled
Hey i have better results by uninstalling the Nvidia drivers together with geforce gtx 1050 card. I am using onboard graphic. I also tried disable network card and i can confirm it affects as well. Right now i enable the network card and Focusrite 18i8 set to 512 buffer, project i moved into internal drive. This is something i want to point out, my project folder was on my synology nas drive before. I copy the problem project into my ssd. So far so good. Knock the wood
I’ve been paying the bills as a programmer for about three decades now. It’s worth noting that, in the literal sense, Windows is not a real time operating system. (My first gig was on QNX, which actually is real time by design). You can’t say, “give me an interrupt exactly every 17 milliseconds,” etc. Windows gets around to you when it gets around to you. If you’ve been good, and eaten all of your vegetables.
There was a fundamental shift in Windows 10. They’re slowly trying to move us towards the software as a service thing, and 10 is very, very active in terms of “phoning home,” i.e. making calls and transferring data back to the MS servers. You can’t turn a lot of this off, just as you can no longer permanently disable Windows Updates, only defer them. Murphy states that the update which trashes your box will happen on the day you have a deadline and no time to screw with it. More and more, as with mobile OSes, you’re losing control of the stuff you actually paid for. The opening to the old black and white series, “The Outer Limits” comes to mind.
I have about half a dozen boxes on my network. All of them run 7. One day I suppose I’ll be forced to upgrade to 10, but it won’t happen until I’m backed into a corner and have zero options. And I’m a guy who stays up with the latest and greatest as part of my profession.
My perspective isn’t that Windows 10 is a bad OS (each version really does very little new, they just give it a facelift and move the dialogue boxes around). The gradual and progressive loss of control over your environment, however, is. And since you can’t disable updates, they can increase their control over your environment as much as they like, and there’s very little you can do about it.