- Cubase 15
- Win 11, new pc
- RME Fireface UCX II
all drivers etc. installed. Asio seems to work sometimes, some times now?? what the hell?? Please help! Same settings as Cubase 12, old pc. all was fine there.
Hi,
Could you be more specific, please?
The Buffer SIze seems to be quite low.
Its 128 samples. Should be no issue? Very powerful PC?
Asio Guard on/off? I never know!
ok, with 512 i get sound indeed!
but Asio guard off then and less samples ok?
Hi,
It depends, what do you do… Could you provide more details, please?
What exactly does it mean? How it doesn’t work (I expect it is supposed to be “sometimes no”).
Ok, so Asio Guard def. off for me! Works now, sorry and thanks.
However: anybody knows “Virtual Desktop”? VR Software to work with Quest 3.
Can it interrupt with Cubase, win 11, asio etc?
Should i deactivate in Win all “monitor” audio as well, like my ASUS monitor for example, even though its not set as audio, but it´s “available” in windows 11 and sometimes i think this can cause issues too
So I cannot go under 512 Samples? With very fast machine?
Old PC I used 128 samples sometimes if I needed super short latency for VSTs?
what exactly is wrong or still “protective”? Asio Guard is off now?
thanks for help
p.s.: im ok leaving it at 512 samples. so far seems fast, but want to understand it!
Have you run latencyMon? And done all the pc tweaks? I have no problem running my Babyface pro fs at 64 samples on small projects and 128 on large projects. My pc is 6 years old.
well im sure my machine has no issues as well
but just no tone when i go under 256 samples?
asio guard is on again, but it seems to make no difference?
asio guard on low/mid/high? whats the difference?
(rme fireface ucx ii, obviously all driver up to date) - 10ms latency is ok, not best i guess…
amd 9950x3d and 64gb of 6000 ram
If you get no sound under 256ms then I think your PC does have issues….why are you sure it has no issues?
Have you tried running latencymon to see what it reports?
This isn’t a DPC latency issue aor something LatencyMon would have an opinion on.
Also, in most cases, there are no tweaks needed to get basic audio
Pete
Microsoft
Disable your VR software for now and unplug the headset. If it changes the sample rate or tries for exclusive mode, that could impact Cubase for sure. See if that has any impact on the buffer sizes you can choose.
Ensure Windows audio is set to the same sample rate. (RME is usually pretty good about enforcing this). You may also want to uncheck the option to allow apps to use exclusive mode in case that’s it.
You can also download a trial of some other DAW with ASIO support just to verify if this is a system setting vs a Cubase setting.
How is the interface plugged into your PC? I have no idea what kind of PC you have, but there are often differences in the connection and sharing of different USB ports, and other issues if you plug something as latency-sensitive as an audio interface into some USB hubs.
Pete
Microsoft
thanks for the Latency Mon advice. I used it and ChatGPT gave me lot of Nvidia settings etc. Windows…but still have the issue to be honet. I can play in 256 but not less. and its not a hardware issue…
how do I do that?
”Ensure Windows audio is set to the same sample rate. (RME is usually pretty good about enforcing this). You may also want to uncheck the option to allow apps to use exclusive mode in case that’s it.”
thats what gpt says:
Key Findings
-
ASIO/audio latency issues are still present. LatencyMon reports: “Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio”.
-
Main culprit:
nvlddmkm.sys– NVIDIA graphics driver.- Highest DPC routine: 2,637 µs → relatively high for low-latency audio (e.g., 128-sample buffer).
-
Hard Pagefaults:
radeonsoftware.exe- Likely leftover AMD software; these cause brief CPU blocks → potential dropouts.
Good news:
-
CPU itself and ISR times are very low.
-
Other DPC routines are mostly fine.
Recommendations
a) NVIDIA Driver
-
Clean install:
-
Open GeForce Experience → Drivers → Reinstall with “Clean Installation” checked.
-
Or manually download latest driver from NVIDIA website → Advanced → Clean Install.
-
-
Goal: Reduce DPC spikes from the GPU driver.
b) Remove leftover AMD software
- If
radeonsoftware.exeisn’t needed → uninstall it → fewer hard pagefaults.
c) ASIO / Cubase
-
Use 256-sample buffer (128 can be unstable with fast CPUs + complex drivers).
-
ASIO Guard: temporarily off for live monitoring or instruments.
d) Windows Power & Background Services
-
“Ultimate Performance” → correct.
-
Ensure CPU min/max is 100% (Power Options → Advanced Settings → Processor Power Management → Minimum and Maximum Performance).
-
Cubase itself doesn’t have a setting for background services priority; this is handled in Windows.
e) Windows Defender / Antivirus
- Exclude Cubase project folders + sample libraries → prevents background scans and interruptions.
f) USB & RME
-
Disabling USB power saving → correct.
-
Root hubs correctly configured.
Summary
-
Current issue: NVIDIA driver still causes notable DPC spikes → likely reason for dropouts at low buffer settings.
-
Next step: Clean reinstall NVIDIA driver, remove leftover AMD software.
-
Then rerun LatencyMon → DPC times should drop significantly.
also I cannot set sample rate in Windows? not even in RME software? only in cubase 15 and i think its “general” then, no?
Why can’t you set sample rate in windows?….are you in the right place to set it? The old style Sound panel/Properties/Advanced/Default Format? Are there no options in the dropdown?
Regarding dpc from Nvidia, chatgpt is no help. (surprise, surprise) Uninstalling the normal Nvidia driver and installing the Nvidia studio driver should help.
My experience taught me that Windows needs some tweaks to be used with DAW. I had no issues until Windows 10.
First update all your drivers and BIOS. For drivers Ashampoo Driver Updater can be useful but disable its auto start. Once you update your drivers, create nVidia drivers package with NV Clean install, uninstall current drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller and finally install from the package you created. You can find helpful information in the Internet.
I also try to reduce background processes to get around 128 running at system start, and use Raphire Debloat script to remove some annoying windows applications and ads.
Last step is to use Steinberg power plan.
Without all this things I wouldn’t be able to use my new laptop as a portable studio at all. My desktop also works much better now. I did this on several machines of mine friends too.
i have a intel 9900k so can’t really add anything for AMD. I set my sample rate in the fireface settings and set the same in Cubase. Are you using SoundID?
Please don’t randomly tweak anything. If you tweak something, and it doesn’t fix it, then revert the change. Otherwise, you dig a real hole for yourself.
Power plans in Windows 11 work differently from Windows 10. That’s why I suggested “best performance” in Windows Settings.
The issue here, as OP describes it, is the audio just completely cuts out at times, or completely doesn’t work at some buffer sizes. That is not a DPC issue. That is not something Latency Mon is going to help with.
DPC issues present themselves as short quick “crackles” or similar because of buffer underruns. That 2637 microseconds of DPC latency would present itself as that much longer (apx 2.6 milliseconds) before the audio buffer could be filled, assuming audio and the NVIDIA driver are on the same core. 2.6ms would sound like a quick audio glitch.
Ensuring the sample rate is the same in Windows audio as in ASIO/Cubase:
Settings app > System > Sound > (choose the device you are playing back on and then click the arrow on the right) then validate the sample rate shown here is the same as what you use in Cubase / ASIO.
That is what’s used for any system sounds, browser audio, games, etc. If you keep it aligned with what you use for ASIO, you avoid a lot of “no audio” headaches due to sample rate mismatches.
The Fireface USB settings window popped up is not Cubase-specific. You launched it from Cubase, but it controls the device across all apps. If it’s like my MADI FX, you can also find it in the system tray and launch if from there.
I had asked how exactly the interface is connected to the PC, because that is important for USB. I also suggested disconnecting your VR headset for now and shutting down any VR-related software. Finally, I had suggested that you could also try some other ASIO-aware DAW software in trial mode to help determine if the issue is in the PC setup, or in Cubase settings.
Pete
Microsoft
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