# Cubase not utilizing CPU?



## chrisphan (Apr 7, 2018)

I've attached an image showing Cubase performance meter vs Task manager meter. From what I understand, this looks like Cubase is struggling to get the job done (I do hear occasional pops) while my 4 cores are just sitting there idly..Is that true and how do I fix it? Thanks


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## tack (Apr 7, 2018)

I don't have Cubase, but I'd place strong odds on the fact that you have a single threaded task (or a realtime processing chain that collapses down to the equivalent). Windows' scheduler will bounce threads across logical processors (for reasons I can only guess are related to thermal management) making it appear that you have multiple threads nearly balanced across your CPUs when this is an illusion.

Diagnosing requires other tools like Process Explorer. Using this you could see if you have a single thread consuming 1/N% CPU (where N is there number of logical processors on your system), which would fully explain things.


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## tack (Apr 7, 2018)

Also switch to high performance mode in your power profiles. Allowing the CPU's frequency to scale up and down with demand is bad for DAW use .


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## heisenberg (Apr 7, 2018)

Have you tried switching Cubase to "Activate Multi Processing"? You can probably find it under Devices > Device Setup. In the left-hand column of the dialogue box, a few up from the bottom you will see VST Audio System. The check box is in there. Also try Activate ASIO-Guard. 

I say probably as I am working on Nuendo and referencing my DAW to give these instructions. Nuendo is similar to Cubase in most regards. You may also find that your latency setting for your audio interface could be causing the pops, even if it is sitting in an idle state. Worth giving it a shot, if you haven't already, in my view.


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## chrisphan (Apr 8, 2018)

I've tried all of the above but none has fixed the dropouts so far. My system is brand new including Win 10, Cubase 9.5 with i7 7700HQ. In my previous setup with Win 7, i7 5th gen and identical setup didn't have any issue. I'm still running tests to see if it sheds any light


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## AllanH (Apr 8, 2018)

I can get Cubase to 80% for all cores without pops and clicks. A few things to try

1) increase audio buffer size for your ASIO device.
2) make sure project sample rate matches the native rate of your audio device. By example, my audio card is 96k native. I have found Cubase to work better if my projects are 96k/24 bits as no re-sampling is required.
3) I had an incident where Diva or Repro adversely affected the entire project, even though it was only only one track: Render the "offending" CPU hog to audio.

Latencymon or Cubases internal tools may give you additional info.

EDIT: I'm on Cubase 9.5.20, i6700 CPU,32G of RAM on Win10 Pro. Similar.


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## Øivind (Apr 8, 2018)

Turning off Speedstep in the bios might help. Also turning off the Turbo Boost could make a difference as well. I have both off and they helped a lot in my case.


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## AllanH (Apr 8, 2018)

A a few more thoughts, in view of "brand new"

1) turn off indexing on your sample drives and the drive where the project lives
2) exclude the sample folders from Anti Virus scan


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## phil_wc (Apr 8, 2018)

What audio interface you are using? I guess is it Steinberg?


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## chrisphan (Apr 8, 2018)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The performance improved a lot after I turned off indexing, and Turbo boost. I test ran some of my old projects now without dropouts!
However, I still think there's a lag between Cubase performance and CPU utilization, as shown in the attached image. As you can see CPU utilization is at 25% while Cubase performance meter is almost halfway. Am I misunderstanding anything? 

Thanks again everyone.


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## chrisphan (Apr 8, 2018)

phil_wc said:


> What audio interface you are using? I guess is it Steinberg?


I'm using Presonus AudioBox 22VSL, buffer rate 512


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## AllanH (Apr 8, 2018)

chrisphan said:


> ... I still think there's a lag between Cubase performance and CPU utilization, as shown in the attached image. As you can see CPU utilization is at 25% while Cubase performance meter is almost halfway. Am I misunderstanding anything?
> .



I agree - I believe Cubase is measuring some very particular aspect of CPU load, maybe just audio processing. I have never been able to line it up with taskmanager's CPU meters.


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## chrisphan (Apr 9, 2018)

Long story short, I said that too early and the latency came back after I restarted. I spent a day running Latencymon and tried to fix the drivers with high DPC count. Things are better now but I don't think it's optimized. I can run Cubase kind of ok now but Latencymon still tells me some drivers ae taking too long to response, including the DirectX graphic driver. I know every computer is different, but I'm wondering what everyone here does to ther drivers to deal with DPC latency?


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## heisenberg (Apr 9, 2018)

Should have been asked earlier, what kind of VSTs do you have loaded at present? An an example you can have say a half a dozen Heavyocity based library tracks (think Gravity and NOVO going that are fully tweaked out with internal sequencing & effects and say an instance of Spitfire's Phobos going even in the background, this could bring Cubase to its knees.

Assuming you do have a bunch of VSTs active in your Cubase project file, try doing these things...

If you have your Onscreen Monitor "Active" try deactivating it. You get to it by going to: Devices > Device Setup > Video Player and uncheck Active for Oncreen Window. If you have a video loaded in a track "Mute" it as well.

Lastly, if you have a bunch of resource hungry VSTs and EFX plugins active "disable the tracks" and bypass the effects plugins to isolate the issues.

As far as the VST Performance meter in Cubase, when you are running into issues bring up the full bore performance meter. Double click on the meter in GUI or hit F12 (that is the shortcut in Nuendo, probably the same in Cubase). This way you can properly monitor the "real-time peak" or when the sound goes to pot. Don't worry about the Windows based CPU meter. The internal VST performance meter will let you know when Cubase has hit the ceiling with a high degree of accuracy, at least in my experience.


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## chrisphan (Apr 10, 2018)

Thanks heisenberg. The Video Player trick doesn't seem to work anymore. Fortunately, after so much tinkering around with all the drivers and services, my VST performance is much better now. Latencymon still tells me there are problems but I'm gonna ignore it for now. The reported latency usually sits around 25-125, but spikes sometimes at 800 and can go up to 1800, although rarely.

My Cubase test file includes one with 40 x Massive instances that play 3 note-chord, with all modules active, and 2 limiters on the master bus. Nothing super impressive, but that's enough for me to make my music and sound design.


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