# Cubase ASIO performance low? (CPU-load)



## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

Hey,

so I have this problem with my Cubase 6. I am running on a pretty powerful PC with an i7, quad core @3.5 GHz and a good amount of memory with good speeds (and most of my samples are on SSD).

The problem I'm having is that the ASIO peak in VST Performance is reaching the top, but when I check Windows Performance (Task Manager) on CPU usage, it isn't even exceeding 50% of CPU power.

What should I do to give Cubase more access to the cores of my processor?

Thanks!
W


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## germancomponist (Oct 26, 2013)

What soundcard do u use with what settings?


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## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

I'm using Mbox 2 Mini, with ASIO4All drivers! @1024 Samples buffer size.

But even if I increase buffer size, sure it helps, but not by much. My processor cores still aren't working as hard as they should when I'm pushing Cubase with all my reverbs and plugs and MIDI performances...


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## germancomponist (Oct 26, 2013)

This probably is your problem, that Asio for all thing.... . Even with 1024 it is CPU hungry. 

I have a same PC built and a firewire Focusrite audio interface and have setted the buffer size to 128.


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## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

Well yeah, I could upgrade my soundcard. But for now that isn't the problem...

What IS the problem is that even at 100% CPU performance inside Cubase, the real power of the CPUs are reading nothing over 50%, which means I still have quite a lot of power to suck out of my processors, even at this buffer size.


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## ProtectedRights (Oct 26, 2013)

ASIO power is not equal to CPU power. I don't understand the details either, but just think of it as a mix of CPU power, system power and audio interface power.

ASIO spikes can be caused by CPU power saving mechanisms. You may have to disable core parking. Cubase has a guide how to optimize a PC for DAW operation. Maybe digidesign also has this? Just google for it a little.

Edit: Also disable USB power saving if your interface is USB.


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## germancomponist (Oct 26, 2013)

ProtectedRights @ Sat Oct 26 said:


> ASIO power is not equal to CPU power. I don't understand the details either, but just think of it as a mix of CPU power, system power and audio interface power.
> 
> ASIO spikes can be caused by CPU power saving mechanisms. You may have to disable core parking. Cubase has a guide how to optimize a PC for DAW operation. Maybe digidesign also has this? Just google for it a little.
> 
> Edit: Also disable USB power saving if your interface is USB.



+1

My PC is optimized and there were a lot of settings done in Windows. At the Focusrite website there is also some good information about this... .


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## rgames (Oct 26, 2013)

Walid F. @ Sat Oct 26 said:


> Well yeah, I could upgrade my soundcard. But for now that isn't the problem...
> 
> What IS the problem is that even at 100% CPU performance inside Cubase, the real power of the CPUs are reading nothing over 50%, which means I still have quite a lot of power to suck out of my processors, even at this buffer size.


As stated above, you're not having CPU problems (as shown by the task manager CPU usage). You're having real-time performance issues. Audio and video drivers are the most common culprits - download the DPC latency checker and see if it detects a high-latency process. If it does, then try to figure out what it is. As I said, the culprit is often a bad audio or video driver.

You can also have CPU usage near 100% with ASIO performance that is just fine. CPU doesn't really matter these days - DAW performance (in most cases) relies on real-time capability, not CPU power.

rgames


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## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

Hmmm... All right, thanks for the clarifications. I'll look into it more to see what I can do to optimize this. Even when Cubase is just idling, and my plugins are active, the ASIO-performance is up about 75%. The spikes come from those last 25% that activates when I'm playing the libraries and synths...


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## José Herring (Oct 26, 2013)

75% idle means that there's something really wrong. Or, you have "activate steinberg power scheme" checked.


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## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

Nah, Activate Steinberg Power Scheme is off. Hmm. B2 does eat a lot of that power! If I shut off my B2 chain, it goes down to about 25% Idle...

Maybe I just have too many B2s running. But I guess I should look into optimizing more.


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## Walid F. (Oct 26, 2013)

It's strange that B2 reverb actually does increase ASIO performance load if serial connected, but if connected parallel it doesn't really affect it.

B2(1)
+ ---> 35%
B2(2) 

B2(1) -> B2(2) ----> 45%

Damn it! I guess I'll just remove some B2 instances, and try another way of emulating ER and keeping B2 for the tails.


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## rgames (Oct 26, 2013)

Walid F. @ Sat Oct 26 said:


> Even when Cubase is just idling, and my plugins are active, the ASIO-performance is up about 75%.


I get the same thing with PSP Lin Phase EQ and/or Waves L3-16. They're ASIO hogs - I have to move my buffer all the way to 1024 when I run those plug-ins even though CPU usage is only 15% - 20%.

Again, it's not a CPU problem. CPU can help a tiny bit but you'll get better results looking at other parts of the system. Or just don't use those plug-ins 

rgames


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## ProtectedRights (Oct 26, 2013)

might be a denormal issue? try inserting GNormal and see if that helps


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## Walid F. (Oct 27, 2013)

rgames @ Sat Oct 26 said:


> Walid F. @ Sat Oct 26 said:
> 
> 
> > Even when Cubase is just idling, and my plugins are active, the ASIO-performance is up about 75%.
> ...



I will NEVER give up my beloved 2C B2 reverb, it's just too damn good and useful. :D But I guess I need to look into some other soundcard perhaps? I mean, I am using ASIO4All, which works fine... But like you said, with certain plugs I need to crank up the buffer size quite a bit in order to neutralize the ASIO peaking errors.




ProtectedRights @ Sat Oct 26 said:


> might be a denormal issue? try inserting GNormal and see if that helps



Will look into that!


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## Guillermo Navarrete (Oct 30, 2013)

Hello,



Walid F. @ 26th October 2013 said:


> I'm using Mbox 2 Mini, with ASIO4All drivers! @1024 Samples buffer size.
> 
> But even if I increase buffer size, sure it helps, but not by much. My processor cores still aren't working as hard as they should when I'm pushing Cubase with all my reverbs and plugs and MIDI performances...



But, why are you using ASIO4ALL when your sound card has its own dedicated drivers:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_U ... ni-Drivers

ASIO 4 all is a generic solution for users whom do not have an external audio interface or their audio interface do not has dedicated drivers.
I am pretty sure you will have better performance with the Mbox drivers and less latency. 
Also, here is a knowledge base article on how you can Optimizing Windows for DAWs 

Best regards,
GN


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## Walid F. (Oct 30, 2013)

Guillermo Navarrete @ Wed Oct 30 said:


> But, why are you using ASIO4ALL when your sound card has its own dedicated drivers:



I did try using the drivers for the Mbox 2 Mini, but I actually got a lot of latency and it wasn't working as well as ASIO4ALL. Maybe I should just try and fix that then? See why my soundcard isn't working properly for the ASIO drivers...


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