# Did you also recently (within last 2 weeks) start getting audio glitches (Cubase)?



## Lionel Schmitt (Jan 23, 2019)

Hi!

I'm trying to figure out if a windows update may be the cause of this so I'm curious if others also experienced changes recently.

For me everything was running rather smoothly till a few days ago. Now a get a lot of glitches when working in Cubase... 
Now it get glitches and hangers much quicker and projects that were running nicely previously are now almost impossible to work with.
It doesn't seem to matter how many tracks are playing... even if I solo one it's still glitchy. And all that at maximum buffer, 8 core CPU i7, 32 GB RAM on SSD. 

I unfortunately cannot roll back the recent updates - there was no option for that, even though one of them was not 10 days old (which is the time you can roll back).


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## JamieLang (Jan 23, 2019)

Any chance you're not using ASIO hardware? 

IME, people having trouble after Windows updates are using Windows audio. To answer more directly--I'm a v6 user who is in the middle of demoing v10--Win10Pro just updated this morning...I've not had glitches of any kind in either 6 or 10 before or after most recent updates during this 30 day demo.


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## Daniel James (Jan 23, 2019)

I'm on mac but I also feel like in the past couple of weeks Cubase has started to fuck up more than normal. Could be a coincidence. But just putting it out there.

-DJ


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## Bill the Lesser (Jan 23, 2019)

I updated to Cubase 10.0.10, and the latest Halion6 a few weeks ago.

For some reason the audio driver changed from my normal Focusrite driver to Steinberg's generic ASIO driver, even though the audio was still coming through the Focusrite interface.

Got some glitching that went away when I went back to the Focusrite driver ( I just clicked on the Speaker icon at screen lower right). Sorry I don't remember the exact details but I'm pretty sure it was the Steinberg updates that caused the driver change.


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 23, 2019)

Daniel James said:


> I'm on mac but I also feel like in the past couple of weeks Cubase has started to fuck up more than normal. Could be a coincidence. But just putting it out there.
> 
> -DJ



You should always have a stream open then, so that when you're unable to make music - you can at least provide colorful language to entertain people with. Don't ever change <3


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## rgames (Jan 23, 2019)

I had a similar problem several weeks ago - sudden dropouts/clicks/pops after a Windows 10 update. For me it wound up being network cards. I had to get rid of my Intel cards and replace them with TP Link cards.

I'd start with just trying different drivers for network, video and sound cards - those are the most common culprits. It's not always the most recent driver that performs the best, either. A tool like LatencyMon can be useful to identify where the problem lies but it's not fool-proof. Usually it's best to just load up the DAW and see if a change made a difference.

Forced updates are a major pain. It was a couple weeks before I got to the bottom of the problem. The truth is that real-time performance problems (which cause crackles/pops/dropouts) are an issue for DAW use but not an issue for 99% of computer users. So it doesn't get much attention...

rgames


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## AllanH (Jan 24, 2019)

I have not experience any particular issues. I'm on Cubase 10 (edit: release version 10.0.5), Win 10/Pro 1803 fully patched. My system specs are similar to yours.

I would check that indexing remains off after the updates.


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## Giscard Rasquin (Jan 24, 2019)

Yes, definitely having problems with C10 since a couple of weeks so for the moment I’m back to 9.5


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## Crowe (Jan 24, 2019)

I'm still on Cubase 9.5 but did indeed suddenly start experiencing glitches. Haven't found a solution yet.


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## Pietro (Jan 24, 2019)

I'm still on W10 Anniversary Update and no glitches.

- Piotr


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jan 24, 2019)

JamieLang said:


> Any chance you're not using ASIO hardware?
> 
> IME, people having trouble after Windows updates are using Windows audio. To answer more directly--I'm a v6 user who is in the middle of demoing v10--Win10Pro just updated this morning...I've not had glitches of any kind in either 6 or 10 before or after most recent updates during this 30 day demo.


I don't actively use any audio hardware. 
I have a M-Track 2x2 audio interface (cheap thing bought out of desperation) with own driver, which only makes things worse.

I usually just use the Asio4all driver. 


rgames said:


> I had a similar problem several weeks ago - sudden dropouts/clicks/pops after a Windows 10 update. For me it wound up being network cards. I had to get rid of my Intel cards and replace them with TP Link cards.
> 
> I'd start with just trying different drivers for network, video and sound cards - those are the most common culprits. It's not always the most recent driver that performs the best, either. A tool like LatencyMon can be useful to identify where the problem lies but it's not fool-proof. Usually it's best to just load up the DAW and see if a change made a difference.
> 
> ...


That sounds pretty complex, but I'll look into the driver thing and check the tool.
I don't think I can afford nor am able to mess with actual physical network cards...
I'll experiment in the DAW if there is maybe a plugin or setting that makes things go haywire. 


AllanH said:


> I have not experience any particular issues. I'm on Cubase 10 (edit: release version 10.0.5), Win 10/Pro 1803 fully patched. My system specs are similar to yours.
> 
> I would check that indexing remains off after the updates.


Sorry, not sure what "indexing" refers to... a setting within Cubase?


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## JamieLang (Jan 24, 2019)

Without ASIO hardware, yes-Windows updates will futz with Windows audio(WDM/MME), which is why...you shouldn't use Windows audio for production work. Cubase has never worked well with WDM. ASIO4ALL is just a WDM wrapper that "tricks" Cubase--so it's like the worst of both worlds. You don't get the benefits of ASIO as implemented by Steinberg...but, you get all the drawbacks of WDM.


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## AllanH (Jan 24, 2019)

DarkestShadow said:


> Sorry, not sure what "indexing" refers to... a setting within Cubase?



Indexing is a built-in Microsoft services that speeds up searches on your harddisk. For instance, it goes through all .docx files and makes it easy to search for file content. It also adversely affects realtime performance of your HD. You can also disable the associated service directly.

I suggest turning OFF indexing for all sample drives and the drive where Cubase keeps its project files. 

Open File Explorer -> Right Click -> Properties. Make sure to un-check indexing. My example has indexing on, as it's a "productivity" system. I have it off on all my drives (incl. SDDs) on my DAW system.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jan 25, 2019)

Thanks! This box was indeed enabled and I turned it off.


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## Rob Elliott (Jan 25, 2019)

AllanH said:


> Indexing is a built-in Microsoft services that speeds up searches on your harddisk. For instance, it goes through all .docx files and makes it easy to search for file content. It also adversely affects realtime performance of your HD. You can also disable the associated service directly.
> 
> I suggest turning OFF indexing for all sample drives and the drive where Cubase keeps its project files.
> 
> Open File Explorer -> Right Click -> Properties. Make sure to un-check indexing. My example has indexing on, as it's a "productivity" system. I have it off on all my drives (incl. SDDs) on my DAW system.




Should we even leave this on for the OS drive (C)? Thanks for the heads up on this. Never gave it a second thought. Also what about unticking this for slave puters? Would it be helpful for VEPro?


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## Illico (Jan 25, 2019)

Some advice from steinberg
https://www.steinberg.net/nc/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/optimizing-windows-for-daws.html


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## shomynik (Jan 26, 2019)

Rob Elliott said:


> Should we even leave this on for the OS drive (C)? Thanks for the heads up on this. Never gave it a second thought. Also what about unticking this for slave puters? Would it be helpful for VEPro?


I actually always turn off this globally for the whole system. This is one of the things that was always mentioned in the optimization guides.



DarkestShadow said:


> Hi!
> 
> I'm trying to figure out if a windows update may be the cause of this so I'm curious if others also experienced changes recently.
> 
> ...





rgames said:


> I had a similar problem several weeks ago - sudden dropouts/clicks/pops after a Windows 10 update. For me it wound up being network cards. I had to get rid of my Intel cards and replace them with TP Link cards.
> 
> I'd start with just trying different drivers for network, video and sound cards - those are the most common culprits. It's not always the most recent driver that performs the best, either. A tool like LatencyMon can be useful to identify where the problem lies but it's not fool-proof. Usually it's best to just load up the DAW and see if a change made a difference.
> 
> ...





Shiirai said:


> I'm still on Cubase 9.5 but did indeed suddenly start experiencing glitches. Haven't found a solution yet.


That's the reason I went with the LTSB version of Windows with my last system reinstall. It's the server version with stability in mind that gets just the critical updates (bug fixes, security, etc...) and no feature updates (or those get delayed many months) that can mees up your system.

So I don't have any problems with 9.5 but I do with 10.0.5 ( have yet to try the 10.0.10). But I don't think it's os related as my 9.5 works fine.

EDIT: Actually, now I see I'm already on 10.0.10, so no change for me there.


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## shomynik (Jan 26, 2019)

AllanH said:


> I have not experienced any particular issues. I'm on Cubase 10 (edit: release version 10.0.5), Win 10/Pro 1803 fully patched. My system specs are similar to yours.
> 
> I would check that indexing remains off after the updates.


Allan, I remember you recently posted that C10 deteriorated on your system over time and that you went back to C9.5. Care to share what kind of issues did you experienced and did you maybe found out what was causing the problems and somehow fixed it?


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## AllanH (Jan 26, 2019)

Rob Elliott said:


> Should we even leave this on for the OS drive (C)? Thanks for the heads up on this. Never gave it a second thought. Also what about unticking this for slave puters? Would it be helpful for VEPro?



It's unnecessary, but can be helpful. On my main "office computer" it allows me to search for e.g. "percussion" and Windows locates "percussion" not just in file names but also inside word, excel, outlook etc. You can define which folders are included, but it's definitely a slowdown overall. 

It most commonly adversely affects PDFs, where you may find that you cannot copy/move a PDF due to indexing wanting to index the pdf right after e.g. a download.

I turn the service off on my DAW system.


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## AllanH (Jan 26, 2019)

shomynik said:


> Allan, I remember you recently posted that C10 deteriorated on your system over time and that you went back to C9.5. Care to share what kind of issues did you experienced and did you maybe found out what was causing the problems and somehow fixed it?



I have fuzzy memory on having said that (I cannot either locate a post where I essentially posted that). I migrated to C10 almost immediately, and short of a few initial frustrations, it's been fine. 

I recall my main frustrations were with the .cpr file extension remaining associated to C9.5. I also noticed that .bak file were not being created consistently and isolated that to a non-ascii character in the XML file for the config. 

Maybe I solved something that I've happily forgotten  If you have a link, I can certainly look into it. i'd be happy to help any way I can.


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## shomynik (Jan 26, 2019)

AllanH said:


> I have fuzzy memory on having said that (I cannot either locate a post where I essentially posted that). I migrated to C10 almost immediately, and short of a few initial frustrations, it's been fine.
> 
> I recall my main frustrations were with the .cpr file extension remaining associated to C9.5. I also noticed that .bak file were not being created consistently and isolated that to a non-ascii character in the XML file for the config.
> 
> Maybe I solved something that I've happily forgotten  If you have a link, I can certainly look into it. i'd be happy to help any way I can.


Sure, here is the link of the page where you mentioned this.

https://vi-control.net/community/threads/cubase-10.76618/page-30

Are you using VEP and slaves? I'm only having trouble with VEP/slave tracks on C10 (strange, random real time peaks), everything else's working fine.

In any case, great to hear that it is working well for you now.


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## AllanH (Jan 27, 2019)

Well ... "fuzzy" it is, then 

I went through all my project files/dates and it appears that everything started working smoothly mid-December. I have not used Cubase 9.5.41 since.

Around that time, I found a non-ascii character at the top of the user configuration xml file. It seems as if that prevented Cubase from loading the configuration file, even though it appeared "as if" it did inside Cubase through the UI.

I noticed the problem when the .bak never were created even though my setting was for 10 minutes. Immediately after removing the non-ascii character and restarting, the .bak files were consistently being created at the 10 minute interval.

I've been on Cubase 10 since without any issues.

Here's the preference file:UserPreferences.xml

I use Notepad++ for these sorts of things.

Sorry, this is the best I can do.


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## Giscard Rasquin (Jan 27, 2019)

AllanH said:


> Well ... "fuzzy" it is, then
> 
> I went through all my project files/dates and it appears that everything started working smoothly mid-December. I have not used Cubase 9.5.41 since.
> 
> ...



Interesting. I remember manually copying the Cubase 9.5 preferences file to the C10 folder. Wonder if that’s what causing problems. Will try with default settings in C10


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## Henu (Jan 28, 2019)

Actually, yes- and I have no idea why. 

Running Win7Pro and Cubase 9.5, suddenly I've started to see complete disappearing of automation during the last two weeks. 

When I open up a project again after a break, I notice that all automation from volume to plugins from random tracks is gone. The green "read"- indicator is still on but there's absolutely nothing in the curves drawn anymore. 

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I've not updated Cubase nor any of my plugins meanwhile, but it's now happened too many times. I've also tried to google it, but without any success.


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## Parsifal666 (Jan 28, 2019)

Daniel James said:


> I'm on mac but I also feel like in the past couple of weeks Cubase has started to fuck up more than normal. Could be a coincidence. But just putting it out there.
> 
> -DJ



I've been getting freeze outs more often, at* frustratingly* bad times. Yes, the past couple of weeks for me, too.


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## whiskers (Jan 28, 2019)

No. What it has been doing for me though is randomly not launching like 1 out of 3 times. Click it again though and it'll come right up. Weird.


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## Henu (Jan 28, 2019)

This is only getting better- now I just found out that one of my aux sends was missing it's reverb plugin for no reason. The weird thing? I couldn't find it from any old/backup versions either, except for the first one... dating from weeks ago. All the others I tried missed it too. 

Is there a ghost living in my machine?


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## JamieLang (Jan 28, 2019)

I was glad to be back from LogicWorld where every day was a crapshoot of “what has Logic changed for me?”....half the tracks have been resampled this morning? But, the funniest part ONLY half? And they were resmapled ON THE DISK!! Despite LPX claiming it will play back everything “as is” and just resample on the fly....

I will say that the only issue Ive had with this v10 demo period is that it has trouble opening some old projects—some done ith my v6 and some done while demoing 9.5 last year...weird, weird stuff like it crashes opening it cold, but it can open it if you run C10 and THEN select open....but, thats not universal....sometimes it crashes doing it that way...and by crashes, to be specific, I mean Cubase goes away....buh bye, Im looking at a windows desktop with no errors....


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## Daniel James (Jan 28, 2019)

JamieLang said:


> I was glad to be back from LogicWorld where every day was a crapshoot of “what has Logic changed for me?”....half the tracks have been resampled this morning? But, the funniest part ONLY half? And they were resmapled ON THE DISK!! Despite LPX claiming it will play back everything “as is” and just resample on the fly....
> 
> I will say that the only issue Ive had with this v10 demo period is that it has trouble opening some old projects—some done ith my v6 and some done while demoing 9.5 last year...weird, weird stuff like it crashes opening it cold, but it can open it if you run C10 and THEN select open....but, thats not universal....sometimes it crashes doing it that way...and by crashes, to be specific, I mean Cubase goes away....buh bye, Im looking at a windows desktop with no errors....



Yes project loading crashes are the bane of my existence currently. The worst is when it loads all the way to you seeing the arrangement window then you go to click something and it crashes...

-DJ


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jan 29, 2019)

I have some data by Latency Mon. Apparently there are substantial issues on my 6 months old 1800 dollar laptop, supposedly optimized for music production.
I'm not sure I understand all of it... I'd be interested in some further opinions on this.





Part 2 of red text.





In terms of CPU throttling - what I read online is that in high power modus this isn't activated. I'm always on high power modus.
And it doesn't get much better with my W-Lan adapter disabled.


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## Divico (Jan 29, 2019)

DarkestShadow said:


> I have some data by Latency Mon. Apparently there are substantial issues on my 6 months old 1800 dollar laptop, supposedly optimized for music production.
> I'm not sure I understand all of it... I'd be interested in some further opinions on this.
> 
> 
> ...


You seem to have a problem with your network card (ndis.sys). Try also to enable the ethernet card.
Wdf01000 is not a distinct driver. It can be responsible for several things. On my computer my firewire card connecting my interface gives me Wdf01000 latency.
Enabling high power mode might not be enough. There is a good thread pinned in the DAW section here.
In my case unparking CPU cores (disabling C6 state in Windows) was the tweak that finally improved my latency mon analysis and gave me a real performance boost. https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jan 29, 2019)

Divico said:


> You seem to have a problem with your network card (ndis.sys). Try also to enable the ethernet card.
> Wdf01000 is not a distinct driver. It can be responsible for several things. On my computer my firewire card connecting my interface gives me Wdf01000 latency.
> Enabling high power mode might not be enough. There is a good thread pinned in the DAW section here.
> In my case unparking CPU cores (disabling C6 state in Windows) was the tweak that finally improved my latency mon analysis and gave me a real performance boost. https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/


Thanks for the info! Will give it a shot.
Enabling ethernet... do you mean disable rather than enable?


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## Divico (Jan 29, 2019)

DarkestShadow said:


> Thanks for the info! Will give it a shot.
> Enabling ethernet... do you mean disable rather than enable?


yes. Sry for the typo


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