Cubase 4 - ASIO Spike problem

[Chadfish]

Hi everyone! Glad to be here. I'm having a problem with Cubase 4. Please read below and offer any suggestions. All my software is up to date.


I have this posted in a couple forums, but maybe you have some insight. Here's my setup and problem....

8 Core Mac Pro / 9 gigs of RAM, Tiger, MOTU Traveler (Firewire Interface), Standard Cubase Prefrences, Airport disengaged, Latest version of Cubase and Tiger.

I have the infamous ASIO Spike happening. It will not stop. I have a simple project with 3 audio tracks, 2 Group Tracks. The group tracks each have the Cubase De-Esser, and Cubase Compressor.

Problem
Spiking like a champ. BUT: When I turn off the effects the spiking goes away. Great for recording. BUT: When I need to mix the spiking is back as soon as I turn the effects back on.

Everything is updated to the latest versions. I'll be glad to answer any other questions that ill help. It seems to be the effects... It started when I first installed Cubase 4, but hasn't been an issue because I've just been using the soft synths with no FX.

Thanks

Chadfish

[brandondrury]

8 Core Mac Pro / 9 gigs of RAM

Holly shit! That had to be the price of a decent used car!

I've read about issues caused by some of the latest Tiger updates. I'm not a Mac guy so I don't know if there is any truth to it.

What happens if you use any 3rd party plugins?

Generally when CPU usage is not a factor, it goes back to drivers of the audio interface. Since the problem goes away by removing plugins I guess that rules out the audio interface.

Brandon

[Chadfish]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Holly shit! That had to be the price of a decent used car!

Brandon

Hi Brandon

It was about 5,000.00 with 5 gigs of ram, and recently I spent another 250.00 on 4 more gigs. The display was not included. I got a great LG Flatron 24" that looks as good at about half the price (then). I attached a photo. My setup includes a PC (My main audio machine until I can get Cubase plugins sorted out) and 2 more pretty nice Samsung displays - one for the PC and one as a second Mac display. The LG is for critical color stuff in my video job, and the Samsungs are nice to spread out the tools on.

See attached photo...

The ASIO problem seems to be (from responses on cubase.net) that Cubase 4 uses some older PPC style VST plugins that aren't made for Intel based Macs. 'PPC' refers to the older Mac CPU architecture such as used in the G5 and below. Intel Macs can run older PPC code under an emulation system called 'Rosetta'. PPC and 'Universal Binary' (modern code that will run on both architectures) programs cannot communicate with each other internally (meaning a Universal Binary version of Cubase running on Intel cannot simply load up a PPC plugin directly). Steinberg got around this by making the 'VST Bridge' application which is launched in the background when you use an older plugin, and Cubase talks to it over the internal TCP/IP network.

Got that? I need some Universal Binary plugins...

I haven't tried any 3rd party plugs yet because I don't have any. It seems like the main culprit is mainly the DeEsser, so I'm working without that for now, and hoping to get some Waves stuff by X-Mas.

Chadfish

[brandondrury]

Thanks for the heads up. It seems like PC has problems with all of the possible hardware choices and Mac has problems when it comes to all these damn software format / operating system choices.

I'm suprised that Steinberg doesn't have an update for the de-esser.

Brandon

[Chadfish]

Here's the thread where a guy seems to have a handle on what exactly the problem is. I think it's a non-issue if you are using 3rd party "Universal Binary" plugs.

Cubase.net .:::. View topic - Same Old Asio Spike - Related to Cubase Effects?

I do with they would fix this problem though. I'm sure there are other Cubase plugs that cause the ASIO spike, but for me it's the DeEsser that's holding me back for what I need. That being said, I don't think the included Cubase plugs are all that great. Not to take anything away from Cubase 4. I think it's a very nice platform (coming from Nuendo 3), and the included soft synths are pretty cool. Not as cool as what Logic has now, but pretty dang cool.

Chadfish