Cubase playback cutting out a lot

M

Muffin

New member
Im running cubase 5 on my laptop with a presonus vsl44. My vsl has 4 outs and i have 4 separate tracks running within cubase(each track is assigned to its own out). This is for live settings, backtracks, click tracks etc. My major issue with this is that my playback will cutout quite often, the tracks keep playing, but all audio on all tracks will cutout for roughly 2-20 seconds. We can usually keep the beat going when it cuts out but we cant have this happening anymore, we need it to be reliable.

I dont know if its a buffer thing(it doesnt crack or pop), ive yet to be able to adjust the buffer size of the vsl itself. Im running windows 8, the tracks are wav, im at a loss. Should i try a new daw or interface. Please help
 
Muffin said:
Im running cubase 5 on my laptop with a presonus vsl44. My vsl has 4 outs and i have 4 separate tracks running within cubase(each track is assigned to its own out). This is for live settings, backtracks, click tracks etc. My major issue with this is that my playback will cutout quite often, the tracks keep playing, but all audio on all tracks will cutout for roughly 2-20 seconds. We can usually keep the beat going when it cuts out but we cant have this happening anymore, we need it to be reliable.

I dont know if its a buffer thing(it doesnt crack or pop), ive yet to be able to adjust the buffer size of the vsl itself. Im running windows 8, the tracks are wav, im at a loss. Should i try a new daw or interface. Please help
Click to expand...

Cubase 5 might be too old to run on Win8! Steinberg are b'stds for this! Their software is almost OS specific. First off, download the trial of LE7 or the full version if you have a dongle (no idea if that will work? Others please advise.) If neither of those works properly you might have a setup issue(s). In "Preferences" where you set the driver (Presonus ASIO?) there is a box marked "Allow other devices...." or similar. DO NOT tick that box.
By the same token make absolutely sure NOTHING is trying to use the PC whilst running Cubase. Prime suspects are: Windows sounds, those infernal bleeps and bloops. System soundcard, the AC97 rubbish. Disable it. And wireless modems on the MOBO, disable in "Services" (or however you do it in W8, not got it, don't want it!) .

If it turns out that you simply need a more modern version of Cubase you should be able to upgrade from Five.
Just been over to Presonus. There is a W8 driver for that AI. I would try downloading afresh and running it.
Dave.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm currently downloading LE 7, I'll see how that goes.
I've gone through my system itself and have disabled anything that may be slowing the computer down, I even put in on airplane mode so nothing downloads in the background.

I'm currently going through my live tracks(which we were using last night at practice and had nothing issues), I've gone through about 5 songs without it cutting out once. I'm not sure as to why it's currently working perfectly when I'd prefer it cutout so I can atleast watch the meter that Seidy suggested. I'm going to fiddle with it some more tonight as well as try LE 7 and report back.

If anyone else has any other suggestions, even if it's a specific DAW/Interface, I'm open to suggestions. I simply need something reliable.
 
Muffin said:
Thanks for the replies. I'm currently downloading LE 7, I'll see how that goes.
I've gone through my system itself and have disabled anything that may be slowing the computer down, I even put in on airplane mode so nothing downloads in the background.

I'm currently going through my live tracks(which we were using last night at practice and had nothing issues), I've gone through about 5 songs without it cutting out once. I'm not sure as to why it's currently working perfectly when I'd prefer it cutout so I can atleast watch the meter that Seidy suggested. I'm going to fiddle with it some more tonight as well as try LE 7 and report back.

If anyone else has any other suggestions, even if it's a specific DAW/Interface, I'm open to suggestions. I simply need something reliable.
Click to expand...

You can actually export the mix as wav and just play that. Or once exported, reimport it into cubase. That way you don't need cubase 7. You can still use cubase 5. When you export into a audio mix down, you export all your effects also. So cubase don't have to process them anymore. It free alot of ressources.
 
asterix12 said:
You can actually export the mix as wav and just play that. Or once exported, reimport it into cubase. That way you don't need cubase 7. You can still use cubase 5. When you export into a audio mix down, you export all your effects also. So cubase don't have to process them anymore. It free alot of ressources.
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There is usually also a feature called freeze track (might be another name), but that creates a processed audio version, just behind the scene.

Also, look at your buffer settings. If you are not recording, you can kick them up to 1024, that sound like more the root issue.
 
Thanks for the continued help in this matter. I've been tinkering with my setup and may be making some progress.

I updated the firmware for the VSL44 and I can now access the control panel and adjust the buffer size.

Before doing that, or changing anything, I was playing everything the same as I was the night before at practice(now on my own without blaring amps, drums etc.) and it never cut out once, everything worked perfectly.

We jammed again tonight when it started cutting out again. I then placed my laptop and VSL44 in the carrying case I have for it(heavy duty and padded), closed the lid(as far as I could allowing the cables to pass through) and the amount of times it cut out, and the duration of it's cut-outs were drastically reduced!

Does this make any sense? Could it be that the vibrations made by all our gear blaring could knock out a connection somewhere and cause the audio to cutout. Again, the tracks keep playing, they don't freeze, skip or jump, I just lose the audio momentarily(all levels drop on all the channels when this happens too, which confuses me still cause if I unplug the vsl44 while a track is playing, the audio meters on all tracks keep going indicating that the song audio is still playing).

Was it a fluke that putting the rig in a padded box fixed it tonight? Or does this sort of thing make sense?
 
It is possible that very high sound levels could cause the hard drive to skip I suppose although I have never heard of the effect before.
Have you tried a scientific accelleration test aka, thumping it?

Dave.
 
Well, the audio is playing unless your computer or software crashes. But, the sound is not coming out. So, maybe it is a connection or a faulty interface. If you are still under warranty, and you can't find an obvious cause (vibration should not be a cause), return it and get another. I would say it is either a faulty unit or a bad design. Hope for faulty unit.
 
I'll knock it around and see if that is the case. I'll also jiggle the wired connections while it's playing to see if that trips it.

I guess it seems plausible that a faulty interface could be the culprit but I just don't understand why the audio meters within cubase would drop whenever the audio cuts out(seeing as the audio is coming out of the interface, not in)
 
Muffin said:
I'll knock it around and see if that is the case. I'll also jiggle the wired connections while it's playing to see if that trips it.

I guess it seems plausible that a faulty interface could be the culprit but I just don't understand why the audio meters within cubase would drop whenever the audio cuts out(seeing as the audio is coming out of the interface, not in)
Click to expand...

Wait, I understood Cubase didn't change. You're right, problem sounds like it is else where, not the interface. Unless Cubase monitors the outs from the Interface directly.

My apologies for not reading correctly.
 
UPDATE!

So while practicing with the rig again, I pressed F12 to keep an eye on the meter. Sure enough, the playback cutout and when it did, the Disk meter went from 0-100 until it cut back in, other than that, neither the ASIO or the DISK meters do anything.

What could be causing the disk to jump like that?
 
Sounds like there is something else running on your PC that is trying to use resources. Not sure how to deal with W8 setup for recording. Not sure anyone has actually. Google and see if there is help for 'setup W8 for audio recording' . Hell, I will do it myself too. :)

Well, HERE it is.

Give these steps a shot before doing anything else. Best luck! :)
 
Sorry for my delayed reply! I was on a 3 week tour through the States. So here's an update on what's been happening.

Before leaving for tour we were jamming and having major issues with it cutting out. We cranked the amps as we would for our live shows and hit the drums like I usually do(as if I was trying to kill them). Our playback was cutting out like crazy, and with BIG gaps. We had bought a laptop solely for our backing tracks during our live performances. It meets the requirements for running Cubase but it is a cheaper laptop(plastic casing etc). I had tried other laptops in the passed but with the same results, but I brought my new Dell laptop(a much better quality laptop with steel casing and all). As I was loading the files onto my new laptop, my guitarist and bassist were jamming along to the playback from the original laptop(with their amps still cranked) and they ran through our tour set a few times with no issues! I came in and joined them and as soon as I did(drumming) the playback started cutting out again! I would stop drumming for awhile and it would play flawlessly, the moment I came back in, or even drum by myself to the backing tracks, it would cutout!

I put the laptop on a piece of foam(I know it's not ideal for vents etc.) and it did help a bit(it would still cutout but not as frequently), but we figured that perhaps the actual hard drive disk within the laptop itself was being jostled about while I was drumming(still not sure why it wouldn't when the bass amp is cranked, but whatever). Some have suggested putting the program files on a solid state hard drive via USB, would that make any difference?

I put the files on my new laptop and tried it out as we were before(with me drumming) and it was performing a lot better! I don't recall if it had cutout at all, maybe for a split second here or there, but we were satisfied with at least that much for our tour.

While on tour I used the new laptop which sat on a small ATA case beside me, atop a corrugated piece of foam to reduce it shaking about. The really strange thing here, is that even with the original laptop, it wouldn't cutout even when I was knocking it around during playback, it only seemed to happen while I was drumming(but why?). While on tour, it worked well, but there were a few sets that we had played where it would start cutting out again. The gap length was anywhere from 1-4 seconds, which is a lot better than the original laptop, but still annoying, especially when drumming to a click track at a fast pace.

I took Jimmys69's advice and made sure the laptop was setup for what I was using it for, however it would still cutout here and there. Again, it's a lot better from what it was, but it's still irritating as I hate the fact that my backing tracks are cutting out during our set, I don't want anything to take away from our live performance.

Does any of this scenario make sense? Cause I'm sure stumped by it! I know many people run multiple backing tracks off a laptop for live performances, what's wrong with my setup? Why is it that drumming seems to cause it to cut out? Let's resolve this! Thanks
 
Honestly, I would mixdown whatever tracks you need for live, and just play that via a sampler or even an MP3 player. Not sure I understand your needs completely, but it seems relying on a laptop to do multiple tracks at once is making things chaotic in a live situation.

Explain a bit more about what it is you are using the laptop to play back. I am curious now.

How did the tour go?
 
I would have thought you could initiate that problem by gently tapping the laptop case?
If so there is a bad connector or a dry joint in there somewhere and a decent computer repairer should be able to fix it.

It could of course just be a bad hard drive? HDDs must have a limit as to how much vibration they can take but I would have thought it way above the SPL of even the maddest drummer!
If it does turn out to be the HD then the obvious replacement is a solid state jobby but if you need a biggy it'll cost ya!

Dave.
 
I'm not sure how accurate this info is, but DJs often complain their computer systems cut out when subjected to lots of bass vibrations, and they balance their kit on foam pads to decouple them - so vibration could indeed be the problem.
 
rob aylestone said:
I'm not sure how accurate this info is, but DJs often complain their computer systems cut out when subjected to lots of bass vibrations, and they balance their kit on foam pads to decouple them - so vibration could indeed be the problem.
Click to expand...

Well everything has its limit! If you look at footage of early rock concerts the closeup, portable cameras often had horizontal striations on them simply due the sound level hitting the camera tubes (yes! WE call them "tubes" in cameras even though they are in effect just bloody big valves! All sste, CCDs now of course. Whoever said etymology was logical?!)

And: Had a look at the Crucial site. SSDs are not a bad price there.

Dave.
 
Initially we did run an MP3 player, had backing tracks panned left and click to the right and that setup worked well. We sometimes had an issue with crosstalk where you'd hear the click track coming through the house that was mainly an issue with how we had it rigged up.

Ideally, I would love to run something as simple as an MP3 player to avoid these sort of issues, however we like being able to use different tracks such as backing guitar. We're a 3 piece, our guitarist has a Line 6 X3 pod pro(for those of you who are familiar to that unit, it's comparable to an Axe FX unit), he runs 2 4x12 cabinets one on each end of the stage as his POD unit has 2 inputs, so as of right now we're using 3 outputs. Click, back tracks and back guitar.

I've been told to try an ADAT unit, although I don't know much about those. Personally, I like running the laptop, being able to see and control each track, it's convenient, but I just can't figure out why other bands, using the same sort of setup, aren't having these issues. One of the bands we just toured with ran a similar rig with a Mac laptop and on Logic, he's never had an issue.
 
Jusfort..Why are you running Cubase for live tracks?
The DAW is a bit of a fussy bugger and takes quite a bit of CPU resource.

Would it not be possible to render down all the tracks to.wav and simply use a media player? (but maybe not WMP!) If you need to run more than two (stereo) tracks you could use a low demand DAW such as Reaper.

Dave
 
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