That is why I still love hardware

[aster]

I am sick of this crap!!

I have spent days, hours.....this week in front of Cubase (SE, luckily I didnt fork out the money for anything better) trying to finish a song...but with no luck as it keeps crashing, everytime I use my VSTs (mainly Sampletank 2).

Its not bad enough that I stare all day at a computer monitor at work, I go home and stare all night at a monitor. Is all music software this unstable? Before you ask, my computer is not to blame, I spent the bucks to ensure I got this side of things right.

They tell you that software is the future and its where music production is heading.....

Well give me the knobs, buttons, sliders, levers..any day ! .....my built in workstation sequencer and screw the software.........(for now anyway!)

[Juho L]

I have used Cubase for over a year now and it has crashed twice on that time (on one of those two times due my own error). So I think the blame goes somewhere else than the software.

Windows XP & Cubase is a stable combination. There have to be either hardware problem or just non-updated, spywared and overburdened Windows.

Try this:

1. Make backups for all important files such as Cubase projects, mp3's, etc. Also visit www.zonelabs.com and www.free-av.com and add ZoneAlarm and Free-AV to the backup CD/DVD. Edit: And think twice what you need to back up because better safe than sorry.
2. Format whole hard disk. Spare nothing.
3. Disconnect the internet cable that the computer doesn't connec to the internet until you want it to.
4. Install Windows XP.
5. Install ZoneAlarm and FreeAV.
6. Connect the internet cable and run Windows Update. Get all updates. Then get latest drivers for your hardware.
7. Install needed programs, like Cubase, Winamp, etc. Don't forget the updates.

If you still have problems your big bucks are gone to things that are not-so-much-worth-of-big-bucks.

Also get Ad-Aware to get rid of various spyware stuff that gets on your system from various places. Also a popup killer is a must.

Edit: You could also make two Windows installs each on sepperate drives. That way you could strip down the other XP and make it as audio OS and use the other one for general use. That way everything works fine.

It's a good habit to do totally clean OS install from time to time. Lots of useless software and files are gathered on the HD in due time and this slows down the whole system.

If you have spare CD's or DVD's you could burn the OS with the installed software on the CD's or DVD after step 6 so that next time you make the clean isntall you can format everything and just copy the backupimages from the CD's/DVD so that you don't have to start updating everything again. Much faster that way.

[Juho L]

By the way what system do you have?

[jasedee]

Hmmm....this seems like a good oportunity for me to get on my high horse and start preaching about how I am superior because I own a Mac and how everyone that has a stock-standard PC running audio is a chump.....very tempting indeed

But I wont go into all that.

I am using Cubase SX, and have not had any major problems at all. I dont think software is to blame here mate, perhaps some incompatability or setup issues....

Good luck! And dont give up on soft-sequencers just yet...

[aster]

Thanks for the tips Juho...

Ok its not a mac, but I needed the software flexability with my PC. That does not mean I am running a lot of other applications (MS office & very few others). I did not buy a dedicated music prod PC, I cant afford the luxury, but overall the specs are ok and I can upgarde the ram to 2GB

the specs are as follows:
DELL OptiPlex GX270
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
Memory (RAM) 512 MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Hardisk 80 GB + 120 GB external
Phase 26 Terratec USB/24bit/96khz

I got a dell because they had a good deal going at the time and they offer a 3 year onsite warranty.

What do you think ?

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by aster

Ok its not a mac, but I needed the software flexability with my PC. That does not mean I am running a lot of other applications (MS office & very few others). I did not buy a dedicated music prod PC, I cant afford the luxury, but overall the specs are ok and I can upgarde the ram to 2GB

the specs are as follows:
DELL OptiPlex GX270
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
Memory (RAM) 512 MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Hardisk 80 GB + 120 GB external
Phase 26 Terratec USB/24bit/96khz

I got a dell because they had a good deal going at the time and they offer a 3 year onsite warranty.

What do you think ?

Yup. No need for Mac if you run XP. I tried to search Dell's site for more details like mainboard and chipset. Because your computer is a package PC it's very unlikely that there are hardware compatibility issues (I assume Dell has professional people working there). So there are only to possible problems here: That Terratec card or spyware and/or viruses. Let's have a poll:

1. Have you ran frequent and updated scans for viruses and spyware?
2. Do you have a working firewall?
3. Any other program crashing than Cubase?
4. Checked for updated drivers for that Terratec card?

If the only programs crashing are audio programs then I know the Terratec card is to blame. To be frank I haven't ever heard a good thing about Terratec cards. On other forums every thread about Terratec have been a troubleshooting thread and that signals something. You could remove the Terratec and then try to run Cubase with the internal sound card of the PC (I assume that the mainboard has an integrated soundcard). Try to run few projects with it, add VSTi's and VST's. I think it might be stable then. How frequently does the Cubase crash? If the crasing stops after the removal of that Terratec card I advice to get a soundcard that works, like M-audio card.

I checked details for that Terratec card and it seems to be an USB device. Check what chipset you have on the mainboard. Go to Control panel -> System -> Devices -> Device control/management. Because I have a Finnish Windows I'm not 100% sure of the terms used in the English versio, but I think you find that menu. Now open the system devices branch and check do you have a VIA chipset (if you have, there sohuld be "VIA CPU to AGP controller", "VIA tech CPU to PCI bridge", etc). If you have VIA chipset go to www.viaarena.com and get new drivers for the chipset. I remember VIA had USB drivers so updating them could solve your problem.

But if the problem is not in that Terratec card (-> the Cubase crashes even the Terratec is disconnected) I really advice that you do the clean install I instructed on my first posting.

[aster]

Juho, many thanks for the advice, Just another detail, everytime I close Cubase SE it hangs and I have to end program mannually. I have sent a support message to steinberg, but to date no answer.

I am running anti-virus & personal firewall apps and regularly run adware and spyware apps , to get rid of all the crap that creeps into the PC from the web.

I got the Terratec bundled with Cubase SE (studio case), surely steinberg and Terratec would have ensured there were no compatability probs software wise. Hardware wise you might have a point so I will follow your suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks again for the advice...

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by aster

Juho, many thanks for the advice, Just another detail, everytime I close Cubase SE it hangs and I have to end program mannually.

On my system Cubase halts for about 10 seconds when closing a project.

[XLR8A]

I use Cubase 5.1 on oldskool G3 with OS9.2, and i must admit: the only thing
that can crash it is some badly cracked plugin, but since i paid for my software -
everything works just fine.

[waketek]

Just an FYI, Dell has some software that comes installed on there machines that can cause issues with Highend Audio/video software. A friend had the same issues. He ended up using the Dell machine but reformatting the hard drive and installing a Copy of XP pro and ditched the Dell setup. The machine is not bad but the software and operating config it ships with is not optimized for Professional Audio use. Last but not least when running Audio apps it is best to shut all background processes off that are not needed. This includes virus software and firewalls. I would disconnect from internet and shut off all programs runing in background.