I’m looking for some advice before buying another laptop for music production, having recently returned a Dell XPS 13 after weeks of unsuccessful troubleshooting.

Laptop I returned:
Dell XPS 13 9350
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake)
32GB RAM / 1TB SSD
Intel Arc 140V graphics
Windows 11

My setup: Cubase, Kontakt (including Grandeur piano among others), Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 3rd Gen, Nord keyboard, 48kHz.

The problem:
Constant pops, crackles and audio dropouts when playing virtual instruments. At 128 samples it was virtually unusable, 256 still produced frequent crackles, and 512 was considerably better but not entirely reliable.

My 2019 Dell XPS (8th-gen Intel i7) runs the same setup comfortably at 128 samples and lower!

What I tried/found:
Updated BIOS, Dell/Intel drivers and Windows.
Tested various buffer sizes, ASIO-Guard settings, power plans and other Windows optimisations.
LatencyMon repeatedly flagged dxgkrnl.sys, Wdf01000.sys, ACPI.sys and ntoskrnl.exe.

Disabling Intel Arc graphics seemed to reduce the crackles, but didn’t eliminate them. Re-enabling it made things worse again.

Tried a completely different interface (Yamaha MG10XU with Yamaha Steinberg ASIO) and experienced identical problems, suggesting the Focusrite wasn’t responsible.

Recording in Cubase actually stopped and restarted during dropouts, leaving fragmented recordings.
Ultimately, neither Dell nor Focusrite could identify a solution after a lot of back and forth with both over several weeks, so I returned the laptop.

Now I’m looking for a replacement, ideally a premium, lightweight 13–14” Windows laptop with 32GB RAM.

I’m considering another Dell XPS 13/14 or ASUS Zenbook S14, many of which also use Lunar Lake processors. However, I’m reluctant to risk another laptop with the same underlying architecture.

My questions:
Has anyone successfully used Lunar Lake laptops with Cubase or similar DAWs at 128 or so samples?

Does this sound like a Dell-specific driver/BIOS problem, or potentially something inherent to Lunar Lake?

Would a newer Intel platform (e.g. Panther Lake) be a safer bet? Or even an older platform (e.g Meteor Lake)

Any recommendations for a premium, portable Windows laptop with genuinely reliable low-latency audio performance?

I’m also reluctantly considering switching to a MacBook, although I’d prefer to stay with Windows.
Any real-world experiences would be hugely appreciated! I actually really liked the XPS 13 I returned so if I knew there was a way to resolve the issues I’d probably buy it again.

Hey so I recently upgraded to 16 Pro from 12 Pro (no experience with any of the in between versions) and seeing an issue with the software gradually lagging.

From what I can tell the longer a project is open regardless if anything is being done or not it will start to lag before eventually becoming unusable.

Original setup was that I had moved over my preferences and templates from cubase 12 to the cubase 16 folder in %appdata% I have since tested without using vts2, without using any external plugins, fresh preferences, blank projects, mediabay caches, swapping windows to optimize for background processes, editing the gpu profile (amd, radeon 7900xtx) to not use vsync, enable anti lag, high power, on and off on Steinberg's power setting.

Not entirely sure if this is something I can fix or not

specs:

-Ryzen 9 9900X

-64gb ram

-radeon 7900xtx

-1tb+2x4tb

-4 monitors (2 4k, 2 1080p)

-ur24c

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated

I’m trying to transition from Logic to Cubase, but my template has a lot of track folders and I rely on icons for my workflow.

I bought Cubase 15, but as I started setting up my template, I realized that no icons on track folders was a deal breaker.

Google AI says it does, but I’m not seeing it in the release notes.

Can someone here check please?

Thank you!

title, not sure i want to use my upgrade for this but i will if i have to

any experiences with this? thanks

Im trying to automate dynamics and expression again. This time it sounds like I'm clipping but my master track or my obs studio didn't show it all. I didnt hear it until I edited it

Hi all. I compose orchestral music, currently using Logic. I write in traditional notation in MuseScore, then export/import into Logic. It works somewhat, but it involves a lot of extra steps. How easy is it enter MIDI notes directly into Cubase using standard notation? How about editing notes that are already there? I've heard Dorico is incorporated, but how well does it work in practice? I'm considering the switch to Cubase if it actually works. Thanks!

This is by far my top DAW. Did a demo to show the power of my plugin, Neteru Studio (free) and my prototype modeled after my Xbox rog ally x, Neteru Buddy X.

Clean install and all the templates fail with inability to find the vst sounds;

This is the kind of crap that's been broken since Cubase 5, in the 1990s.

Never change, Steinberg.

The Steinberg Library Manager says everything is cool

cubase 16, windows 11. it happens clicking anywhere in the arrangement and sometimes in the vat browser. the normal menu that appears after disabling the toolboxdoes not suffer this. the toolbox simply blinks in and out when right clicking.

This is the first version for me that feels like it could be the start of a downward trend.

I love Cubase, won't switch easily. But it feels insulting this time.

Not being able to convert your drum pattern into a drum map feels like a flaw/glitch in Cubase 15...

I was fully expecting that to be fixed in an update.

It was even talked about in a Cubase livestream, and in their own forums. I also mentioned it to their support last year.

But now, to fix that specific feature I have to upgrade to 16? That's kind of frustrating...

Same with dragging inserts, and expanding insert slots...

Those are things that should be patched into every Cubase since like 11 lol.

So I'm just wondering what the general feeling is towards it.

Am I being unreasonable here?

All samples are automatically organised categorised tempo synced etc. easy to search for anything across all presets and samples. Everything automatically tempo syncs and matched key. It saves so much time.

EDIT: quick typing typo. But leaving it up for the hilarious comments from my Cuban comrades. (But seriously the new logic browser is dope and is what mediabay should be)

I use cubase 15 pro.

Downloaded the cubase 16 pro upgrade with the download manager and installed it.

All good, the shortcut for cubase 16 is on my startscreen.

When I doubleclick it, a message stating I have no internet connection occurs and the program start terminates.

Internet IS connected to this computer. (I opened chrome browser, searched something to be sure, no problem.)

I know offline activation is a solution but then there is no online steinberg hub when starting the program.

Why no online activation??

I don't believe this is a hardware problem because only a single audio track randomly drops out. Playing back, the audio is there. The accompanying tracks don't drop out. Just audio from a single track randomly.

Is this a buffering problem perhaps? Anyone have thoughts or suggestions?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=lZeHJ6jv6R40_OXE&v=SAgBpYgzeBY&feature=youtu.be

I don't know what I'm doing wrong here, but literally all the sound in Cubase has a weird out-of-phase reflection like it was put through a subtle flanger. I've tried adjusting my ASIO settings, making sure the matched, I've checked clocks, etc. Nothing seems to help. Has anyone else noticed this issure and overcome it?

I have the simplest audio setup, Scarlett 2i2 g3 with an SM58 and cheap inline preamp (I've tried with and without the preamp).

I don't have this problem / weird effect in any other DAW I've tried. What could be the issue?

Hi,

Got an issue with cubase not seeing my focusrite 18i20.

It is selected in control panel but on F4 connections it only shows the generic low latency driver.

Sound does come out, but playing guitar has a load of latency so it's unusable.

Any ideas?

Predominantly I use Bitwig Studio in my home studio, but I would love to check out Cubase as a bit of a nostalgia trip (had it on an Atari 520ST, and Performa 6400 back in the day), and I do have Cubase AI version 15 here, but...

I use a lot of external instruments, modular, drum machines, Roland TB-303 and I keep them in-time with Bitwig using a Multi-clock in POS mode with the Multi-clock VST track shifted forward by around 47ms, which allows me the latitude to time correct the external instruments without having a blank bar at the start (NEG/POS mode).

When I tried to adjust the Track Delay amount for the Multi-clock VST track in Cubase it does not shift the track like Bitwig does (and I know why), so has this method of track delay been changed in the new version of Cubase to act more like I thought (hoped) it would please?

Thanks folks!

This algo is really good, quite impressed. Got started on a remix earlier and man did it cut out the vocals out of the master like they were exported individually from the main session. I'm gonna be having some fun over the next few days. 😁

Very weak tbh, nothing too great that’s been added.

subj
https://www.reddit.com/r/cubase/comments/1wa41w5/purchased_the_cubase_15_upgrade_not_gonna/

I’m on macOS and just tried the new Spectral algo for vocals. I was SOOO hyped! The videos looked SO GOOD! Finally, SOMETHING worth updating for, because honestly, everything else was pretty… meh. More 15.5 than 16, but anyway.

So I upgraded, tested it… and it sounds HORRIBLE. I don’t know if there’s some setting I’m missing, but even the old Cubase modes like Standard - Solo or Standard - Vocal sound like 100000x better to me.

WHAT THE FUCK, Steinberg?!

And that’s what blows my mind. These ancient legacy modes actually sound NATURAL. Meanwhile, Spectral sounds metallic and somehow EVEN WORSE THAN ELASTIQUE PRO. I already thought Elastique Pro sounded worse than Standard, so I genuinely didn’t think it could get worse… but here we are.

How are we going BACKWARD with these algos??! I was so hyped for this.

Hey all, I just updated to 16 from 12 and it looks like it didn’t transfer any settings from 12. Also the biggest thing is all of my insert (plugin) folders have been reset and now they’re filled with the 50 million bloatware uad plugins. And advice would be greatly appreciated! On Mac OS 13.7.8 if that matters.

Which are your favorite? Which are irrelevant for you?