Just so you know it's possible to rent-to-own it from Splice for 16.99 if I remember correctly.

 

If you say Cubase is resource-intensive, then you’ve never really used it, let alone optimized it properly.
Anyone who really knows Cubase knows how to set up and optimize this DAW properly.
Cubase is extremely resource-efficient.
Most of the time, the problem is sitting right in front of the monitor.

 

All of the time, this kind of comment is just a tell.

All that first guy has to say is, I have Cubase installed right now. Show me these settings you think I need to optimize so that Cubase will run as smoothly, efficiently, (whatever) aspect better, than the Reaper I have installed on the identical machine....

When you can't, your argument is shot to shit. Which is the ultimate end of that discussion, because it is Fantasyland.

Install Cubase on the same machine.Match buffer size, sample rate, driver type.
Disable identical background processes. Load the same project structure. Use equivalent plugin chains. Then demonstrate where Cubase becomes “extremely resource-efficient” relative to Reaper in that exact setup.

Aren't you the same guy who suggested a $39.00 Audioloom clipper plugin to a guy who just dropped a couple thousand dollars on a 500 series analog processing chain? That is a good suggestion, also Fantasyland.

 

Last edited: Jun 7, 2026 at 6:25 AM

1) Go to “Studio” > “Studio Settings.” Then, under “Audio System,” select the correct “ASIO driver.” In my opinion, the “Steinberg Built-in ASIO Driver” and “FLEX - ASIO” are the best. With the right settings, Flex outperforms the Steinberg ASIO driver.
Then, under “Advanced Options,” enable 64-bit float mode. (Don’t forget to enable ASIO Guard.) I then set the ASIO Guard setting to “Normal” or ‘High’; you’ll have to see what works best. To do this, the setting “Enable Steinberg’s optimized audio performance mode” should be enabled. This activates a “Windows Power Plan” created by Steinberg. Then click “OK” and restart Cubase (don’t forget to close all windows). (And enable multiprocessor support in Cubase if it isn't already enabled)

2) Next, in the current project, go to the “VST Plugin Manager,” which can be found in the top menu bar under “Studio.” You will now see the active plugins: “VST Effects” and “VST Instruments.” Now click on a “Plugin”; the “Plugin Information” section at the bottom left will show whether “Asio-Guard” is enabled FOR THIS plugin or not—by default, it is enabled. Now you can click the small button to disable “Asio-Guard” ONLY FOR THIS plugin. Sometimes it may be better to disable “Asio-Guard” for a specific plugin; you’ll have to see what works better. For programs that load their samples from the hard drive (NI Kontakt or Battery), it is recommended to disable Asio-Guard. You’ll have to see what works better.

3) For Native Instruments plugins such as “KONTAKT” or “BATTERY,” you should go to the plugin settings under... For “Battery,” go to “Edit” > “Preferences,” and then under “Engine,” disable “Multiprocessor Support.” For “KONTAKT,” go to ‘File’ > “Options,” and then under “Engine.”

4) Uninstall all NVIDIA drivers(Then use “Driver Store Explorer” to remove any remaining files, if there are any) and restart the system. Now use “NVCleanstall” to perform a custom driver installation. The standard driver installation via the NVIDIA Setup installs many containers and telemetry components that cause latency; “HDCP” is also installed by default, which also causes latency. And latency is poison for the DAW. You can eliminate all these problems with “NVCleanstall” and install only what is really necessary.

Sample images





All done—Cubase is optimized, and so are the latencies.
(I'm using a translator)

 

Last edited: Jun 8, 2026 at 11:57 PM

Sooo, I have a wild guess why I don't have that option (and I was looking in the right spot, it's just not there):
Is it an nvidia thing? Because all screenshots with that option show nvidia cards.
I'm on AMD gfx cards, so maybe that's why I'm not affected by that bug?
People say that nvidia is a little better for gaming, but creates more traffic on the pci bus.
And because I'm on RME PCIe cards, I preferred AMD (well, plus the price tag, they are cheaper).

 

I used to do A+ PC soft/hard repair so I knew windows and the hardware inside out, but honestly have barely used it since W7, so thank you for pointing that out. I don't know how bad the gpu acceleration problem is on windows since I recently read it has more to do with apple's coding and whatnot for their proprietary gpus..which I might add are fairly impressive for integrated graphics...I'd still prefer cuda cores though.

 

OP: The steinberg audio drivers are there for convenience incase there is nothing else one can use. The first choice of driver to use is ALWAYS the oem ASIO driver that came with your audio hardware. There are oem drivers that suck as well, so in the instance that your audio oem failed to supply a decent driver then go ahead and try stuff like A4A or the steinberg drivers, etc... Of course the best solution here is to use audio hardware that is notorious for the solidity of their drivers. That's the way of it on the windows side - the audio hardware is only 1/2 of the equation the drivers are the other half.

Nvidia driver packages (the "studio" one is all I have ever used) will install a lot of overhead (i.e. bloat) if you allow them to. It's not necessarily that they create more traffic hardware wise per se. I have been running Nvidia GPU's for a long while (because I do video production on the same machine) and have always used hardware acceleration with positive results, never impacting the audio side. The thing about Nvidia drivers is to use the tools that disallow the installation of the "bloat" that the original installer will (regardless of installer settings) place on your system. All you really need is the driver and the control panel for a production workstation. That's it. The only way I have found to achieve this result is by using the NVidia driver install tools that install EXACTLY only what you tell them to install.

And I totally agree with you about RMEaudio hardware. Been using their stuff for years with their ASIO drivers. Rock solid like tanks is the best way to describe them.

 

Last edited: Jun 12, 2026 at 11:58 PM

You typed all that out and that is the absolute bare minimum any user of Cubase will do. Secondly, it's almost entirely unrelated to actually optimizing Cubase, it is optimizing things completely irrelavant to Cubase. That Nivida driver mismatch you are talking about? That takes 1 Cubase crash to encounter, one more to capture and read a crashdump file, and then you go get the correct driver.

Absolutely nothing you mentioned OPTIMIZES Cubase, or will have Cubase lower system resources usage close to REAPER, ever. Most of it is stuff any experienced Cubase/Nuendo user would setup correctly before putting a single audio file into the DAW.