This seems like a bug, but I’m not familiar enough with the development history of Cubase to be certain. It happens just about everyday with my sessions.
System
Mac Pro 10.6.8; Cubase 6.0.5 64-bit (not sure if it occurs on 32-bit version); RME Fireface UFX (USB); also experienced on Apogee Duet 2 (USB). Not sure if this is a USB only issue or not. I can’t get it to occur on my Windows 7 machine at work (which also uses USB).
Summary
Switching between projects which use different sample rates causes playback issues with the freshly opened project. Reproducing requires that you open a project which is a different sample rate than that which your system is currently set. It doesn’t have to be when you are switching between projects. It can occur on a fresh boot of Cubase.
Repro Steps
Set your audio interface sample rate to 44.1kHz (on a Mac with a USB interface)
Load Cubase and create a project at 44.1kHz
Place some audio on a track which you can playback; a virtual instrument with a MIDI performance will also work
Save it and then close the project
Set your audio interface sample rate to 96kHz
Create a new project at the new 96kHz sample rate
Place some audio on a track which you can playback; a virtual instrument with a MIDI performance will also work
Save it and then close the project
Load the first session (44.1kHz)
Attempt to playback the project
Note that it does not playback correctly
Close the session and re-open it; Note that it now plays back correctly
Workaround
Prior to opening a session which changes the sample rate, manually switch the sample rate of your audio device and then open the session. This alleviates the issue. However, the user can’t always foresee when a project will be at a different sample rate than the current one.
Notes
It seems that allowing Cubase to switch the sample rate on the device causes the issue to occur. This might be a CoreAudio thing on OSX because I can’t reproduce this issue on my Windows 7 machine at work. If it does occur, then instead of quitting Cubase (and having to reload the project allllll over again) you can switch audio devices in the device settings section and then switch back to your original interface and all will be fine.
I hope it gets fixed soon. There are a lot of times when I don’t know that a saved project is at a different sample rate than what I currently have set. So, when I load a project there is a good chance that playback does not function correctly. At this point, I can close the session and reload it (extremely frustrating and time consuming) or switch devices around in the device settings menu. Either way, it is frustrating and a waste of time.
Did you post this in the RME forums? As you said, it is not happening on Windows, and it sounds like a driver issue rather than a Cubase one. Sorry for not being very helpful. Hope this gets resolved soon too!
Thanks for the reply, Jose. It doesn’t seem to be a driver issue because I have had it occur on two different USB interfaces. Seems like a legitimate bug specific to OSX.
I don’t think it’s an RME issue as I’ve been having something similar happen with Windows 7 and Cubase. Say I’m working in 48khz on a session and my interface is set to 48kHz. I am using 2 M-Audio Delta 1010s which have their own PCI host cards, so this takes USB out of the picture…I go about daily usage, and something like a YouTube clip changes the M-Audio sample rate to 44.1kHz to play something…When I open Cubase up again next and load that 48kHz session, it doesn’t change the sample rate to 48kHz - it leaves it wherever it’s at…in this case 44.1kHz…So, everything plays back slower and of course, once Cubase is started, the sample rate is locked and you cannot change it without completely shutting down Cubase, changing the sample rate, then re-opening Cubase, which is a pain.
So, if this is similar to what the OP is experiencing, it takes RME and USB out of the picture, and leaves it somewhat of a Cubase issue as it’s happened to him on a Mac and me on Windows 7. In fact, I came across this post just now doing a search for help with just this issue.
I go from one sample rate to another everyday without issues (from 44.1KHz to 48KHz or 96KHz). Perhaps there is a setting in Cubase that you guys have enabled/disabled that we don’t. If this was a common thing I’m sure we would have more people reporting it, so it seems like there is a rare combination of factors that produces this. For starters, do you have “Release Driver when Application is in Background” enabled under the Device Setup menu?
I myself don’t have that checked…thought about checking ‘externally clocked’ but that doesn’t seem like the answer…I’ve also noticed that even back with Cubase 4 where I started with Cubase at and with Cubase 5, clicking the Control Panel button in Cubase’s Device settings doesn’t bring up the Delta Control Panel. Not a huge deal since there’s an icon in the system tray for it, but could be an indicator that the M-Audio driver doesn’t want to play nice with Cubase…
In searching for help on this, there are several posts in other forums of people having this same problem or one similar to it with Cubase and Nuendo:
In most of those cases, those guys are having issues with Cubase wanting to change the sample rate to 44.1 upon opening it…the most offered suggestion is to save a 48kHz template and work off that which seems to work for most of them.
That is not the issue I have though…If my M-Audio rate is set to 48kHz and I open Cubase, it’ll stay there and it will play and record in 48kHz…for me it’s when the M-Audio is set to 44.1kHz and I open a 48kHz project in Cubase, Cubase won’t change the M-Audio rate to match the project and play it at the correct sample rate. Either Cubase isn’t trying to change it, or the M-Audio driver won’t let Cubase change it.
Thing is, I never manually change the M-Audio rate to 44.1…something else does it like Windows Media Player or iTunes or some other program is changing it when i don’t see it and I only discover it when I go to work on a 48kHz project and find it playing back at a slower speed.
I don’t have that option checked either, but that was the first thing I thought of that could cause this issue (i.e. Cubase wanting to revert back to your system’s built-in soundcard’s Sample Rate when in the background). Another thing that could cause the issues described in those threads is Windows Sounds. I set my system’s sound scheme to “No Sounds”. It’s actually one of the first things I disable in my system. I also disable my system’s built-in soundcard (which you do in the BIOS) and thus I do not install ANY other sound drivers from any other device (i.e. Video Card with HDMI ports). I keep my system as clean and DAW oriented as possible.
Not sure if these things would help, but they are worth a try if you haven’t done so already. On the other hand, you’re saying that you’re not able to access your interface’s Control Panel from Cubase, which could indicate a driver issue originating from M-Audio.
Now that you mention it, I usually DO have mine set to No Sounds, but noticed recently that they’re back on…wonder if THAT"S what’s resetting my Delta rate…?..Hm…I’ll turn it back off and see what happens…I do have the onboard audio disabled in BIOS, always have…don’t have any cards with HDMI outs or anything and this is a DAW oriented machine…
I’ve posted about this on the M-Audio forum to see what they have to say - don’t know right now if it’s a Cubase or M-Audio issue at the moment.
I’m wondering now if I should even expect things to work the way I’m thinking. I mean, SHOULD Cubase be allowed to change the sample rate based on the project settings, or is it working correctly that the Delta driver is set to 44.1 and nothing is allowed to change it? Which is the way it should work? I don’t know…
So, I guess that’s my question at this point…if my audio driver is set for 44.1 and I open a project in 48k, SHOULD the audio driver change to reflect that, or should it remain where it was set?
The way that it’s always worked for me is that the Project’s Sample Rate is what dictates the sample rate of the interface. This has been the same for me no matter which DAW (Cubase, Sonar or Studio One). Actually, I also remember it being the same when I had a Delta44 long time ago, so I’m hopeful that turning System Sounds OFF was the culprit.
I was having the same issues and come to find out I had my instrument tracks Frozen and when I change the samplerate my tracks remained the old rate which caused the odd artifacts
