Constant CPU Spikes and Audio Dropouts!

Help! I’m at my whits end. I recently upgraded to CB Pro 8. I also made the switch from PC to a MacBook Pro (see signature for specs). I am trying to track and mix some VERY simple projects. One instance of Superior Drummer and a total of 9 audio tracks. Very few plugins. A few compressors, some EQ, and two sends (verb and delay). When I simply hit play on a session, it begins fine, but as the song progresses, the CPU maxes out and the stutters/dropouts begin and get worse as the song continues. By the end of the song, the tracks are hardly audible and the entire program is running sluggish.

On my previous machine, I was mixing 30-40 track songs with several CPU intensive plugins and was just beginning to have issues. My Mac has a better processor and more ram than my PC. Why is this happening? I can’t find an answer anywhere. I’ve tried “Repair Disk Permissions” and resetting the ram (Option+Ctrl+P+R). My buffer is at 2048 samples!!! Even at idle, once the session has become bogged down, the average peak time sits around 85-90%. I’ve tried different buffer rates with and without ASIO Guard and nothing helps. My drivers are current for my interface.

Can someone please help me? I have work to do and I’m banging my head against a wall trying to fix this problem. I’ve reached out to Steinberg but have not heard anything back. I would appreciate any advice/knowledge on the issue.