If this is a new installation, right click the program icon and run in compatibility mode for Vista 32 or XP.

If this is an installation that has worked successfully for a while I would suggest you check your cable connections to 1) your interface, 2) external hard drives, and 3) any other peripherals including their associated power jacks. If any of these become intermittent that can cause programs accessing them to become unstable.

The fact that it runs for 20 minutes before crashing sort of leads me to the idea that you are recording onto your OS drive. If your projects are big enough they could jam up the hard drive bus and/or temp folder.

This has happened ever since I installed it. I tried running it in compatibility mode and it does the same thing. On my laptop which is 32 bit, it runs just fine.

Your right I am recording on the OS drive. However it is a pretty good drive and the projects arent that big just because it crashes before I can do anything!!!!

The quality of the drive doesn't necessarily have much to do with it. The problem is trying to send and receive data on the hard drive bus.

I would also try disabling any VST folders temporarily to see if there is a problem with FX that are NOT 64 bit compatible. There are quite a few of those actually.

How do I disable the folders?

I don't know Cubase at all but in my other DAW programs there is an option somewhere of adding or managing VST plugins. Check your help filess or manual. Conversely, if you know where the folder is in your computer you can just rename it temporarily.

Cubase LE 4.1 upwards runs on 64 bit machines - did you download and install the latest updates

http://www.steinberg.net/index.php?id=880&L=1

Ok so I have done some more testing. Apparently when I am recording a tracking when several other tracks have already been recorded it will crash. If i mute the other tracks that are playing while I am recording and solo the recording track it will not crash.

Sounds like I need a USB HD to me. What do you guys think?

The fact that it runs for 20 minutes before crashing sort of leads me to the idea that you are recording onto your OS drive. If your projects are big enough they could jam up the hard drive bus and/or temp folder.

The quality of the drive doesn't necessarily have much to do with it. The problem is trying to send and receive data on the hard drive bus.

I believe it was already suggested. Indeed it's suggested in every thread having to do with building or using a DAW. External USB hard drives or internal HDD on its own separate cable are ALWAYS recommended for recording audio. I was going to say more but I'm afraid I might slip into plt sgt mode instead.

So what are the recommended specs on a USB HD? What should I look for and what should I stay away from?

7200 rpm drives. If you have the room the 3.5" drives are more sturdy than 2.5" drives. I make my own with Seagate SATA drives and Rosewill or Vantec NexStar3 enclosures. I had a bad experience with a 2.5" Bytec enclosure for an IDE drive but Vantec has been my staple. You don't need multiple interfaces like combo 1394/usb 2.0/esata. I have them and they work fine. The key is the USB 2.0. You can still find stuff out there that is only USB 1.

Most premanufactured 2.5" external drives are 5400rpm so read the specs carefully.

Thanks so much!!

Just make sure that your drive is secure in the enclosure and the screws are firm. A word of caution on the screws-

Tight's right but too tight's not right.

Screw slots are super easy to strip out on these enclosures.

Another thing about external drives or other tethered things. Make sure you don't bump them when recording. If you wiggle cables enough to drop the connection you will lock up your system or dump your DAW session. This is true whether its an interface or a HDD.

About what size should I be looking at?

My remote drives are all 250 gig. I have larger drives at home for archival storage. It doesn't matter as long as the drive is big enough for your session and mixing and bounce downs.

Alrighty I just ordered me a 500gb 3.5" 16mb cache drive. So what exactly do I do with the drive. Put cubase and everything associated with it on the drive? Do I uninstall it and reinstall it onto the new drive?

OS drive contains windows and all the program files.

The auxiliary drive contains the destination folder for the recorded audio and also the temp files. These destinations are set in your DAW. The only thing on this drive is audio. Do not chain it on the same cable as the OS drive. It should have it's own cable going to it's own port whether SATA or IDE.

Ok so I just hooked up my handy dandy new HD and started recording again and what do you know, it locked up.

I moved the destination folder for the recorded audio but not the temp files. Where are they located? I coudn't find them.

I am sooooooo mad at this point I am ready to just throw everything away. I have a fortune invested in plastic!!!

Well after it froze I decided to just leave it over night and see what happens and what do you know it was unfroze by this morning. Apparently it unfroze itself and kept on playing and stopped at beat 100k+ lol. So what now?

Before I got the new HD the next day it would still be frozen. So I guess I am getting somewhere?!?!?!

Sorry, I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger the last couple of days. Remind me if you have plugins engaged. Also remind me about what your interface is.

With Audition I sometimes get hangups when starting up if my default interface is not present (FF800) and it reverts to something else like Windows audio. What I mean is, make sure your default session IS with your interface and that that interface is connected. The kinds of DSP we ask of a pro sound card isn't possible on an inbuilt laptop or desktop card and will cause all kinds of lockup.

In fact, at my summer job I plug into a dock with "audio" capabilities and Audition hates it-crash central. I've gotten around it but I also have zilch for audio play time while wearing the IT hat and the Operations hat.

Well another update. It appears the cause is my Tascam US-144 interface. I can unplug it and do all sorts of midi editing (which always freezes when the tascam is plugged in) and it works fine.

Download and install the latest driver and especially the latest firmware for the Tascam US-144. Even if you have or think you have the latest, reinstalling won't hurt anything.

Firmware update utility here:
http://www.tascam.com/i-408-232-128-6-BEA7B551.exe

Drivers here:
;)

It does not appear there is a unified driver for all versions so make sure you get the 64bit and don't install the 32bit in compatibility mode.

Remember that since this is a USB device, you will always be limited in how much data will stream reliably. I'd limit yourself to no more than 4 tracks until you upgrade to firewire at some future date. That said, mixing shouldn't be much of a problem if the export to the interface is a stereo main bus.

TheJackAttack wrote:
Remember that since this is a USB device, you will always be limited in how much data will stream reliably. I'd limit yourself to no more than 4 tracks until you upgrade to firewire at some future date. That said, mixing shouldn't be much of a problem if the export to the interface is a stereo main bus.

The monitoring is usually via the stereo bus. You should be able to record and play back as many tracks as the software and your computer is capable of. Only you are limited in the number of simultaneous inputs.