AudioFuse 16Rig feels like a downgrade from my 10 year old UR44 in Cubase ASIO performance
I recently bought an Arturia AudioFuse 16Rig as the new center of my synth and hybrid studio setup. I was really looking forward to using it as my main interface, especially because of the routing options, standalone mixer functionality, ADAT expansion and all the physical I/O.
However, I am honestly pretty disappointed with the ASIO performance in Cubase so far.
My old Steinberg UR44 seems to perform significantly better in the exact same Cubase project, on the exact same computer, with the same sample rate, same VST instruments and same playback position.
Here is what I tested:
Cubase project settings:
44.1 kHz
24 bit
Same project
Same playback position
Same VST instruments
No active sends
No inserts
No monitored real-time instruments
No record-enabled instrument tracks
ASIO Safe Mode is disabled on the AudioFuse
Processing Precision is set to 32 bit float
Multi Processing enabled
ASIO-Guard enabled
The project contains a handful of VST instruments, including EZdrummer 3, TAL BassLine 101, OB-X, Arturia Piano V3, Korg multi/poly native, TAL Juno, TAL Jupiter.
With the AudioFuse 16Rig, I am running at 512 samples, and the ASIO-Guard load in Cubase is already surprisingly high. (Eats about half the Maximum load) (Input latency 13.107 ms, Output Latency: 8.503 ms):
With my old Steinberg UR44, I can run the same project at 128 samples, with lower or similar Cubase load and stable playback:
That is what I find really hard to understand. I expected the AudioFuse 16Rig to be a major upgrade, and in terms of I/O, routing and studio integration it absolutely is. But for actual Cubase ASIO performance with VST instruments, my old UR44 seems to be much more efficient.
I understand that the UR44 uses the Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO driver, and maybe that driver is simply better optimized for Cubase. But I did not expect the difference to be this noticeable.
To be clear, I am not saying the AudioFuse 16Rig is a bad interface. As a hardware hub, synth studio interface and standalone mixer, it has a lot going for it. But as a low-latency Cubase interface for VST-heavy projects, my experience so far has been very disappointing.
Has anyone else compared AudioFuse interfaces against Steinberg/Yamaha interfaces in Cubase?
Is this a known driver performance issue with the AudioFuse ASIO driver on Windows?
Are there any specific driver, USB or Cubase settings that made a real difference for you?
I would really like to keep the 16Rig because the hardware concept is almost perfect for my setup, but right now it feels like a major downgrade in actual Cubase performance compared to my old UR44.
Posted May 29, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC