it's very distressing. it was worse on the reinstall.

it suggests the only possible problem is izotope, although that doesn't add up to me based on the other testing i've done. but, we'll have to see how far i get without it and whether i can get to that conclusion or not.

i'll have to reinstall yet again to find out, because uninstalling izotope seems to have cut the right side out of cubase, and reinstalling cubase didn't help. and, to be blunt, that's a good sign.

if i work it down to that, it's a moderately sized problem. i've been using this program for quite some time, and while it's had some issues it's never been anything like this. these are old files, coming off of tape. the source needs that sort of attention.

i have a number of ideas to try and get around it if i can demonstrate it.

for now, i quite literally have one more chance to get this to behave before i start panicking. it's essentially a logical necessity that this works. there's no other possibilities to address.