I have two Windows PC's. The primary/host PC is a Windows 11 machine running Cubase 12 Pro and VE Pro 7.2.1481 Server I have VE Pro running on this same machine with a physical iLok and it works perfectly. No dropouts, no perceivable latency.

My 2nd machine is running VE Pro 1.2.1481 Server using the iLok cloud, but I have a physical iLok on the way.

Both of these machines are connected directly to each other with a CAT5 cable and a dedicated network card each, separate from their internet connections which are through their motherboard's integrated network.

With just a single instance of Kontakt on the secondary machine and nothing but the one instance of VE Pro on the primary machine, I get audio dropouts, probably on average of every 30 seconds. It's definitely not an acceptable workflow. I have changed thread counts, adjusted buffers, ensured everything I know how, but I still get dropouts. The latency seems really good and responsive, but just every now and then, the audio is totally interrupted for a second or two.

I've scoured the internet for solutions and chased many ideas, but nothing has helped yet. I know that VE Pro 7 is going through some growing pains right now and I'm really hoping to resolve this soon.

The one thing that occurred to me, and I'm really not smart enough to know, is that I wonder if the cloud-based iLok could have anything to do with it. I don't know how that works exactly, but maybe there's a constant checking of the validity of the connection or something? Like I said, I'm really not smart enough to be saying these things with conviction, but it came to mind and I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks good folks!