The CPU meter is probably at 10% or less usage. It only starts tacking on usage once I start adding effects VSTs like DynamicCompression or Sonic Maximizer. But, this early into working on the track, I hadn't added any effects yet. So, the CPU usage is extremely low.

The difficulty/bug appears to be related to the VST loading engine. I'm also not sure what kind of internal communication/syncronization system that the programmers are using. If it's some kind of pipe or similar thread synchronization system, that could be what's getting hosed up (at least as far as the 'no sound / no midi' issue) after the application gets killed forcebly.

But, the above is likely only incidentally related to why the VSTs don't want to load fully when opening a previous project. This loading issue looks to be a problem with the VST loading engine (loading too many too fast and/or a racing condition). This VST issue was definitely not present and has never happened when running Cubase SX 3. For SX 3, I'm running 3.1.1 from October 2005 and it may not be the most current update. For Cubase 4, I'm running 4.0.2 from Feb 2007.