Hi Guin -
Yes - the problem is particularly bad when working with Cubase and the latest VEPro.
If you're not already... to get faster saves maybe check out "decoupled" mode of VEPro. If you use that, a project save in Cubase or any DAW will be much quicker. You just have to remember to save the VEPro server project separately and load that up before opening your Cubase project.
But even the connection to these decoupled instances is many, many times slower than it was with the eLicenser version.
Personally I've rolled back to the eLicenser version as the iLok version is currently unusable for me.
The performance issues when working with VEPro iLok and Cubase/Nuendo:
Extremely slow connection to VEPro instances (I tested with pared-down project of 128 instances decoupled with a Kontakt instrument inside each instance. VEPro 7.0.1113 connects to all instances in approx 12 seconds and VEPro 7.1.x takes 5 minutes 23 seconds.)
Extremely slow switchover to MIXDOWN mode to do an offline bounce (With the same pared-down test project VEPro 7.0.1113 takes <10 seconds to switchover and begin the bounce. VEPro 7.1.x takes 2 minutes 14 seconds to begin the bounce and another 2 minutes 14 seconds at the end of the bounce to come out of MIXDOWN mode.)
With this second problem, batch offline bounce and batch export events is basically unusable as the switchover to MIXDOWN mode and back happens with every event that’s rendered.
The above are pared-down test projects. With a real-world project I'm working on, the problems are worse as there are more instances.
VSL are aware of the issue but it is not a priority for them to fix as it might be a third party issue (they mean Steinberg I assume?). But that's a bit hard to swallow as this problem was introduced with the change to the latest iLok version of VEPro without changing any other part of the setup.
I might be wrong but this appears to be a regression of a problem that was fixed in an earlier version as the exact same issues were present and then fixed in a VEPro release. https://www.vsl.co.at/community/posts/t52574--SOLVED--Cubase-10-Super-Long-Load-and-Close-Times-VE-PRO-7
Anyway - hopefully VSL will read your message and it will help increase the priority to fix it as it indicates that it's not just a single user with the issue.