It seems, Cubase won’t allow me to set stereo plugins to mono in the channel editor/routing tab. As channel configuration there’s “Standard - Stereo” preselected with no option for a mono setting.
It works with mono plugins only in 8.5.0 as a workaround.
Loading an insert preset from 8.0.3 with stereo plugins loaded that are set to mono will work though. So the ability is still there, just the chance of altering the setting is gone. In that scenario (loading such a configuration from 8.0.3) I can set the mono routing to stereo but then I’m stuck. There’s no way back to mono anymore.
If you compare the manual of C8 and C8.5 you find a note on the Routing editor (page 404 in the english manual) in 8.5 that dosn’t exist in the C 8 manual. It says:
You can only make settings in the Routing Editor if you route multi-channel audio through an effect that supports less channels.
For me that sound like the new behaviour is intended. I understand it the way that you are only able to change something if the audiochannel has more channels than the plugin can process. So routing a stereo Track into a stereo Plugin means you are not able to change something because all channels are covered by the plugin. When you add a mono plugin to a stereo track the requirements are fulfilled to change something.
Possibly it’s intented behaviour… that’d be bad workflowwise, at least to me.
Why? I did not install mono plugins (i.e. UAD, which I use a lot, have mono and stereo plugin dlls that Cubase handles automatically - less UAD-dsp consumption on mono channels, it treats the non-mono version as a mono version, great!).
If I install the mono dlls and insert plugins by text search (great, great workflow speed function!) I get an additional ‘Mono’ folder displayed in the plugin menu which keeps me from just hitting enter to load a plugin. Instead I have to fiddle with the mouse to choose mono/stereo (and there it goes, the workflow speed).
And what about the plugins that have no dedicated mono version like Cubase’ onboard stuff? Not possible anymore to create a unique L/R reverb setting with i.e. Revelation by using just one FX or group channel?!? Doesn’t seem like a cool thing
My guess is that this is a precursor of the highly demanded reintroduction of simple mono/stereo switch per channel. Code might have been changed in advance to re-implement this, the loss of proper plugin routing ‘as we knew it’ could be a side effect. Really just guessing…
