It’s absolutely essential that when you select a track in the project, the controller automatically follows that selection. Many say this is a limitation of the Mackie protocol, but Logic manages to achieve this with its “Control Surface Follows Track Selection” function. Could we implement something similar in Nuendo?
When working with hundreds of tracks, uch as in film mixing, navigating through banks becomes extremely tedious.
Depends on your workflow.
I use a 24 track controller and i prefer it to not automatically follow track selection. Instead i have a 25th fader for the selected track. Combined with q-link, it’s became the fastest way to work for me. I can easily select a complete fx (even across many tracks and groups) and automate it’s related tracks very quickly. Without leaving my main bank which focuses on dialogues and master buses.
Tbe 24 tracks are configured with mackie control protocol, and the “selected track fader” is configured using MIDI Remote.
If you use a mackie control compatible device, you could try one of the compatible scripts for MIDI remote. Auto-banking would then be enabled (unfortunately can’t be disabled).
Thomas
I don’t think I fully understand what you’re saying.
I’ve spent the entire afternoon trying to remap my MCU Pro without success. I wanted to remap it so that it would follow the selected tracks, but the motorized faders don’t move in sync with the project, the MCU’s select buttons remain lit, and there are other issues that are certainly due to my lack of experience.
We definitely have two different workflows.
I have some configurations for Nuendo’s mixer that filter out what I don’t need, and that helps me. But sometimes I need the MCU to follow my selection in the project because I might have chosen to automate a track that is the 132nd in the project. As it stands, I have to press the bank forward button dozens of times before I get where I want with the MCU, and only after finding the selected track can I finally proceed with the automation. I find this inconvenient.
When I used to work in Logic Pro, this problem didn’t exist. I certainly wouldn’t go back to Logic Pro just for this reason, but still, it was convenient.
There is a new controller from Nektar on the market that can follow track selection. Unfortunately, despite its outstanding integration with Nuendo, it only has a single fader.
Who knows, maybe I could use it alongside my old MCU Pro to solve this issue, and someday replace the 8 faders of my MCU with an SSL UF8. This way, I could always have the selected track’s fader available on the Nektar, while the UF8 would allow me to control multiple faders simultaneously for more complex mixing.
Marco
Hi,
Sorry I should have advertised that i use a complete custom controller that i made from scratch. (you can have a glimpse here: How to deal with motorised faders - #6 by thomas_martin)
But in essence it’s just 3 MCU plus an add-on that is more-or-less a Nektar CS12.
Nuendo 12 introduced a new way of interfacing a MIDI controller with Nuendo called MIDI Remote. Nektar CS12 takes great advantage of it because it allows deeper integration than any MIDI protocol before thanks to an evolving API.
There are scripts written by users that should be compatible with most MCU clones (or originals). In the end they all use the same set of MIDI messages. You might want to try one of them and see if it fits your workflow because MIDI Remote is ALWAYS auto-banking (which is a big flaw to me, i hate auto-banking).
For example, there is this one or this one or maybe this one and there may be more…
Just don’t forget to disconnect you controllers from the mackie control instances in the studio setup.
Yes, that is probably true, to each is own ergonomics.
To summarize my way of dealing with 250+ tracks (i Mix cartoon shows mostly):
My template has 16 tracks of dialogues at the top and then all the buses and Fxs. Therefore with 24 faders, I can have most of them in front of my eyes all the time.
When i want to automate another track , i use my 25th fader which controls the ‘selected track(s)’ (Q-link option), in fact i have a display/control of the full selected channel strip. Also I set the preference “track selection follows event selection” ON.
Just an example: let’s say a big robot is crossing the screen from left to right. I can select all its related clips (footsteps, foleys, fxs, voice, whatever), this will in turn select the related tracks. Now I just have to grab my panner with my right hand and my fader with the left one and all the robot’s related sounds will be following my movements.
And the best is i still have all my most important channels right there in front of me and didn’t lose time banking back and forth. 
But again, to each is own…
Hope this helps,
Thomas
My Faderport classic does this with Nuendo 13 (Mackie protocol). Hoping it doesn’t break when I upgrade to an M4 / Apple Silicon.
This just works fine with my Avid S1 and Eucon. I also had the original FaderPort 1 and it also was capable of following the track selection. I think Softube Fader MkIII also follows track selection. So there are many controllers doing that.
SSL UF8 can now do it too.
Simply insert the SSL 360 Link plugin into each track. Set the layer to “Plug-In Mixer” and set Pan & Fader to DAW. Then the thing does autobanking and also displays the colors of the tracks. The faders on the UF8 move the faders in the mixer as usual.
That works since quite some time now, but honestly: That’s not a real solution.
Does your FaderPort come with its own software? My MCU Pro doesn’t follow the selection.
Eucon is a whole different world.
In fact, I’m considering getting the Softube MKIII, but it’s frustrating to spend almost 1K when I have a perfectly functioning MCU Pro.
My projects often include hundreds of tracks. For me, the idea of inserting the SSL plugin on each track is not appealing. The Softube MKIII does it without having to insert any plugins.
No. Mackie HUI as per this PreSonus setup guide:
SSL UF8 uses MCU, so no autobanking.
Nektar, Presonus, Softube uses its own API integration, so it works.
Cubase/Nuendo stores the current fader bank statically as long as no direct MIDI commands or special API commands from Steinberg are used.
Steinberg hasn’t modernized the MCU implementation for years, so this feature is missing.
Unfortunately, the problem will remain as long as SSL does not build deep Cubase integration like Nektar, Softube or Presonus have done.
It does if you’re using the Plug-in Mixer layer with 360 Link/Channel Strip/BusComp plugin tracks, right? It may not be “ideal,” but it “works.” Unless I’m misunderstanding something…
Yes - it works perfectly. And we don’t need the 20 vocal tracks, individual choir tracks and doubled guitars on the UF8. So I can live with it, even if it’s not ideal. And I also have the Nektar CS12 running in parallel.
Yeah, the Nectar looks nice. I’d probably try it out if I had the room 
You know, I kind of LIKE how the Plug-in Mixer layer works in a way. I’ll normally work in my Cubase Layer, and Layer 2 is typically “Live,” but it’s kind of nice to jump in, change L2 to Plug-in Mixer and work with sub-group tracks that automatically get filtered out for active SSLl plug-ins.
Not sure if it makes sense, but I’ve been making a concerted effort to stop mixing with my “eyes” and just my “ears” and the Plug-in Mixer approach happens to work well for me. So while not “ideal,” there are some nice artifacts that come out of the way it works (to me, anyway). Good stuff.
I can only recommend the Nektar CS12. Although it is already pre-mapped with most plugins, we deleted everything and trained it so that only the parameters that are really important to adjust appear.
This is the plugin controller that really works perfectly. And also the first controller with which you can easily adjust the sends of a channel. The Nektar CS12 can autobanking without any plugins.
We bought the CS12 three times.
The SSL UF8 is only used for mixing the volume.
Interesting what do you mean with “deleted everything and trained it”?
Do you mean you removed all mappings and added new ones?
Sounds like a lot of extra work… or am i misinterpreting?
If a plugin has 20 parameters, but you only ever need the same 3 parameters of this vst-plugin, it makes sense to reinitialize this plugin. Then you don’t have to search every time for which potentiometer is responsible for which parameter.
Put the CS12 in Learn Mode:
You select one of the potentiometers on the CS12 and move the control in the vst plugin. The CS12 recognizes this immediately. Select the next potentiometer on the CS12 and move the next fader or control in the vst plugin. It is recognized immediately - and automatically labeled. In 2 to 3 minutes you have completely reprogrammed a plugin. It’s child’s play. And it’s fun.
It took me 30 minutes to re-learn 12 plugins.
You don’t have to do that - but for me it made sense to teach the potentiometers in such a way that I could find them later without even looking.
I am a cubase user, and i have a CS12 too. This is the best plugin controller. I mapped all my plugins again and it works very well