Do you use th built in channel strip?

Do you use the built in channel strip in Cubase? or do you prefer to use insert section? do you use 3rd party channel strips?


the build in eq and ch strip are good but I donā€™t use them. I mostly use UAD plugins because, well I had uad since 2006 or something and I luv them old and new :slight_smile:

I usually use Fab filter Q3 for equalizing but i sometimes also use the build in compressor. Itā€™s not so extensive but quite easy to use actually. Great to make on the fly adjustments!

Hi all

Yup use the EQ all the time, occasionally the compressor, but usually use UAD for that. Also sometimes use the saturation.

Best Regards, Dave

I alwys liked the vintage comp. Now with the added GUI in the channel strip actually working for me, I really like the strip, as I can now better make small adjjustments to the strip settingsā€¦ saves me having to add multiple vintage comps as inserts, just to be able to use the GUI.

The strip EQ has already been my staple EQ since the strip was implemented. I only add Freq/ Curve when additional points/ bands are required.

I donā€™t use them at all as I donā€™t like the Cubase Mixer and Workflow in that regard at all.
I mix nearly entirely with console 1

Yes. Immediately turn to Strip EQ for high/low cut duties and often some dipping/boosting that needs dealing with straight away. Compressor gets a look in, but do use the stock one on an insert for more control.

Having said that, I do have all the Toneboosters and Tokyo Dawn Labs stuff - which I rely on a lot.!

absolutely
I use it for the input busses and also for some quick on the fly eq also as the previous user said as hp /lp stuff which saves a slot or two on my insert rack not to mention CPU resources .
the comp is also super for just that ā€¦ a comp no added colour just a comp ā€¦
so yeah I like it and use it every time

I like it but hardly use it, just for quick rough mixes. My workflow relied on UAD plugins for long long time, today itā€™s UAD plus some native stuff, including some Cubase stock plugins. If the channel strip had been implemented 15 years ago my workflow would have developed differently I guess.

Iā€™d encourage everyone including myself to explore it thoroughly, the given strip plugins are pretty good if used with love. However, most times it doesnā€™t suit my way of working to have a whole block of processing in a chain that I can reorder but not place absolutely free other plugins. Since we thankfully have 16 insert slots thereā€™s simply no need for me to deal with CS as the number of slots allows for exact that :slight_smile:

of course, yes!

I think itā€™s great to concentrate more on hearing in this case.
Even if there are not many modules, you get great results with this channel strip.
For a test I have changed my Waves, Fabfilter, Softube etc. against the Channel Strip effects - and you hardly believe it, it sounded almost identical. A bit different, but itĀ“s absolutely okay.
I often use the channelstrip for very fast sidechaining! (ducking e.g.) - press SC-button, BOOM!, done.
or Saturation (MagnetoII, Tube Emulations), itĀ“s so easy to use (copy channel settings with Mix Console Link Mode)
Transient Shaper and the Compressors are also very nice.
I use the Channel EQ and the Hi/Lo Cuts a lot.
Great peace of stuff. Hope this Channel Stip will be extended in the future.

C.

Hereā€™s my take on the Channel Strip Rack. It is basically another set of inserts that sit in a different location. For a user new to sequencing, it provides a good built-in collection of commonly used audio tools out of the box. Nothing fancy and nothing outstanding, but still quite usable. The EQ has been treated a little differently. Because it preceded the Rack, itā€™s been designed into the GUI to be almost as accessible as an EQ on a typical hardware mixerā€¦and as a result, it typically gets used more often than the rest of the dynamically oriented Rack tools.

I think there are two reasons why the Rack is ignored by most long time users. One, is that we are used to going to and using the Insert location to provide all the tools weā€™ve ever needed. Prior to the introduction of the Rack, Steinberg provided those kinds of plug-ins to be used as Insertsā€¦and still do. I think we just got used to the paradigm early on, and when the Rack was introduced, most of us looked at it and passedā€¦which brings me to the second reason: beyond the EQ (and of late, the Compressor), there isnā€™t anywhere near as much ā€œtheatreā€ provided by the Rack inventory. Letā€™s face it, the Rack tools are tiny and just donā€™t ā€œpopā€ visually like a well designed and fully featured 3rd party plug-in that you paid extra for.

My two cents.

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+1 !

I rarely if ever use stocks plugin. Iā€™ve got third party that are probably better and that I know regardless of the daw I happen to use.
I actually dream of a daw that makes only the daw. No plugs at all

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Completely +1 to all that @Weasel posted above.

Thereā€™s perhaps something else more mundane that stops people using the Rack, in the MixConsole certainly.

Unless you have large size monitors at high resolution, you just very, very quickly give up and stop fighting the crippled navigation there. You are constantly folding/unfolding panels to access stuff, coupled with the complete INABILITY to easily scroll open modules into view (without inadvertently adjusting a parameter you didnā€™t want to). It just doesnā€™t work well for Laptop or, like me, 22" 1920x1080 res screens.

(I remembered trying out Reason at a friends studio ages back - the Mixer was a joy to play around in/navigate, with its large ā€˜scroll-bar/windowā€™ at the right for exampleā€¦)

And, following on from @Weaselā€™s comments, the Rack control knobs in the Strip via the MixConsole are just boring looking and really bland and faceless now. Were the colours really too muchā€¦? Did loads of folk complain I wonderā€¦? Well, what thatā€™s done is left it with ZERO personality. Not even a slither of colour around just the rings of the control knobs at leastā€¦?

They also went and removed the very useful LED meters for Gate/compressor/limiter modules :unamused: So, why not bring over the meters from the modules in the Strip (via Channel Settings window) into the MixConsole Rack modules.? They look and behave really nice and smartā€¦ :wink:

Like most folk I imagine, if I am using the Strip, it will always be from inside the Channel Settings Editor window.

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Just the eq

yes - this is most annoying.

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I work with a channel settings window open on my second monitor always
I use hi/low pass on every channel
The channel eq I use very often or I use it to quickly check settings before I load a different eq to add color
The rest of the channel strip I all most never use because they are out of sight and itā€™s very hard to see on which channel I use it. If I use compressor/saturation I load them as a plugins in a regular insert slot so I can easily reach and see them from every screen (mixer, project, channel etc).

My suggestion to Steinberg:

  1. It will be extremely useful to have a way to set a default settings for channel. For example: Every time I add a new channel I have to activate and set the hi/low cut.
  2. It will be nice if The channel strip tab light up (or some indication) when thereā€™s activated modules in use. Or to have the option to open only the channel strip in a separate window (as a regular plugin).

I like the tape saturation from the channel strip (not Magneto, but the basic tape saturation. Magneto is not available in Cubase elements).

Correct me if Iā€™m wrong, but this basic tape saturation is the only effect from the channel strip thatā€™s not available as a normal insert plugin.

Edit. Iā€™ve found that the basic tape saturation is part of Quadrafuzz 2, another plugin thatā€™s not available in Elements.

I think if they just did some basic work on the modules (better features in expanded mode, better scaling of attack, release and meteringā€¦etc) and even integrated frequency instead of the slimmed down EQ, channel strip would be amazing to use.

Hell, they have that incredible analyser plugin now, imagine if that was integrated.
Add to that some simple shortcuts to call up different modulesā€¦voila. You have a mixing powerhouse.