I just came across the feature and I feel bad because I should be used to this with Cubase/Nuendo, but the feature looks so old that I automatically ask myself, “Is this deprecated? Does it work? Is it worth the time figuring out how to use it?”
It seems to have an extremely odd workflow that is rather different from a variety of other workflows in the application. Any thoughts?
I should add that it also does seem like a nice idea. Basically a customizable parameter panel in the mixer.
This is one of the oldest features of Cubase. I think it was already present on the Atari version.
The idea is to remote control external devices from within Cubase. Quite the opposite of nowadays, where external devices remote control Cubase.
The Device Panel “module” was ported to the new codebase over 20 years ago. Hardly anything has changed since the 90’s, though. That is why it looks so odd. It already was a bit odd back then.
I am using it on one external sound module for one purpose only: to switch modes on that sound module. I guess I could do more but I am not using hardware so often anymore so…
Some people created some very sophisticated panels back in the days. You might be able to find some screen shots through Google.
To add to what @Johnny_Moneto already mentioned:
Cubase (like some others) has its origins as a MIDI sequencer, well before Audio recording and Virtual Instrument and FX plugins.
In those days, all of the audio was done via external hardware and tape machines – along with synchronization hardware, which used one of the audio tracks on a multi-track tape deck as a synchronization track which was fed into the sequencer software (e.g. Cubase) to provide the midi clock, thus keeping the computer software locked to the tape deck.
And from that background to this date Cubase has always included quite a bit of functionality to include external hardware (using MIDI and audio – instruments as well as fx) along with plugins. The Studio > Audio Connections panel still attests to that. So with a bit of planning and thought, one can integrate one’s hardware devices into Cubase very elegantly. The main caveat is, that while using external hardware, all the audio rendering has to be done real-time.
It’s actually very cool, that Cubase still facilitates that.
Device Panels are used to control mainly external MIDI equipment, allowing you to integrate the control of the hardware for example by embedding the panel in the Track Inspector. Device Panels can also control plugins and VSTis – here’s a good, but old, Sound On Sound article.
You can see some examples of what’s possible on this (equally old) website:
http://cykong.com/CubaseSX/SXpanels.htm
You can also download these ones!
It’s a lot of work to do something like the above, but if you just want to be able to control e.g. input gain on an external preamp with MIDI, it’s quite simple with a bit of trial and error. The official documentation is in the “MIDI Devices” PDF, and yes, it’s been a long time since the feature has seen a facelift!