I would like to request the addition of an Effect Rack plugin that can host third party and Steinberg VST plugins inside a single insert slot, similar to Ableton Live’s Audio Effect Rack or Bitwig’s Chain and Container devices.
Currently, when a sound design chain exceeds Cubase’s maximum number of insert slots, the user must either render the track, export the audio, or route the channel into a Group Channel and continue processing there.
This workflow works technically, but it is messy, unintuitive, and difficult to manage. It also makes it harder to save and recall the entire sound design chain as one reusable preset, because the processing is split across multiple channels and routing stages.
Cubase should include a native plugin container that can host a large or effectively unlimited number of VST inserts inside one regular insert slot.
The rack should allow users to:
Load both Steinberg and third party VST plugins
Reorder, bypass, and replace plugins inside the rack
Save the complete chain as a single preset
Use automation and Quick Controls for hosted plugin parameters
Support serial and parallel processing chains
Retain full latency compensation and plugin delay reporting
Copy or move the complete rack between channels and projects
This would significantly improve sound design, mixing, and creative processing workflows while reducing unnecessary Group Channels, routing complexity, and track clutter.
Cubase already has powerful routing and plugin management capabilities, but the lack of a native insert container is a major workflow limitation compared with Ableton Live and Bitwig.
While this enhancement could certainly be useful, and, in particular, could allow using the Cubase native plugins that are not VST3 in this context, it is possible to get this function minus the Steinberg native plugins part now (for free) with Waves StudioVerse Audio Effects:
While Waves is obviously hoping you’ll use their plugins in this context, the plugin also supports VST3 plugins from third parties, and it provides all the functionality you’ve requested other than the (non-VST) Steinberg plugin part. (I’ve never attempted using Quick Controls within it, but since the plugin is a VST3 plugin, I think they should work as well as they do for any third party VST3 plugins.)
There is also additional functionality like being able to do multiband splits (e.g. make any compressors into a multiband compressor) and splitting the parallel processing out do dual band stereo or mid-side processing). They also have a StudioVerse Instruments plugin (also part of the Waves Free plugin pack) that can do a similar thing for creating complex instruments. These can also be used for moving presets between DAWs if needed.
I think I would much rather see Steinberg overhaul the insert system in Cubendo.
First thing I’d like to see is a removal of the artificial insert slots per channel. Next, allow more complex routing including frequency band splits and mid/side splits.
Solving this with a “chainer” type plugin is likely easier to realize but it has drawbacks and imo feels like a workaround to a problem that should be solved natively.
Besides, you already have 3rd party options if you prefer the chainer plugin route. As @rickpaul mentioned above, Waves makes an excellent plugin for this purpose and it’s free.
Steinberg had this thing a while back called VST Rack (now discontinued) - only available in a software bundle with some hardware products… Still seen/available in the Download Assistant…
Not exactly sure what all it did mind… However, they also had something called V-Stack, again discontinued.
From the manual:-
Enter Steinberg’s VST System Link! This revolutionary system makes it possible to have several computers working together as one large system, with no other requirements than ASIO compatible audio interfaces with digital audio connections. Computers connected via VST System Link will freely exchange audio and MIDI data, all in perfect sync, creating a digital audio network system. This provides an excellent solution to the problem of CPU-hungry VST Instruments: let one computer play audio and MIDI tracks and dedicate another computer to running VST Instruments only, taking full advantage of all available processor power!
V-STACK is the perfect application for this: a stand-alone VST Instrument host, supporting up to 16 VST Instruments with full mixing capabilities and VST effect support. The VST Instruments are controlled via MIDI over VST System Link or from a regular MIDI interface (e.g. for live use) and the audio can be freely routed to any outputs on your audio interface. Since there is no editing, event handling, etc. all processing power can be focused on VST Instruments and effects!
We hope you will enjoy working with V-STACK!
All to say, they (probably still) have the knowledge/skills internally to put together a ‘modern solution’, that satisfies the Feature Request in this thread - without having to massively re-invent any wheels, etc…
Complety agree with those arguments, an integrated Effect Rack “plugin” would make a more intuitive workflow and “feel safe” when saving preset in a native Steinberg environment.
Personally i use few third party plugin rack, but recall and saving preset over years would make also thing much simple and also more sure in term of “we never know what” could happen to those third party plugins over years…
I would also love to see the option to have a crossfade modulation between differents sources, like you have in Freestyle by New Sonics Arts.
I still have V-stack installed on the older systems here. xp or 7. It is/was indeed cool to use by itself on a second dedicated machine, routed over to a main Cubendo machine.
Doesn’t work on newer windows systems for some reason. Doesn’t like new processors or something…although it doesn’t really matter nowadays as current Cubendo licenses allow 3 machines (or more depending on your licenses) at a time. I can run an entire Cubendo on a separate machine even though only using it for effects like a souped-up VStack.
If this feature ever gets implemented, it will most likely be limited to the higher tier versions of Cubase as you could overcome the inserts limits of Elements and lower using an effects rack.
