You do realize that many folks would strenuously disagree with you about that.
+1!! Instrument Tracks are the best thing since sliced bread.
And many people agree
If you can’t see the point in them then can you explain why? It sounds like you are angry at your own erroneous use and/or negation of what makes using VSTi’s so easy in this day and age.
Another slide-in for hidden features/new possibilities: Cubase 8 allows sidechaining via the new Direct Routing functionality. No need to use a send slot anymore (in case you need all of them for something else).
Didn’t go through the whole long thread, so forgive me if this might have been mentioned already.
Simple - you see, we have (or rather ‘had’ before Steinberg ruined it) a perfectly good way of working where we have the VST Instruments window into which we load VST instruments (multi-timbral or otherwise) then we simply created MIDI tracks in the arrangement window, and point them at the VST instruments as required.
I think it was in 7.5 where they changed the VST instrument window into the unfathomably gigantic abomination that is it now, filled with lots of wasted valuable screen space, however the bit I’m most annoyed with is the changing of the behaviour of the ‘+’ button at the top which traditionally always added a new VST RACK instrument, but now for some bizarre reason, adds a new TRACK instrument into the arranger window. Note that the arranger window has it’s own add button to add an instrument track, which is where you would expect to find it.
This basically results in a situation where if you are used to working with RACK instruments, you now accidentally add TRACK instruments, however you might not realise until you try to work with a multi-timbral VST, or worse, you delete a MIDI track which you no longer need only to discover it was the one hosting the VST instrument and you just lost your recent work, particularly if you save without realising.
I realise that instrument tracks might be a good idea for ‘certain demographics’ shall we say, but as a long time user I feel like I’m being penalised and funnelled into this dumbed down way of working. It wouldn’t be so bad except for the VST instrument windows changes. To add a RACK instrument, you now actually have to click on the words ‘Rack instruments’ with the arrow next to it which appears to simply be a GUI label rather than something you are supposed to interact with. This is, in my opinion, utterly effing stupid and annoying and I’m concerned that we will see this functionality removed altogether in a future version.
After seeing the Cubase 8 default view where you basically lose a significant chunk of your display to the HUGE VST instruments rack, I suspect that this was a planned change all along and the ‘+’ adding a track instrument now kind of makes sense as at least it appears to be on the same window now, however it’s just a total waste of valuable space, particularly for someone who never uses track instruments.
While I have almost completely switched over to Instrument Tracks from Rack (making me part of a “certain demographic” 
), I do feel your pain, Fitz.
Sudden changes to long-standing workflow are a real pain (I’m still suffering through the changes made to some of the tool modifiers… Or how inserts and send can be deleted/reset in MixConsole by pressing delete key… With no undo, for instance).
I feel that, if these changes are to be made, there should be an option to revert to the old way, via preferences, whenever possible.
however you might not realise until you try to work with a multi-timbral VST
What is it that you can’t do with multi timbral instruments loaded as track instruments that you can do with rack instruments?
I thought they had made all options available to track instruments now.
Yeah, I can’t think of anything that you can’t do now with Instr. Tracks that you can do in Racks.
(The only gripe I have left is the weirdness with naming the first output VST Track. Other than that, they’re equal).
Some people, like Fritz, prefer the more open flow with MIDI Track>Rack>VST Outs.
It’s been a while since I last tried this - just tried it in 8 and extra MIDI tracks seem to be able to be pointed at instrument tracks, however my main gripe will and always be that the VST instrument has no business being tied to a MIDI track that can easily be deleted taking out everything that uses that VST.
No midi sends.
Touché!
I really was asking for my own benefit if there were any remaining differences…not trying to make any point so a “Touche” not really applicable by my understanding of it’s use.
Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, Grim… I meant in a light-hearted, playful way. I had stated:
I had made a point, so the “Touché” applies to me. I should’ve included my quote.
Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, Grim… I meant in a light-hearted, playful way. I had stated
I didn’t think for a moment it was intended in any derogatory sense…Only pointing out because of the way it might have made my comment look to the OP…not to tell you off for making it!
It’s not a new hidden feature for Cubase 8 but I found it by mistake in Cubase 7.5.
Anyways; You can rename in the instrument rack (works for both rack and track instruments) if you ALT+click the name. This makes having multiple instances of the same plugin so much easier to overview and the new name is also the one showing in the midi track output routing.
No more projects with five instances in the rack named Kontakt 5 8out for me… 
Cool. Thanks!
I gather by ‘certain demographic’ you mean someone who is not as sophisticated at using their DAW as you undoubtedly are. As someone who’s first sequencer (not DAW) was text based on an Apple II+, I guess I’m too dumb to understand how horrible Instrument Tracks are. I guess I’m also so dumb that I don’t accidentally create tracks I don’t want.
You are absolutely right about the wasted display space of the ‘HUGE VST instruments rack.’ I’m not sure how long it will take me to get over the trauma of the 10 seconds it took to disable it.
Cubase has lots of stuff in it that I don’t personally need. I find it healthier to just ignore and not use those parts rather than get bent out of shape over their existence. Especially when other folks do find them useful.
Man…that’s convenient. So much better than having all those kontakt auto names
It certainly seems your gripe is actually mainly with mistakes you are making, such as forgetfulness. Also, there is nothing stopping you from hiding the “huge” docked VST instruments rack. (It’s a perfectly reasonable size on my screen, so not “huge” for me.) Also, you do know you can make the VST instrument window smaller yeah, so it’s the same size as it used to be?
Can you really not understand that it’s more convenient for many people to use instrument tracks, so they only need to use 1 channel (an instrument track), rather than 2 (a MIDI and audio channel)?
It’s fair enough to be frustrated at new functionality and workflow changes you don’t want to use, but to say you can’t see the point in it is strange if you consider anyone other than yourself. Clearly many people like and use instrument tracks, and see the ‘traditional’ way as less convenient in many cases, so it would be silly to have to do it that way. It’s obviously better to have the option. ‘Certain demographics’ don’t like change, but thankfully Steinberg doesn’t just cater to them.