Hey there,
I am new to cubase and have an issue. I have a mono source in Stereo configuration. When I apply effects in the insert section of that track it mutes the right channel of that effect. Why?
If I for example set a panning tool to the right the signal goes completly mute.
Thanks in advance 
Hi,
Sorry, I don’t know this plug-in. What is it, please?
Does it apply for any plug-in, or is it this specific one only?
Recording a mono source into a stereo track records the information only on the left or right channel, depending on your input configuration.
What the panning does depends on the exact plugin. Usually, instead of panning they actually do stereo balancing, which means that it doesn’t actually move the sound between the left and right channels, but adjusts the volume of the channels. That is, setting it to either extreme sets the volume of that channel to 100% and the other channel to 0%.
In this case, as you’re using mono input 1, Cubase records by default on the left channel of the stereo track. As the right channel doesn’t contain any audio data and you’re not getting any audio output, this plugin probably uses stereo balancing instead of actual panning.
Thank you for your response!
This plugin is “A1 Audio - A1StereoControl”. The issue does appear with any plugin I use. For example “Chow Matrix” (a stereo delay). I have put a stereoanalyzer and a side information filter on the “stereo out”, and I don’t get any stereo information out of this track, but only when I use the cubase panning.
When I record a single channel should I use the mono configuration? Does that allow for stereo insert effects? What am I to do with this project to get stereoprocessing on this track?
Here I have set up “Chow - Matrix”:
The right instance does not react no matter what I do, and the other is only putting up a mono delay when it is in the middle or panned to the left.
Sorry, just to make certain I haven’t misunderstood, could you post a screenshot of the track showing the audio waveform?
But you could possibly try Audio > Processes > Stereo Flip, then select Left to Stereo.
Anything you need to see let me know:
Left to stereo:
With the SWAP L-R feature enabled (no Left to stereo):
Without “SWAP”:
Does seem like it’s a mono track. Does it correspond to which icon on the bottom of the MixConsole (one circle = mono, overlapping circles = stereo)?
If it’s a mono track you can select the track, use Project > Duplicate Tracks, then select both of them and Project > Convert Tracks > Mono to Multi-channel, and select Destination Format as Stereo.
It is one circle.
I don’t seem to have that option:
Ah, sorry, Okay.
You can go to Media > Project Pool, select the audio file, right-click on it, select Convert Files and then choose Stereo Interleaved as Channels.
Then you can drag the created stereo file to a track.
Un fortunatly this does not fix the issue.
In addition this process does double the file size. Since I am planing on recording a large amount of mono sorces in a high bit- and samplerate this will add a substantial amount of data without additional information. Is it really necessary to do this. Can’t I just record mono sorces and have stereo processing on them?
Couldn’t figure it out still. When I use a FX send it works in stereo. Everything on the inserts is L channel only. 
Group channels mute the R channel as well.
Sorry, obvious misunderstanding on my part about what you’re trying to achieve.
Generally speaking if you’re recording a mono source you should record it into a mono file, and yes would prefer to keep it that way to.
Using stereo plugins on mono tracks will result in mono output and not all plugins will work as intended. You can:
create a stereo track and move the audio file there. The file itself will stay as mono, but stereo plugins will output stereo.
use an FX send or route to a group channel. As long as they are in stereo configuration stereo plugins on those channels will work correctly.
Which option to use would depend on your project.
Thanks for the reply. I’m still struggling to figure this out. Maybe I have encountered a bug?
Does this mean that cubase does not allow for stereo processing on mono sources? As I have shown above the track is in stereo configuration but only the left channel is processed. I also have bounced the source artifically into a stereo file and still only the left channel gets processed. All my plugins only recognize one channel.
Unfortunatly this is not the case for me.
I can use a FX send in stereo, yes. The group channels inserts, however, do only recognize the left channel, just like the inserts on stereo tracks.
Mono tracks only route out mono signal, even if you route it to a stereo channel, so stereo effects placed on the mono track do not produce a stereo signal.
Stereo tracks do allow stereo processing of mono audio and if you place the plugins there the options I gave should work.
See the following video:
Thank you very much for this video. This clears things up for me. So when I want to record a mono track I use the mono configuration, and if I want to process it in stereo I create a new track and drag and drop the recording there?
You’re welcome, glad it helped.
Basically always record a single microphone as a mono file, yes. And drag+drop to a stereo track is the simplest way to process as stereo. If you have a large enough project you’ll at some point be better off using group/fx channels.
If a regular plugin is on a mono channel, thus only using only one of the two channels, can this save on the cpu?
Generally speaking, yes. The difference per track can be quite small though, so unless you’re working in larger projects it doesn’t necessarily matter.
Can depend on the exact plugin in use, as well. Some (VST2) stereo plugins don’t recognize the fact that the source is mono correctly and force the processing on both channels even though the signal is identical. Though the fact that Cubase has separate mono and stereo tracks and only outputs mono in mono tracks possibly mitigates this. My understanding of how Cubase internally processes audio signals isn’t that thorough.