Hi…
I don’t find the way to add an instrument track for an instrument which is already loaded in the vst instrument rack…
Thanks for help !
Instrument Tracks and Instruments in the “Rack” are mutually exclusive. You can add a MIDI track and route it to the instrument already in the rack or just create a Instrument Track anew and unload the instrument already in the “Rack”.
Just right clickmin inspector and choose add track.
When loaded in instrument rack you can add additional midi tracks for the same instrument
It’s a little bit confusing…
I don’t see any benefit of using instrument track indeed.
Instrument rack is for monophonic vsti, right ?
Yes those can’t be armed by the inspector and for external instruments or instruments with more outputs
No it doesn’t have anything to do with monophonic.
Initially Instrument Tracks didn’t exist. If you wanted to do midi you placed a VSTi in the Instrument Rack and then created one or more MIDI Tracks that you routed to that VSTi (or an external midi device).
This meant that you had to manage the MIDI Track and the audio from the VSTi separately. Then they introduced Instrument Tracks to combine the MIDI and Audio Tracks into a single track. At first you couldn’t route additional MIDI Tracks to an Instrument Track - so folks used the rack for multi-timbrel VSTi’s they wanted to play several midi parts. But later they set it up so you could route a MIDI Track to an Instrument Track. If you want to use an external hardware synth you have to use a MIDI Track, otherwise which you use is a matter of taste/preference. Both have their advantages depending on your workflow. Search the forums and you will find many very nuanced discussions about using one or the other.
THIS is very intersting ! Yes, the fact that audio & midi tracks were at the oposit for vsti was inconvenient. This is good news.
But how can you create an instrument track for each of midi channels for multitimbral vsti ? 
- Thanks ! -
No, this was terrible news. It made something simple more complex and led to endless threads like this one where people try to understand a convoluted mess of options.
But how can you create an instrument track for each of midi channels for multitimbral vsti ? >
You do what you used to do and create a MIDI track for each MIDI channel you want to control and point it at the Instrument Track VSTi. The instrument track has only 2 advantages.
- For standard single instance, Stereo out VSTi it allows you to consolidate to 1 track.
- Track Presets. (IMO they should have done track presets for RACK instruments and never started this bastardized Instrument track BS)
Why more complex ?? If you don’t explain a bit what you mean, it’s not very contructive ! To have one track with midi + audio is nice, no ?
So, if I get it, for a multitimbral vsti, it remains the same : midi track on one side, audio track on the other ? It’s like something not finished till the end…
If it’s so nice, why are you having issues figuring out multi-out vsti? What if you want to use multiple MIDI channels? Basically instrument tracks made 1 setup arguably “easier”. The rest are still a mess. They created a track that wasn’t needed to solve a problem that didn’t exist. Hence the endless number of “what’s the difference between” threads. And countless “how do I do x on my instrument track” … And other similar repetitive queries.
So, if I get it, for a multitimbral vsti, it remains the same : midi track on one side, audio track on the other ? It’s like something not finished till the end…
No, they keep adding features to Instrument tracks that are slowly turning them into Rack Instruments. So the confusion remains only x10 because most people don’t understand either one. And when it finally sinks in what the difference is, you’ll realize how futile/limited the creation of the Instrument track was to begin with.
Except for those of us who actually like and prefer to use Instrument Tracks.
That simply means you use basic single MIDI channel/stereo VSTi. Anything else is more complex than doing it the old way. And, has drawbacks like not being able to name output pair 1/2 separately.
I use them only because that’s the only way to use track presets. Having to work around all the fiddly Instrument Track silliness is annoying as hell.
Umm, no. Although I often will use multi-timbrel VSTi’s for a single instrument just because it is easy and I’m not pushing system resources. But at times I do route additional midi tracks to an Instrument Track. Setting up and naming additional audio outputs on it seems pretty much the same as for a Rack Instrument. In both cases I go to the Rack, find the VSTi, enable some extra outputs for it, name those whatever I like in the mixer.
I get that you hate Instrument Tracks and need more control than they provide - that’s 1000% OK.
But there are also folks like myself who like them because they simplify our workflow - and that is OK too.
Cubase is just a tool. Use it however works best for you, and don’t begrudge other folks for doing the same.
This is the same as using Rack Instruments. Everything is the same as using Rack instruments with the single exception of Single MIDI channel/Stereo out. In other words, with the one exception (single midi channel/stereo out VSTi), the track instrument is pointless.
I guess I’m not enough familiar with Cubase 8 to feed the discussion ! 
Yeah, except that “one exception” is what I use 80+% of the time - so it is not really an exception for me, it is the rule. Even before Instrument Tracks were introduced I tended to use a Rack Instrument for each MIDI Track because that was simpler than keeping track of “this is ch. 4 going to the 3rd VSTi” (oh I know the horror of wasting resources that would otherwise go unused). Instrument Tracks made that even easier. So I find them useful. Your insistence that I shouldn’t find them useful (or the sub-text that I’m simply wrong, wrong, wrong) seems baffling. I wouldn’t presume to tell you what you should or shouldn’t find useful, because really that is only something each of us can decide for ourselves.
What is an exception in your workflow is the norm in my workflow, hence we value various aspects of Cubase differently. Nothing wrong with that.
Very helpful discussion. I’m still migrating into Cubase from Sonar (started with Voyetra Seq+) and was using hardware synths and an eight port, 128 channel MIDI interface.
For me, it seems most logical load non-multi-timbral synths as Instrument Tracks and I find myself sometimes adding “child” MIDI tracks to an Instrument Track to create some of the parts. Drum Kit patches, for example, work well for me that way with Kick, Snare, HHats, Toms on seperate MIDI tracks but all playing the same instrument and patch. I like doing horns, woodwinds and strings that way as well at times.
I really don’t see why I even need both instrument tracks and racks since I end up in the same place either way – routing signal to groups and FX channels arriving at my Sub-Master and final Stereo Master Outputs
Using instrument tracks seems to save me a little time since I can use audio processing and MIDI effects in one package, and, I can always open up more Audio Outputs and Midi tracks as needed. If one instance of an instrument isn’t enough, I open up another and set it to the same patch and keep going.
I’m still not sure about what’s really best. Since I have no long history with Cubase I’m seeing just what’s in front of me and trying to learn to make the most of what the program offers.
Anyway, thanks for posting on this – very helpful.