Maximum simultaneous VSTis in Elements

Cubase
1

Hi there,

I am new to Cubase, and considering it as the basis of my new DAW (MacBook Pro 8,2, 2.2 Ghz i7, 8GB Ram, SSD).

I think the Elements version will be all I need to start with, but to be sure I need to find out the maximum number of VSTis I can use in a project. The track count for Elements seems to be:

  • 48 Audio tracks (okay)
  • 64 Midi tracks (okay)
  • 16 Instrument tracks (I assume this means 16 simultaneous VSTis, but only for midi channel 1 - i.e. 1 sound. Not so good)
  • 8 VSTis in the rack (I make this potentially 8 x 16 channels - a maximum of 128 addressable midi channels, of which I can address 64 with the midi tracks - very good).

Some things are not clear though:

  • Can I use the Instrument tracks AND the Instrument rack - that would make it 24 maximum VSTis?
  • Can Midi tracks address different channels on VSTis in the rack - the website only talks about external midi?
  • Can I use the Instrument tracks AND the Midi tracks - a total of 80 simultaneous midi channels?
  • Are the audio tracks in addition to the audio outputs of the VSTis?

Hope this makes sense. Many thanks in advance.

Wayne

2

It’s more the about your machine than C element. You’ll be fine…

3

Thanks for the reply. I am well aware of the potential system limitations (though I am hoping with my Mac that it will handle Elements okay). I am more interested in the constraints imposed by the licence. I won’t be running external Midi so I want to know whether I can fully utilise all of the Midi tracks on VSTis - i.e. that I can run enough of them, with multiple midi channels.

4

Okay have a look at this chart:

http://www.steinberg.net/fileadmin/files/PRODUCTS/Cubase/Generation_7/Cubase_7/Downloads/Cubase_Comparison_Chart.pdf