Well, trust me, I would have posted if I could have. However, just hours after SteveInChicago wrote:
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I got banned.
Anyway, I’m back after my ban and I haven’t tried VCAs because I’ve worked on a project and I don’t trust installing updates in the middle of it. Once it’s done I’ll install and try it out. Hopefully the update dealt with the problems.
So, steps 1-3 are just to show what the effects of normal touch-write and touch-trim-write are and to make sure they’re working correctly. You then undo the very last trim so you’re left only with the initial write, and then move on to step 4. All writing to be done from the same starting point. On my computer it doesn’t matter if I start, let it roll 2 seconds, begin the above steps (and start from the beginning again at step 4), or if I do only the first 3 from the beginning and 4-6 after, it still “lifts” the highest automation value (from the initial automation pass) to maximum. In other words, since the fader is at zero during the creation of the track it lifts zero to pretty much +12dB.
I guess.
I always think of Mute in terms of muting audio. (Apart from trumpets).
Hi Lydiot, for clarity, see screen shots below. I think I understand from your post that the the mute button should be present and not greyed out on the VCA channel in the project window, which is not what I see on my system. N7 7.0.35.
I’m not seeing a Mute button on VCA tracks in the Project window either.
I got N7 but I haven’t tried full automation of VCAs yet. So far I like them. They are help with organizing and I am looking forward to getting deeper into it.
I also see the same mute behavior on VCAs. I tried an automation test to see if the mute would show up to disengage automation but didn’t see that behavior either. I think it would be useful to have an audio mute on VCA channels too. Why is the mute button not doing anything?
Dean
My post referred to an earlier version of Nuendo.
Ok, thanks, but are you seeing the ‘mute’ and consequently also the ‘solo’ button on the track lane in the project window as per the original Steinberg Video, screenshot below, in your version of Nuendo? I noticed it wasn’t present in my earlier installation of V 7.0.30 either.
Location of Youtube vid where image was taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHtKoR8lsVE
I think I’m beginning to understand the idea of muting the VCA automation, in addition to muting the audio of the tracks in the VCA group.
[Mute] on the VCA track should mute the audio just like elsewhere. It seems to me that the VCA automation can be temporarily muted by un-checking the green 'R’ead button. In this event only the automation on the individual tracks is used.
Yes, that’s what it looks like. Could it be that you never selected for it to be visible in the earlier version? You know you can customize what buttons are shown, right?
Right. If I may; could you please just bump the feature request thread that I linked to then, since I make the above points pretty much exactly in it.
Hi, yes I’m aware of the customise option but the option to show the mute and solo buttons is not there on my install. As far as I am aware there is no option for any channel in the ‘track controls’ dialogue to insert or remove the ‘mute’ and ‘solo’ buttons’ usually located on the far left of the track lane.
If you do have these options then it means there’s obviously something that needs attention my end. Can you confirm? Thanks 
Done.
All the best for the new year.
Actually, the problem is probably that my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. The “mute automation” symbol looks almost exactly like the “mute” symbol on an audio track, so that’s what I was looking at.
But as I said, there’s really no reason to have a mute automation when there’s already a “read” button to disable. They appear to do the same thing. In terms of nomenclature “mute” should really refer to audio solely, just as “solo” and “rec” do. For automation on any type of channel we have “read” and “write”. For the sake of consistency that’s what we should have.
So, as I saw a “mute” button on the VCA track I assumed it was an actual “mute” of the audio tracks the VCA controlled, rather than a button to disable the read of automation on the VCA itself.
Does that make sense?
Yes, totally. Looking forward to the ‘mute’ button being added to the mixer channel and ‘mute’ and ‘solo’ being added the track lane in the project window (as per the Steinberg vid) at some point in the not too distant future. Thanks for all your feedback. Have a great New Year
AHA…You gentlemen are hitting on a grey area.
In the traditional analog world VCA masters only control their assigned group faders gain.
And such, also any post fader sends and inserts on them.
As I now see, the Nuendo approach is correct to have no mutes and solos on the VCA master.
They are disconnected from the audio signal chain, as they should be in the traditional sense.
Mutes and solos belong to channels that carry audio.
Read / write are the only appropriate functions that belongs to them.
However, we are living in the DAW "virtual " world where everything is possible.
For example; just a week ago I have bought a PT update…just in case.
In v 12.4 the VCA’s are working fine ( merge track & vca automation data !! ) but do have mutes and solos on the master fader.
Go figure 
Myself much prefer how Nuendo implements it.
But there’s absolutely nothing illogical or inconsistent in including mute/solo/rec etc on VCAs. The basic use of VCAs is that they control other channels. You even said as much yourself. They control the assigned group faders’ gain. Control. If that’s the stated and understood purpose of them, then including mute/solo/rec (etc) will directly imply the exact same thing - they are controlling the behavior of the group faders being controlled. It’s entirely consistent.
As for PT having VCAs - it’s a very good example, because it’s the leading DAW in post and has been for like forever. And its implementation of VCAs is the de facto standard. As you say, it takes things further than just ‘simple’ gain.
But here we’re back to what was discussed in another thread: Why on earth would you limit the software if you don’t have to and if there are no negative repercussions? All you would have to do if these functions were available is to simply hide the buttons so you couldn’t see and therefore use them. “Problem” solved.
That is 100% correct.
Yes it is.
Agreed, it’s how you define/name things.
PT does not have a “proper” VCA implementation, it has adopted the Euphonix “Master Channel” and has integrated it into their VCA implementation. A master channel controls a bunch of parameters of the linked channels. Which is -almost- exactly what the “linking” feature does in Nuendo.
VCA slaves can be controlled independantly, while the VCA master “offsets” the parameters of the VCA Slaves to the same amount. You can also automate both the VCA slaves and VCA Masters. In this case the combined values of the VCA slave automation and VCA Master automation becomes the “level” of the audio that is outputted by the slaves.
(Slave = +10 / Master = -5 / Output of Slave = +5)
Now, how are you going to make this all work with functions that that only have two parameters? ON/Off. Not saying that it is impossible, just saying that it is a remedy for disaster and confusion. (Just like Mute automation is a serious PITA) And to aviod such a disaster, the functions need to get limted again. (I.e. excluding Solo/mute/rec from the functions that can be automated on the VCA Master)
By using a proper Master channel (i.e. link a bunch of faders/parameters and control them all from that same "master channel) you avoid all kinds of problems, and you create extra functionality. You can have both working for you, at the same time.
If your argument is “PT” does it that way, so that is the way everybody should do it, then there is no discussion. Then it’s a matter of opinion, not a technical discussion. The fact remains that Steinberg has “traditional” VCA’s and PT has VCA’s with additional master Channel functionality.
You are discussing this from your personal point of view, from your personal workflow. I understand that.
As long as you are not automating the living sh*** out of your project, and just want to use VCA’s for controlling a bunch of other channels, while you still can apply changes to individual channels, you have a point. No discussion.
But as soon as you start automating both VCA Masters & Slaves, your workflow falls apart or gets extremly complicated.
For this reason, I -personally- prefer to have both VCA’s and Master Channels as a separate functionality.
Fredo
@Fredo, I’m beginning to see the logic in the Nuendo implementation and agree it makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to clarify a few things.
I don’t think I would have questioned it if the mute and solo function hadn’t been shown in the still existing video about the new VCA’s on the Steinberg website. This is likely the route of my confusion as I just kept thinking we were still waiting for something!