The intermediate step of our having to manually create a group - can’t that be a behind the scene kind of thing? A one-button “Create Audio Track from VSTi” would be so much simpler … I was just wondering if that’s technically possible, and if other DAWs handle this any differently than C6 does? (Not that I’m going to change over … I’ve invested too much sweat equity in this product to do that!).
First: I didn’t bother to watch 8-minute tutorial on rendering VSTi track to audio.
Second: I have never before converted VSTi track into audio track before.
Third: took me 15 seconds to do it (including the learning process):
Selected MIDI part - hit P - File | Export | Audio Mixdown … - Select right output - Clicked appropriate check boxes - clicked Export
Not too difficult, IMO.
Thanks for the replies. I know it’s not that hard, but just wondering why there are intervening steps at all (i.e., having to use the export function; or create a group channel to route the VSTi to which then is used as an input to an audio track; or freeze; etc.), whether there’s some technical necessity for them. I figured someone here could shed light on how other brands of DAW handle this.
P.S. I haven’t tried the freeze function, just because of inertia, and Wayne’s World Syndrome (“…we fear change.”). Yes that does seem easier than routing groups or exporting, I think I’ll give it a go …
Thanks again -
An excellent post I had forgotten about by JM Cecil detailing a method not described in that great (8 minute 
) vid, it involves setting up dummy buss inputs. From last July.
Tutorial: Routing VSTi back into an audio track - Cubase - Steinberg Forums .
If I’m reading some of that post right, at least one other DAW, Reaper, requires routing to get a VSTi to audio. I thought maybe Cubase couldn’t do a single-click kind of VSTi>>Audio because of some old legacy code, but Reaper being pretty new I guess shoots that idea down. Oh well, guess I can live without knowing why it has to be this way!
It can be improved and I’m sure Steiny is smart enough to already know that. In my current host which shall remain nameless i just hit CTL+B to render any midi clip to audio, no dialog, nothing to set, no fuss, one clip or all clips, depending on what was selected in arrange.
Its a direct bounce of the selected midi clip(s) to audio clip(s). Nothing to think about really, CTL+B.
I think Cubase 7 will probably take care of some of that stuff.
OK, thanks for that, there’s my answer! Surprising, to me at least, that it hasn’t been done at this point yet.