Reordering the instruments in the rack panel?

Cubase
1

I’m not sure if I’ve missed something, but is there a way to reorder the instruments in the VSTi rack panel/F11?

I could manage things in my own way with the fixed slots in C6, but since CP8 consolidates the instances automatically, unless there is a way to reorder the VSTi, it’s looking like I would have to strip out many of the already loaded ones just to organize things?

Thanks.

2

Hi,

Unfortunately, there is no way, how to change the order of Instruments in the VSTi Rack.

3

Seriously?

That is absolutely crazy.

:open_mouth:

4

Unfortunately, seriously. :-/

But you can Copy/Paste settings, og the racks, if it helps. Assigned tracks stay, as it was before.

5

Thanks for the hint, Martin. I’ll try to figure out the least cumbersome way to do this.

Meanwhile, I really hope this is something Steinberg is planning to fix in the future.

6

Martin, I have no idea how copying/pasting a setup can help in my situation. I can’t copy a plugin instance into another existing slot, so I can’t really juggle things around. Could you tell me what you meant exactly? I don’t think I understood you.

Another design issue I forgot to mention :

Track Instruments + Rack Instruments menu at the top for creating new instrument instances scrolls along with the rest of the rack, and therefore the users would need to scroll back up in order to access this menu. You need to have 11 or more instruments loaded in order to see this problem on a 1080p monitor.

I think it makes sense to have this menu showing at all times. It makes no sense for this menu to disappear because of scrolling.

7

Hi,

You can right click to the Rack slot, then the menu appears. Here, you can Copy Instrument settings. Unfortunately, you are right, it’a not possible to copy/paste another instrument. You can copy/paste just the settings, so you can paste it to the same instrument (VSTi) only.

Regarding to yoour 2nd question, I know, what you mean. In Cubase 8, we prefer to use Track Instruments. Because of this, there is always this “Add Track Instrument” icon, which is on the top of the window. The border of Track Instruments and Rack Instruments moves, and it’s always between these two types of Instruments.

8

Still makes no sense, though.

If you are on the Rack panel, you would normally want to add a Rack instrument. Track Instrument can be added with a key command as a creation of a new track. I mean -

Track Instrument can be added by :

  • Right click → Add track → Instrument on the track list in the project window
  • a Key command of the above
    • Instrument button on the rack
  • add track instrument on the menu bar that disappears when scrolling the rack

Rack Instrument can be added by :

  • Rack Instrument menu that disappears when scrolling the rack


    Strange, right? :laughing:

I don’t think I am the only one who likes to use Rack Instruments + MIDI, as it is a lot more flexible for setting things up and is easier to update large templates.

Oh well.

9

You can also right-click to the top bar, and select “Add Rack Instrument” from the menu here.

You can use the Track instrument exactly the same way, now. You can route output of any MIDI track to the Track Instrument, and you can use a multi-timbral instruments as Track Instruments too. No restriction, here, anymore.

10

For me - MIDI tracks are for recording performances, and rack instruments are instruments. Blurring the distinction here makes the organization more complicated for me. Track instruments are nice for quick build-as-you-go type workflow, but that’s not what I do. I have hundreds of tracks here in my template because I’d like to have everything ready to go at all times to suit any style of music. If I start mixing up instrument tracks and MIDI tracks on project page, debugging the routing and all become complicated.

11

But if you switch it On, then you have to wait, until he library is loaded. So it’s not immediately ready to play with. To make it ready immediately, the only way is to keep it active or Bypass it.

12

Would love to be able to reorder the rack. I would like those instruments that I edit on top and those I don’t below.

13

@Martin.Jirsak + @Frozenwave
Reordering VSTi tracks in the RACK is possible with Cubase 10.5/11 Pro (might be possible also with C8). But there’s a downside: if a MIDI track is routed to the 2nd VSTi and you want to move the 3rd VSTi there (where the 2nd is), then that MIDI track will send to the wrong VSTi (unless you correct this, manually).

To reorder VSTi tracks in the RACK panel (steps)
  1. In the Project Window (/Track List), make sure that the tracks (VSTi tracks) are in the right order.
  2. Disable all the tracks at once (using the “Disable track” drop-down menu item).
  3. Re-enable all of them at once.

@Yutaka If this answers your question, please click the “Solution” button. Thank you.