I just watched a video on the new version of Studio One and its FX chains capabilities. Most impressive, to say the least. I certainly hope the Steinberg Cubase designers are paying attention. The bar has been set awfully high.
Not only does S1 have FX chains in the first place (which we are still waiting for), they offer capabilities for multi-band splits and separate left and right channel treatment. I didn’t see it but I would be surprised if there were not also some mid/side processing capabilities. Come on, Steinberg, don’t pass this one by.
FX Chain Presets came in around C7 or 7.5…? Can’t remember… they have their use…! But I see what you mean about S1 v3’s ‘Extended FX Chains’… they’ve done something quite elegant there… That built-in ‘splitter’ function is neat
There’s really no limit on how creative one could become with capabilities like this. Take any effect that comes with Cubase that offers separate L/R control, for example - you could now turn them into M/S processors quite easily. You would not have to spend an extra penny to purchase a third-party solution. The same goes for multi-band capabilities. Need a multi-band phasor or flanger? Quite easily done. Want a delay like the Waves Manny Marroquin that adds saturation, reverb and/or a phasor in a single unit? again, piece of cake.
The only problem with this and also PatchWork and Bidule is that none of them are VST3 so sidechain is not working (unless you mess with quadro-buses and stuff).