Switch vst focus when switching tracks

Hi there,

At 1:49 in the following video, Homay from Spitfire Audio demonstrates the ‘link’ icon, which opens the corresponding vst instrument plugin window when switching tracks. At the moment, my workflow involves selecting the track, and then opening the track up with the ‘edit instrument’ control in the track inspector. I have that on a keyboard shortcut, but this instant, ‘intelligent’ switching would speed my workflow quite a bit.

Could someone possibly let me know if this is possible in Cubase (I’m on Pro 9) and how to do it.

Thanks very much.

Mike

I didn’t think about it. But it is a great feature request, if it doesn’t exist!

I’d be really grateful if anyone could clarify whether or not this feature exists?

Or, to put it another way…

Yeah… A short cut key for this is essential but an auto focus, intelligent switching would be insane. Can’t think of any immediate conflicts but no doubt it would open up a huge can of worms.

+1 feature request.

It just seems like such a basic, ‘well dur…’, feature, doesn’t it?

I know they can’t provide for everyone’s little needs, but this does seem like a pretty major thing. Having worked in some other DAWs has been a real eye-opener. Time permitting, I’d urge everyone to try it. Obviously all DAWs have their advantages and drawbacks (I use Ableton a bit, and the MIDI manipulation is just horrific) but having direct comparisons can hopefully help us all provide some suggestions for the Steinberg team to improve things.

That would be a cool feature. It might open a can of worms as mitchiemasha replied…it’s really hard to know.

The closest work-around I can think of at the moment, is using multiple work spaces. In a nutshell, for example, focus the bass track and create a workspace for “bass guitar inserts.” Open all the bass guitar track GUI’s you desire in the visible order you wish, and save the workspace. If you keep the workspace box normally open, then you can either scroll to the “bass guitar insert” workspace or…create a KC for it. However I think you are limited for up to 10 KC before you would be forced to manually scroll in the workspace box. There is a KC to close all open VST’s, or you can go back to your default workspace to close all of them.

Love it. Maybe something to repost to feature requests…

Greggy, I didn’t know about the KC for ‘close all open VSTs’, so I’m off to hunt for that. Thanks for the tip!

I’m already using workspaces to quickly flit between various setups (mixer, editor etc). I love them, they’re such a great feature. But as you say, on a big project, you run out quite quickly. I’m envisioning a screen just for my VSTs with this quick switching, it’d save tonnes of time.

Anyway, I’ve put it in feature requests, so give it some love if you think it’s a good idea.

Just to clarify, you only run out when using key commands to switch between workspaces. I think Steinberg only defined 10 of KC presets? You can have unlimited number of workspaces, but you will be mouse/scrolling in the workspaces box to select them.

This is a far cry from what you are suggesting and it’s far from perfect. For example you could open workspace #17, then instead of using the KC to close that workspace you instead use the KC to close all VST’s. If you use update workspace you just screwed yourself.

I use a 3rd 32 inch ultra-wide mostly for editing and viewing of VST’s so this type of use of workspaces has improved my workflow.

The feature request is posted here: Intelligent window switching of VSTs when switching tracks - #4 by djw - Cubase - Steinberg Forums