After thinking about that for some days, I think I would like to have more than one tabbed plugin window opened at the same time. Still one tabbed plugin window per track, but I think it makes sense to edit parameters of different tracks simultaneously, without always having to select them before.
“Tabs follow track selection” could be added as a separate preference though.
+1
Yes yes yes yes please - hello mr steinberg - i love you and cubase and please implement something like this or abletons lower third plugin layout.
The advantage with abletons fx plugin lower third functionality though, is that at least you see all the plugins at once - so you select a track and can see all inserts immediately (or collapsed with a vertical heading for each one which expands upon clicking).
With this tab system you kinda don’t know what plugin is coming next (unless you have used that plugin chain so often and know the order well). So i can imagine there being a lot of tabbing back and forth till you get the right one you want ie. there’s no visual overview of what’s coming up next in the chain. Yes you can see it in the left side bar but then if you have to click open the plugin section of the side bar to know what’s in the chain you may as well just click the plugin you want while you’re there. Abletons method seems much more intuitive and a much tidier UI. What I like about using the lower zoner is that you still get to see what’s going in the arrange window rather than have the plugin clutter the screen.
Just an opinion. I’m glad this discussion is bringing forth consensus for change in one way or another 
To be clear, I think this choice or preference - to follow track selection - should be made directly on the tabbed plugin window, rather than in the Preferences window. Because the desired behaviour could change back and forth from one second to the other, so it should be quick and easy to switch.
You can read the tab headers… so, no problem.
On the other hand, 3rd party plugins can come in any size and shape. If it’s put in the lower zone instead, just as a tabbed plugin window needs to resize to the plugin, the entire lower zone would need to expand to the height of the plugin, for its entire width. So it would cover even more of the screen. Also, you would not be able to drag it to a second screen (if you have one) - unless you can detach it, but then it would just be a single floating window again.
I saw a few videos of Ableton, it seems if it’s a bigger plugin it only shows like a black box and does not resize and open, you’ll need to click and open in a separate floating window, is that correct? If so, you’ll end up with a bunch of floating windows you need to close separately; that’s what we want to get rid of…
You’re right. It would only really work with cubase stock plugins in the lowerzone which is kinda what I was referring to more. But then I guess you’d want consistency perhaps, in not having lowerzone for stock fx plugins and VST tabs for others. But actually I think that’s how Logic Pro x does it too, minus the VST tabs…
The stock plugins in Cubase does not fit into the Lower Zone either - they are simply way too big and not at all designed for that. They are bulky and many use a lot of height (some take the major part of the screen). To fit in the Lower Zone they would need to be compact, have low height and instead be stretched out more horizontally.
So either the Lower Zone with plugins would be taking up most of the screen (sometimes almost the entire screen vertically), or they would need to go through all of the stock plugins (there are many) and redesign many of them to fit into the lower zone… That’s a lot of unnecessary work. And some would still not fit without making havoc on their GUI - have a look at e.g. Quadrafuzz or Frequency and think about how you would squeeze them into the Lower Zone…
With tabbed plugin windows instead, the window (containing all plugins of a track) will adapt exactly to the size of the actual opened plugin (and you can drag it out of the way to a second screen), and it should be quick and easy to implement.
So, Tabbed Plugin Windows is the way to go. The Lower Zone is to be considered impossible for this, taking the size of plugins into account.
Yeah you’re right. Ideally I would love a lower zone personally, but I get now that it’s not very practical without a radical redesign etc. I really hope steinberg are reading this thread. The tabbing is a simple solution to something that can have huge returns in workflow streamlining, and it should be adopted sooner as opposed to later.
BTW the latest version of WaveLab (I have 10 elements) has the tabbed plugin design just like in Studio One. WTF did this happen? Nice, now bring it over to Cubase! And make it work better for multi-track use.
- 1 Great idea! This tabbed window should also be available in a separate window, so you can put it into another screen, like the Mixer. Imagine 3 monitors, the Mixer, the Timeline and Vst / Vsti in a third, that would be awesome for me!! I think it should be something like this (better organized of course
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A year since any activity on this topic, giving it a bump since I think it’s time to bring this one to the table. Giving it a vote, too.
It’s a very good workflow improvement, and it should not take much development resources to implement.
With the additional option of “follow track selection” (option directly on the tabbed window), and key commands for tab switching forward/backward, it will be VERY good. This feature should be prioritized.
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Also, this is a feature that will be useful for EVERY Cubase (and Nuendo) user. And by so, giving everybody a reason to update…
No matter if you are a pro or a hobbyist, no matter what genre you are into, if you are into MIDI or Audio, experienced or a beginner, if you are using Pro/Artist/Elements or even Nuendo, everybody will have use for this feature to avoid much of the daily annoying click party with plugins.
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+1000x2000
lot of FR threads opened just for this FR
i may add, tabbed window + option to follow track selection(vst+vsti)
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Another feature within the feature:
- If the option “follow track selection” is active, and the same plugin as in the currently opened tab also exists in one of the tabs for the next track - then that specific tab/plugin should be opened also for that next track (instead of simply just pick the first tab/plugin).
(Maybe there should also be a “follow plugin selection” option for this, or maybe that’s not necessary).
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If you added this, it might be the only thing that doesn’t piss me off about Cubase 11 
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+1
I really want his!
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I think it would be a fantastic feature! I explained it in another way in another thread, however, it’s exactly the same proposal request! I really hope that some attention will be paid to this aspect as it is of considerable interest to the users.
I am surprised, that this FR which was started on the old forum from 4 years ago and has that many votes, cause the vote system is basically brand new and usually people don’t go search for that old threads.
So this means there are a lot people requesting this, which makes me happy. Voted as well (I put my +1 comment here 3 years ago)!
Yeah. This is already implemented in Wavelab. Would think they could adapt the code to Cubase.
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