Since plugins also hit the CPU when they are just bypassed, how can I turn them off directly in the mixer, without having to open them first?
I’m pretty sure you can alt + left click on the bypass button to turn it off
…yes, forgot to mention, this was implemented recently, so may not work prior to 7.0.6 update…
Ok, thank you, I will try that.
On a sidenote, you can’t imagine how suprised I was when I noticed that my plugins still consume CPU cycles when they are bypassed… 
Not only that, some plugins actually still modify the sound when bypassed. It is rare, but it happens.
Never happened to me with the built in plugins, but rather with some of the Waves ones.
That’s when you use the bypass or on/off of the plugin itself rather than Cubase bypass button. The plugin would then be emulating the hardware ‘bypass’ circuitry, something which people have come to like as a useful effect in itself.
Mike.