Where is Cubase 12.5 or 13? [Update: It's here C13 is released!]

[kmonkey]

Also, mono tracks had a point when using mono or stereo plugins was important CPU wise, say 10-15 years ago. Think of Waves and all that mess with separate mono, mono-stereo and stereo versions of each plugin. Also UAD and TC Powercore needed mono versions of the plugins for the same reason. And processing a stereo track with a mono plugin, at least in Cubase, resulted in only the left channel being processed, so mono tracks fitted well.

No you genius, people still mix in mono. For Christ's sake, 95% of all hardware mixers are mono for crying out loud. Do you think this is just a "coincidence"? Do you really think all engineers who created the mixer series and models and their channels mono - made this by mistake? The sheer stupidity of the premise is amazing.

Hey mom...I don't understand why is this made that way - therefore it must be pointless - Yeah makes sense.

[jens]

Pointless? How are mono tracks pointless for a daw or an audio recording software? All of my drum synths have mono-outs. I prefer my drums in mono. All mics on the market are mono. In fact, most of the hardware mixers are (surprise) mono. And that is just at the top of my mind. There are dozens of scenarios where mono is used. Are you friggin serious? How is that reflection in the software environment actually a surprise for you?

lol... that one completely blew your mind right there, right?

All my guitar-tracks are mono, all my bass-guitar-tracks are mono, all my vocals-tracks are mono, all my mandoline, uke and-what-not tracks are mono. And yet I can record and mix them in Reaper, Reason, Samplitude, Tracktion, Sonar and energyXT just fine - none of these have mono-tracks in the first place. When I use Cubase, Nuendo or Studio One, I only use stereo-tracks for all these instruments and there is no problem at all - so again: what is the advantage of mono-tracks.

You say you need them, but you can't seem to explain why or what for.

[Sahul]

No you genius, people still mix in mono. For Christ's sake, 95% of all hardware mixers are mono for crying out loud. Do you think this is just a "coincidence"? Do you really think all engineers who created the mixer series and models and their channels mono - made this by mistake? The sheer stupidity of the premise is amazing.

Hey mom...I don't understand why is this made that way - therefore it must be pointless - Yeah makes sense.

Sure. But we are talking about software, not hardware here. In software we could theorically use mono content on stereo tracks if the DAW supports it, so the need for a separate mono type of track is relative. I simply pointed out one of the possible reasons for it to remain alive. No need to be so agressive.

[trtzbass]

But what is the exact advantage of mono-tracks over stereo-tracks? You can record mono-signals onto stereo-tracks, but you can't use stereo-inserts on mono-tracks.

If mono-tracka are a fundamental part of your workflow you shouldn't have much difficulties explaining in a sentence or two why that is the case.

Forgive me for saying so, but to me it seems like they either implemented mono-tracks because analog consoles have them, not realizing that they don't really make sense in a DAW or it's a concept that stems from the olden days to preserve precious processing resources, i.e. something that has become obsolete/irrelevant fiveteen years ago.

Ok. In a few words. I achieve better placement on the stereo field by using a combination of haas effect and low passing instead of just panning. It’s much faster and precise to do that with a mono track than a stereo track.
Also, most of the tracks in my arrangements are actually mono, either collapsed or by using only one of the two channels. And having a button to do that instead of using a stereo manipulation plug-in or the binaural panner is a much smoother workflow.
[edit : stereo panner, not binaural]

[jens]

Ok. In a few words. I achieve better placement on the stereo field by using a combination of haas effect and low passing instead of just panning. It’s much faster and precise to do that with a mono track than a stereo track.

Haas is by definition a stereo-effect. There is just no way to do that on a mono-track.
Also: what and why exaclty would be faster to do on a mono-track?

Also, most of the tracks in my arrangements are actually mono, either collapsed or by using only one of the two channels.

But the question is why? - you still haven't explained that.

[trtzbass]

Ok. In a few words. I achieve better placement on the stereo field by using a combination of haas effect and low passing instead of just panning. It’s much faster and precise to do that with a mono track than a stereo track.

Haas is by definition a stereo-effect. There is just no way to do that on a mono-track.
Also: what and why exaclty would be faster to do on a mono-track?

Also, most of the tracks in my arrangements are actually mono, either collapsed or by using only one of the two channels.

But the question is why? - you still haven't explained that.

I did but you’re not picking it up. All I had to say I said and have nothing more to add; it’s there for you to enjoy or leave it there. I’m ok with whatever your opinion is.

[chk071]

Steinberg 13 should be released soon, then we don't have to discuss hard about vanities anymore.

I also don't see the point in mono tracks though. But, what do I know.

I remember one or two VSTi's required to be inserted into a mono track in the past, and, IIRC, that was a problem with Cubase LE, which didn't have mono tracks. But, those times are LONG gone.

[kritikon]

I don't want everything in stereo, e.g. basslines, almost every drum sound, in fact the majority of instruments. There's a cast iron reason why the defacto status of bass is mono and if anyone doesn't know that, then go back to kindy and learn the basics. The question should more be: why the f**k would any idiot designer think everyone wants everything in stereo? That's such a dumb assumption. So that I can muddy my mix by having everything in 2 channels instead of one? Why we want mono is so basic as to be an imbecile question or just pure trolling for the sake of trolling. (not aiming this at you by the way, chk)

[kritikon]

TBH when I first got back into Cubase recently, I thought it was just stupid the rigmarole it made me do to record almost all of my mono synths into mono. They're mono...why would I want them stereo, dry with no FX? I don't get it. They're fkn mono instruments.

[jens]

I don't want everything in stereo, e.g. basslines, almost every drum sound, in fact the majority of instruments. There's a cast iron reason why the defacto status of bass is mono and if anyone doesn't know that, then go back to kindy and learn the basics. The question should more be: why the f**k would any idiot designer think everyone wants everything in stereo?

Regardless of your rant (which I am not going to discuss, what with it being a matter of taste and all), the point is that also on a stereo track a signal can remain completely mono. That's the same with analog consoles too by the way. Ir you don't do anything with the signal that makes the right channel differ from the left one, a stereo channel is not magically going to turn your mono track into a stereo-one. It'll stay fully mono.

For me that' belongs to the absolute basics of audio-signal routing and yet you obviously completely struggle with the very concept of it.

And yet you have the nerve to tell me I should learn the basics.

[jens]

TBH when I first got back into Cubase recently, I thought it was just stupid the rigmarole it made me do to record almost all of my mono synths into mono. They're mono...why would I want them stereo, dry with no FX? I don't get it. They're fkn mono instruments.

It's obviously just you totally not getting it.

[PAK]

But the question is why?

In principle you're not wrong.. IE HAAS is just delaying one side, so it shouldn't really matter if that's done in stereo or 2 mono channels. But, in practice, you'll often find there tends to be differences for various reasons. This isn't to say they couldn't be made to sound the same - but you'd have to go hunting for the reasons to make it so when they're not (EG adjusting "pan law" settings etc.. )

The other (pretty obvious) thing is you can treat mono channel left and right with completely different FX chains by default, where you'd have to add additional routings to achieve this with a plain stereo signal..

Reading the further post where you clarify - IE why not one channel type in the host.. I guess this might be partly because of the possibility of additional confusion - eg with an effect applied some might try to process stereo signals differently from mono, and then do you want the left side of its output, the right side, or even summed and then panned to one side? etc

None of this is meant to explain "why" for the other person.. If it's his/her personal preference that should be enough..

[mothra]

All my guitar-tracks are mono, all my bass-guitar-tracks are mono, all my vocals-tracks are mono, all my mandoline, uke and-what-not tracks are mono. And yet I can record and mix them in Reaper, Reason, Samplitude, Tracktion, Sonar and energyXT just fine - none of these have mono-tracks in the first place.

Yeah they do, they're just using 'dual-mono' channels. Ableton Live does the same thing. Its not recording a mono source and magically creating stereo information for it, its just duplicating it and panning each to one side.

[jens]

All my guitar-tracks are mono, all my bass-guitar-tracks are mono, all my vocals-tracks are mono, all my mandoline, uke and-what-not tracks are mono. And yet I can record and mix them in Reaper, Reason, Samplitude, Tracktion, Sonar and energyXT just fine - none of these have mono-tracks in the first place.

Yeah they do, they're just using 'dual-mono' channels. Ableton Live does the same thing. Its not recording a mono source and magically creating stereo information for it, its just duplicating it and panning each to one side.

Exactly that - which was my point all along! And Cubase, etc. Stereo-tracks are exactly the same.

[jens]

The other (pretty obvious) thing is you can treat mono channel left and right with completely different FX chains by default, where you'd have to add additional routings to achieve this with a plain stereo signal..

tbh I tend to do this when recording piano - but then I still use stereo-tracks for it which I just pan hard left and right, which is the same as if I used two mono-tracks in Cubase, except of course that I keep the flexibility of having stereo-tracks, which also means I can still process both individual channels with stereo-fx if I want to (e.g. have a rotary kick in later just on the right channel), so even for this situation a mono-channel doesn't offer me any advantage.