Q. Can I split Cubase tracks into different frequency bands?

 By Matt Houghton

Blue Cat's MB7 Mixer plug-in.

In Ableton Live, I used to use a plug-in to split a channel so 
that I could do multiband processing. I’m now using 
Cubase Pro 8.5 and it doesn’t seem to work — I can only have 
a mono or stereo channel. So my question is, what’s the best way 
to do multiband processing in Cubase?

Jamie Gibbons via email

SOS Reviews Editor Matt Houghton replies: It’s worth mentioning that Cubase has a number of multiband plug-ins: a compressor, an expander and an envelope shaper, as well as the Quadrafuzz v2 multiband distortion/stereo widener. But if you want to split the channel into different bands so that you can insert your choice of plug-ins on each Cubase has some limitations, and so you’ll either have to invest in a third-party multiband-capable plug-in host, or route the track in question to different channels and apply bracket filtering to each (effectively creating your crossover), and routing them in turn to a Group channel so you can process the whole signal afterwards.

In terms of multiband plug-in hosts, DDMF Metaplugin, which is supplied with multiband splitter and mixer plug-ins and offers intuitive drag-and-drop routing, is worth a look. Another excellent option is Blue Cat’s MB7 Mixer (shown above), which has a more familiar-looking approach to routing, but includes some useful additional features.

Published January 2017