VSTi's lock to mono in SHS6

I got some strange behavior in a project recently.  I changed routing on some softsynths from the default ASIO output to the master bus.  When I did that, the input on the audio tracks the synths were connected to change from the stereo output of the VSTi to the left (mono) output.  If I change the input back to the stereo out of the VSTi, it just goes right back to left mono.  I'm not able to set it to right mono either.  rerouting the audio output from the master bus to the ASIO output doesn't help either and all synths stay stuck at left mono.  I checked the VSTi properties in the synth rack and they are still set to "all outputs stereo".  All the audio tracks and the master bus still show stereo interleave, this did not switch to mono when I rerouted the tracks.  These are definitely stereo VSTi's (Emulator X2, Rapture, Dimension LE).  I recreated the project and verified that all the VSTi's were inserted with stereo outputs.  Then I rerouted them to the master bus and again all were stuck at left mono.  Does it sound like I'm doing something wrong here or is this a bug?
thanks,
Dan

Hi Beagle,
Thanks for the reply.  I realize my original post was pretty confusing.  Hopefully I can clear it up without making it more confusing.  I'm using an EMU 1820M with Emu's patchmix software by the way.

By default, when I insert a softsynth in SHS6, the associated audio track that is created is routed directly to the ASIO channels selected in SHS6's audio settings, it doesn't pass through the master bus.  In this case that's ASIO 31 and 32 which are then routed to two of the outputs of the breakout box.  I wanted to use the master bus to adjust the volume of all tracks at the same time, so I changed the output of the softsynth audio tracks to "master bus" instead of ASIO 31/32.

On the input side of the softsynth's audio track, I can choose any of the VSTi's in the project or my audio interface's inputs for example.  When I insert Rapture for example, the audio track's input is something like Rapture Stereo.  So far so good.

Now, when I rerouted all my softsynthss audio tracks to the master bus, the inputs changed to left Mono.  In the case of Rapture, it changed to "Rapture left mono".  "Rapture stereo" is still a selectable input for the audio track.  However when I select "Rapture stereo" and hit okay the track is still using left mono.  Reopening the audio track's properties show that the input has reverted to "Rapture left mono".  Rapture right mono is also one of the choices but when selecting it, the same thing happens and the input just goes back to Rapture left mono.

Now, despite all this the interleave on all the audio tracks and the master bus still shows up as the desired "stereo".  I can't remember the exact wording offhand, but in the synth rack the VSTi properties still show up as something like "all VST outputs stereo".  So this is leaving me scratching my head as to what's going on.  As I original stated, when I insert the synths, they are stereo as desired.  I can change pan in the synth itself or in its midi track for example and pan the sound left and right.  Once the synths have changed to "left mono" the sound disappears if I pan hard right from the VSTi or midi track.  I want to be able to use the synths as stereo and it's not obvious to me why that's not working in this case.

I hope this makes some more sense.
thanks,
Dan

Beagle


OK!  I understand that now, thanks for the clarification.  and you were right to want to change it because you should never ever ever route the output of tracks (or even sub-buses) directly to the soundcard output!!!  ONLY the master bus should be set to the soundcard output because when you send tracks and buses directly to the soundcard you are summing at the soundcard instead of summing in the project.  when you sum at the soundcard you have no idea if you are summing over 0dB or not!  and summing over 0dB in digital is very very bad!  it causes audible "clipping" and is very poor mixing! 

 
Exactly!

this behavior is very strange to me.  changing the output should have no affect at all on the INPUT!

are you using INSTRUMENT TRACKS or separate MIDI/OUTPUT TRACKS?
does this happen if you start a NEW project and change the output of the audio tracks to the master bus BEFORE inserting a softsynth? 

I'm not familiar with instrument tracks.  When I insert a softsynth SHS6 automatically creates a midi track for input and an audio track for output.  Were instrument tracks a new feature for SHS7?  It does happen even if I create a new project and route audio tracks to the master bus before inserting the soft synth.  I tried creating a stereo bus and routing to that had the same result.  Additionally even if I change the routing of the audio track from the bus back to the ASIO channels, the synth is still stuck in mono.  I'm not sure how I haven't noticed this before.  I guess I never really paid attention to whether or not the synths were truly in stereo and I probably used the pan controls on the audio tracks instead of within the synth or on the midi track.
Dan

The latest update is 6.2.2.
And SHS 6 doesn't have instrument tracks.

I'm beginning to think this is a bug in HS6.  I've got the new DAW up and running.  It's an Intel 2500k running Win7 64bit.  The same behavior occurs on the new DAW as did with the old.  I am still using the same audio interface though (EMU 1820M).
Dan

Thanks for the info Greg.  So it looks like it is unique to something in my setup perhaps.  Maybe the EMU 1820M audio interface is the piece that is causing this.  It's the only part I reused from my old system.  I see you've got a Saffire.  I've been meaning to try mine out in my DAW, it's only been used for audio measurements so far.  It'll be interesting to see if this problem goes away with the Saffire.  Otherwise, yeah, this sounds like it's worth a call to support.
Dan

I didn't post it in the instruments forum because it's not instrument specific.  It does it with all the instruments I have, Cakewalk and nonCakewalk VST's alike.
Dan

it is possible this is a bug for SHS6.  but they're not going to fix it.  even SHS7 is no longer being sold, and unless there's something major causing people not to be able to use SHS7 (not likely at this point) then I can't imagine they'll even do any more updates for it, let alone SHS6.