The other day I was reading this article
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/cubase-tech-0711.htm
It's about things that I'm queit familiar with, but... on the second paragraph the author says:
"Before I get into any techniques, I should say that I'm not sure why Cubase has both FX and Group channels. You can send to a Group just as you can an FX channel, but Groups also seem slightly more flexible in terms of routing. For that reason, I often use Group channels in place of FX channels."
As far as I know, both FX and group channels are capable of routing or grouping to another bus of your choice. Can someone clarify me, in which way did he meant, this flexible routing thing?

 

i think it boils down to looking at it from a Point of view as strength/weakness on aux/groups and how youre personal workflow is like.

not sure how to simplify it in words, but - i group my aux/efx-returns into 1 or more groups because it adds more options and control "points" for me in my way of routing stuff. ( does the efx-return need a bit of clean up eq? maybe some additional compression is needed, or maybe a DS'er if its a vocal-return)

as an example lets take saturation/distortion.

on my "music Group/buss" I can add sat/dis via my efx/aux sends to taste on the whole group while still been able to have a completly different sat/dis chain on other elements (eg. bass, drums, efx, pads etc.)

or even blend different chains together.

Not sure if it gives any clear meaning. i've had a few pints

 

<lol>

I think we can use either to route in anyway we want. We can even use the FX channel as a group channel, and then use its own send to others. Am I missing something?

 

Hm, I don't see any difference, except the fader colors And even those you can make the same :P

 

I "interchanged" channels in a various ways in an excisting project and the result was the same.

 

Last edited: Jan 14, 2016

From the Steinberg Forum:

a) An insert can be specified during creation of an FX track.
b) The channel is named with the chosen insert effect.
c) FX are added to the FX folder when created.
d) Groups are added to the Group folder when created.
c) They are classed differently for visibility in mix consoles. For example, you can show/hide ALL the FX channels separately from the group channels, and vice versa.

Oh, and don't forget about VCA Faders introduced in Cubase 8...

 

Dingus, you are such a smart rabbit!

 

Thanks for your replies but non of these suggestions are clearing up the superiority of a group channel vs the FX one (in terms of routing of course... hehehe)