SurgeXT, ShortcircuitXT w/ Pin Mode: Flexible I/O?

Hi, not sure if I should be asking this in the Surge forums or here, but my question is pin and audio outs related.

I was reading the Ardour manual, which says

In Strict I/O mode, plugins cannot alter the track’s channel count, while in Flexible I/O mode, it will automatically adapt to the I/O of its plugins.

When I add SurgeXT, I had been doing Strict I/O but adding tracks that “Fan Out”. So I would get SurgeXT on 1 midi track with stereo output, and that routed to 3 grouped stereo tracks: track 1 is the main/mixed output, track 2 is scene A of the synth, and track 3 is scene B. I’ve been muting or just removing track 1, since I like having the different scenes separate (to process in ardour).

So then I tried Flexible I/O and get essentially the same configuration, except the midi track has the full 6 channel output and metering, instead of just stereo.

My question is: what’s the difference, if any, since functionally I’m able to get the separate scenes in the additional fanned out tracks?

Also curious because ShortcircuitXT (new sampler in development) can potentially have 42 outs: 1 main + 20 separate audio tracks.

And finally, is it generally best to choose Flexible I/O when possible?

Thanks!

Edit: 1 benefit I’m seeing is that if you do Flex I/O, no matter what happens to the initial fanned out tracks, you can always right click on the OG midi track in the mixer and fan out to new tracks, or even better, busses. Probably useful for setting up track templates, since only 1 track can be template’d.

Note that synth’s are exempt from the strict-i/o rule. If that would be enforced the result would be MIDI in → MIDI out since the plugin cannot add any (audio) ports. See The Ardour Manual - Track/Bus Signal Flow

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