It's simply that the export function doesn't work as the user expects.
Just as I select a bus to connect it to an external recorder and can record all the audio involved, including sends, I expect that if I select a bus in the export function, it will do the same.
That's the expected behavior.
Will it ever work that way? No idea.
I've never really focused on this functionality because using an external recorder or recording the final signal on another track works fine, and I think it will always be the best way to get exactly what you hear, because you're recording what you literally hear.
Sometimes I use Qtractor as an audio editor. In that template, I only use the Master bus. In those cases, exporting works fine... Although something tells me that the result is still subtly different from what you get by recording the signal you hear. And I think that happens in all DAWs... but that's just a hunch, I can't be sure. If you use different processes for real-time/rendering, it's logical that you won't get the same result.
It's simply that the export function doesn't work as the user expects.
Just as I select a bus to connect it to an external recorder and can record all the audio involved, including sends, I expect that if I select a bus in the export function, it will do the same.
That's the expected behavior.
Will it ever work that way? No idea.
I've never really focused on this functionality because using an external recorder or recording the final signal on another track works fine, and I think it will always be the best way to get exactly what you hear, because you're recording what you literally hear.
Sometimes I use Qtractor as an audio editor. In that template, I only use the Master bus. In those cases, exporting works fine... Although something tells me that the result is still subtly different from what you get by recording the signal you hear. And I think that happens in all DAWs... but that's just a hunch, I can't be sure. If you use different processes for real-time/rendering, it's logical that you won't get the same result.