Well I can’t tell you how things work in Avid land, but I recall (it’s been a couple of months now) that I can get stereo tracks on import into Pro Tools. Whether or not that’s from Pro Tools’ AAF import simply looking at the audio files belonging to a track and seeing “.L”/“.R” or if it’s embedded in the AAF I don’t know. What I recall is seeing stereo tracks on import in PT. I do not have to move mono audio events onto stereo tracks in PT. They just show up.
If it was a problem with file names with current versions then I’d have noticed that it stopped working.
So that really leaves it being embedded in the AAF or “figured out” by PT in some other way.
And actually, I just checked the AAF spec doc from here and it seems to me that multichannel audio is supported at least on a track level. So clearly it’s possible. I mean, I might still be misunderstanding something or misremembering something, but that’s what’s in my head right now before my afternoon coffee…
PS: Yes, this one client has been very good with AAFs. Not named tracks, but properly laid out. The current client however makes the opposite mistake - mono on stereo tracks, but everything labeled… Never get it perfect I guess…