Insert and Send / Return effects

  • Thread starter Thread starter lasagne
  • Start date Start date
L

lasagne

I fancy Fancy
Can someone please explain the difference in simple terms (or in the terms of a simpleton) ? I've read descriptions of the terms but can't seem to get my head around it.

What a git.
 
Inserts break the signal path such that the signal before the break is routed to the input of an effect and the output is routed to the rest of the circuit after the break. You get 100% "wet" signal.

Send/Return sends a "copy" of the raw signal for processing and returns the output of the processing so it can be blended back with the original signal.
 
I'm not quite sure what your question is, but I'll take a stab at it.

The "insert" on the channel strip is both a send and return. An "insert" patch cable has a Tip/Ring/Sleeve (TRS) connector on one end and 2 regular mono 1/4" jacks on the end. The signal comes out of the mixer (usually) on the tip of the TRS connector, to the mono 1/4" plug labeled tip, which is the input to your effects unit. The other mono 1/4" plug labeled ring plugs into the output jack your effects unit, and returns to the mixer channel strip via the "ring" segment of the TRS connector, thereby adding the effect to that channel strip only.

If you look closely to a TRS connector, you will see that there are three separate portions of the connector...Tip, Ring and Sleeve...in a stack. On a mono connector, there is just the Tip and the Sleeve.

I hope this answers your question, or at least helps...
 
Inserts are patchpoints that interrupt the signal flow in a mixer. An Insert Send takes the signal and sends it somewhere else to be processed...and then returns (Insert return patchpoint) it right back to the mixer at the same point it was taken from. So now you have a 100% effected signal. The original signal has now been changed.

An auxilary (Aux) send copies the signal either pre or post fader...and takes it to an effect unit but still allowing the original signal to continue on through the channel. The Aux returns to either an Aux Master channel that is found on the master section of the mixer...or can be returned to two individual channels somewhere else on the mixer.

The general rule of thumb is you use dynamic based effects (compressor, EQs, etc.) via the inserts on a mixer. And you use time based plugins on the Auxes. This is because generally with dynamic based effects you want a 100% effected signal. You don't want anything of the original signal to continue through.
With reverbs, delays, choruses, etc....you want to keep both the effected version AND the original version intact so you can mix the two together.


Everything I said above is how analog consoles work.
DAWs, however have sort of changed the way these terms are defined....but most can be used in a similar way.
 
Back
Top