Teach young grasshopper about aux. buses

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leavings

leavings

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I understand the concept of the auxiliary buses, but I can't figure out how to use them correctly. Here's what I know:

1) I have the output set to the correct device (for example: '3,4 Direct Pro Q10').

2) I know I have to have the Send Enable turned on in the console for each track I want the auxiliary effect applied to.

After that I'm clueless. Whenever I add an effect it sounds different from when I place the effect directly on the track. I don't understand if I need to put the aux. send level up on the track, or the send and return levels up in the bus. Same goes for the send and return balance. And what the hell is that Pre/Post fader enable button???

If you can answer any or all of these questions I will love you long time.

Thanks,
Peter
 
Here's a little more elaboration on the subject.

You need to also be concerned with the Pre/Post setting. This refers to where the "tap" occurs relative to the Track fader. Normally you will want to set this to Post. That means the tap is after the fader, and that as you lower the Track volume, the Bus volume will follow accordingly (IOW, the fader will control both streams). In most cases, Post Fader will be how you want to set your Bus, since once you have the desired amount of effect dialed in, you want to be able to control the volume without upsetting the ratio.

It might be helpful to you to think of the Bus as a hot water tank. Water comes into your house from a single source. It is then split into two streams, one of which goes to a hot water heater (the Bus). There it is heated to a fairly high temperature (i.e., the effect is applied). The water is too hot to actually use at this tempertaure, so at your sink (the VMain) the hot and cold water streams are blended back together. Your faucet (i.e, the sends and return) regulates how much hot water and how much cold water is used, in order to give you the correct water temperature for what you need.

So the Bus is the hot water tank. Usually plugins patched to a Bus are set to 100%. So you have a completely dry signal (your cold water) and a completely wet signal (your hot water). Depending on the degree of wetness you desire for the music (i.e., what water temperature you need), you blend these two back together. The send and return controls act as your faucet in determining how much of each signal is used, and therefore how wet or dry the ultimate mix will be.

You'll also note that the same hot water heater feeds multiple sinks in your house - much like a Bus can effect multiple tracks.

BTW, placing an effect on a Bus is SUPPOSED to sound different than placing it on a Track. Placed on a track, 100% of the signal goes through the plugin. This is appropriate for EQ or compression. However, for effects like reverb - where you want both a dry and wet signal, the Bus is more appropriate.

I have no clue if any of this makes sense to you, but hopefully it will help.
 
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