Plugin chain when sending to Aux Bus

[Jcalla]

So I kinda had a "lightbulb" moment that got me thinking:

When you're sending a mono track to a stereo aux bus in order to use a certain plugin that doesn't support mono, where does that plugin stand in terms of chain of plugins?

I'm familiar with the concept of Pre and Post-Faders. Does it apply in this case to the plugins on the Aux track?

If so, am I correct in assuming that in order to insert a plugin After the one on the Aux track, one would have to insert all remaining plugins on the Aux track and in stereo even though mono would have been preferable? (assuming that the Aux track was set to Post-fader).

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Jcalla

When you're sending a mono track to a stereo aux bus in order to use a certain plugin that doesn't support mono, where does that plugin stand in terms of chain of plugins?

Why would you send or route a mono signal to a stereo aux to use a mono plug on it? I think you should try to explain more accurately what you're trying to achieve.

Tip that might be useful to you, now or later: It's possible to route or send a mono signal to a mono aux track, insert a mono-to stereo on the aux, and end up with a mono-in - stereo-out aux. Then you can use mono plugins before the mono-to stereo plugin, i.e. a reverb, and stereo plugins later.

Another little related trick: create two mono aux tracks. set their inputs to bus 1 and 2 respectiverly. Create f.ex a reverb on one and delay on the other, both mono-to-stereo so that the aux'es turn to stereo. Now you can create a stereo send (bus 1-2) on any track and use the send pan to balance/choose between the two stereo effects.

[Jcalla]

Thanks for the tips, the second one should come in particularly handy!

I meant that in the case a plugin that I wish to use only comes in stereo, and I want to use it on a (mono) guitar track, I'd have to send the track to a stereo Aux track and use the plugin there.

However my question is more about the sequence of the plugins. If I want to add an eq (to boost) after having used a compressor (the compressor is on the original audio track, before the Aux), would I need to continue adding the plugins on the Aux track instead of the original audio track? (Since I want the EQ to come after both the compressor and the previously mentioned stereo plugin). And does this system work according to the concept of "Post" and "Pre" faders? I'm sorry, I don't think I'm able to translate my thoughts any clearer than this.

[Carl Lie]

It might help if you clear up how your sending to the aux track. Are you using a send or bussing the output to the aux track?

C

[Jcalla]

I'm bussing the output, the stereo plugin is a dynamics plugin.

[64GTOBOY]

I think every thing after a stereo plug in will be stereo also. One way to use both is to create 2 stereo Aux tracks, one label Guitar Bus, the other Guitar Parallel. Both your original guitar track and the parallel track set output to stereo bus (say 1/2). On origin guitar track use send to bus(3/4). Set input of Guitar bus to 1/2, input of parallel track to 3/4 then fill your original track with mono inserts, bus with stereo and mix to taste. Yes you can put mono inserts after the stereo by using a mono aux instead for your guitar bus and sending all your inputs to bus 3 only and the bus input to the same (note pan setting on input tracks may affect volume on bus track) but you may find this very muddy since you are piling a lot of like frequencies on top of one another