Stupid question, what do you use sends for?

[saittam]

You know in the mix window, below the inserts, you can select to throw in a send, select either mono or stereo, and then either an output or a bus. Could someone please explain what this stuff is used for, and how? What exactly is a bus for example?

Also, is there anyway to use any version of Battery with Protools Free on a PC?

Thanks!

[audiotracker]

Say you're going to use a reverb plug-in on 4 of your tracks, instead of opening up a reverb on each track you want the reverb on,(thus using more CPU power than you need),you would set up a new track as a buss track. On the buss track you would open up a reverb plug-in. Then, on the tracks you want reverb, you would set up a send on each track to go to the buss track you created. This way the reverb is shared by all 4 tracks reducing CPU usage, because you have only one reverb plugin open, instead of 4(1 per track). This is effective for effects, but EQ and compressors should be inserted individually per track.

[saittam]

Thanks!

So what's an aux track for? I thought that's what you used for that kinda thing. What's the difference between a regular audio track and an aux track?

And what if you chose to send it to an output rather than to a buss? When I chose to use a send I can first choose between mono and stereo, and then between output and bus. What's the difference between sending something a to a bus and an output?

[Bastiaan]

Where audiotracker says he puts the reverb on a buss-track, he means an aux-track. And an auxtrack can everything do what a normal audiotrack can do except recording to it. So you can place plugins on it, route something to it, rout the track itself to an output, or a buss.

Sending something to a bus means you can bring it back in your mix somewhere (with the use of an aux-channel). If you sent it to an output, it will be outputtted through that output.