Stereo Sending in Mono = Center or just Mid?

[Coconut_Head]

I know that when sending a stereo track it only allows mono (huge shame as stereo Sends would be a game-changer for me).

Am I right in that the mono Sends send both the Left and the Right panned to the center (as opposed to the sending Mid/shared information between the two)?

[Darryl Ramm]

Pro Tools support stereo sends. What *exactly* is not working?

[BScout]

You can not only send stereo sends, you can send 5.1 or 7.1 or anything as wide as the send bus is set to.

[Coconut_Head]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Pro Tools support stereo sends. What *exactly* is not working?

Sorry, I'm not at my computer right now and framed the question wrong out of memory...

I meant that Pro Tool's plugin inserts won't accept stereo Key Inputs set up from stereo Sends, so I'm wondering how sending stereo tracks out in mono will incorporate the stereo information:
E.g. I have a stereo Track A trying to duck Track B on both sides independently (based on different information - A Left duck B Left, A Right duck B Right); I obviously can't do that because PT's plugin inserts won't take stereo Key Inputs. So the question is: If I have stereo Track A send out a mono Send to Bus 1 to duck Track B (both sides processed the same, obviously), will the mono Send to Bus 1 have Track A's Left + Right both panned center, or will it have only the Mid/shared information of both sides?

[BScout]

A mono send bus is a sum of both channels. (panning is irrelevant when going from stereo to mono; it's mono after all. Left hard panned left or center-panned redirected to a mono out will have the same level either way)
You can just send that (key) send bus to an output to hear it (no reason to ask here when you can verify what you are sending as your key input.)

However, if you want to do what you originally wanted to (A.L ducks B.L and A.R duck B.R) you can do that easy enough. On your A track, use a stereo send with mono subpaths. (it must have mono subpaths -- you can go into I/O bus tab and create subpaths if you created the send directly from Track A) I'll call this stereo send "KeyBus"

Then on your B track, use a multi-mono compressor (or gate or whatever -- just needs to be multi-mono.) Unlink the channels and bypass the R channel. Set the key to be KeyBus.L. Then in the next insert slot, put a duplicate of that compressor (multi-mono again), unlink and bypass the L channel. On this one, set the key to be KeyBus.R. This will do what you asked. A.left with affect B.left only and A.right with affect B.right only.

[Coconut_Head]

Originally Posted by BScout

A mono send bus is a sum of both channels. (panning is irrelevant when going from stereo to mono; it's mono after all. Left hard panned left or center-panned redirected to a mono out will have the same level either way)
You can just send that (key) send bus to an output to hear it (no reason to ask here when you can verify what you are sending as your key input.)

Thank you for helping me out. And I mean Mid from a Stereo Track will be mono, that's why I asked. But good to know that panning wouldn't make a difference here, so that part of the question isn't applicable anyway.

Originally Posted by BScout

However, if you want to do what you originally wanted to (A.L ducks B.L and A.R duck B.R) you can do that easy enough. On your A track, use a stereo send with mono subpaths. (it must have mono subpaths -- you can go into I/O bus tab and create subpaths if you created the send directly from Track A) I'll call this stereo send "KeyBus"

Then on your B track, use a multi-mono compressor (or gate or whatever -- just needs to be multi-mono.) Unlink the channels and bypass the R channel. Set the key to be KeyBus.L. Then in the next insert slot, put a duplicate of that compressor (multi-mono again), unlink and bypass the L channel. On this one, set the key to be KeyBus.R. This will do what you asked. A.left with affect B.left only and A.right with affect B.right only.

That's crazy, I had no idea you could bypass a particular side in a Multi-Mono insert. The serial opposing sides idea is perfect for what I'm after, because the structure in my mind would just be to send Track B Left to a mono bus and Track B Right to a mono bus, add their respective compressors, and then have those meet at a stereo bus, hard-panned of course. Your idea makes it 1/3 simpler, so that's super helpful, thank you!