effect chains -->>>>> send chains

[Milton Sica]

The use of chains of effects has been a very productive way of working.

A little while ago, after having the need to make several SENDs, I reflected that, if that were the case, I could also create SENDS Chains to, in a single insertion, send them to several paths.

An example of use that would have to send:
UNMASK plugin on the Guitar bus
UNMASK plugin on the keyboard bus
MCOMPRESSOR plugin on the drum kick bus.

The question is: Is there a way to create a CHAIN OF SENDS?

[msmcleod]

No - nothing like that.

The nearest thing to it would be a track template,  either save a single track with all those sends on it as a template, or alternatively save an Aux track with all of those sends on it as a template (then your existing tracks could just send to that Aux track).

[Milton Sica]

21 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

No - nothing like that.

The nearest thing to it would be a track template,  either save a single track with all those sends on it as a template, or alternatively save an Aux track with all of those sends on it as a template (then your existing tracks could just send to that Aux track).

Yes. I thought about that too, but not whether there would be any loss or type of problem in the treatment of what you receive and send.

Not to mention monitoring issues.

What do you think ?

[John Vere]

There’s many creative ways to use effects. 
Best practices since DAWs came around was to use them in the traditional manner like we did with mixing consoles in a studio. 

There was only 2 ways to patch in the hardware. Insert patch point which was usually right after the pre amp gain stage ( Pro Channel-FX bin) which was how we connected EQ and Compressors. There were a few other unique processors like Exciters you might also add here. 
Then you had a few Auxiliary sends that each would loop through a reverb or delay unit. These were mostly mono out and stereo returns. Big studio boards had lots of these sends but most of us got by with the 2. 

So all of a sudden you have the DAW which has the patching capabilities of the largest studio mixer that ever existed and thousands options for effects that can be used on a mix. Remember I said we only had 2. 
 
My advice is to start out and limit your self to just 2 or 3 effects and see how good you can make your song sound in the same manner that  a zillion hit records were made first.
 

Then just for fun start over doing it. But you’ll learn more about proper mixing when you take it easy with the turd polish. 
 

If your making electronic music then forget what I just said. 😬


 

[Milton Sica]

23 minutes ago, JohnnyV said:

(....)


 

Thank you very much.
In order to improve more knowledge and improve the production of my own songs, I am going through old projects.

Coming up against my own ignorance when I started the journey and envisioning improvements I could put into my future creation flow.

Most of the projects I've been working on are already on social media and, when I listen to them, I actually see myself in so many things I've learned since then.

In this case, I thought I could use the EFFECT PRESETS model, too, instead of referring to SEND one by one.

For example: Send to a COMPRESSOR, then to the NEUTRON UNMASK and so on.

[msmcleod]

Sending to a compressor is something I rarely,  if ever do.  Effects such as compressors/EQ's are almost always inline.

Once you get beyond the entry/prosumer mixers, a lot of the pro mixers have dynamics processors on each channel for this reason.

The exception is when you're doing parallel compression, but since most software compressors have a dry/wet mix control, even that isn't needed any more. 

I guess you might want to do parallel compression on many sources (e.g. all the parts of a drum kit), but even then I'd be more inclined to do it as an insert on a drum bus than as a send effect.

The most common send effects in the old days were Reverb and Delay, and occasionally something like chorus for a thickening effect.

 

[Milton Sica]

54 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

Sending to a compressor is something I rarely,  if ever do.  Effects such as compressors/EQ's are almost always inline.

Once you get beyond the entry/prosumer mixers, a lot of the pro mixers have dynamics processors on each channel for this reason.

The exception is when you're doing parallel compression, but since most software compressors have a dry/wet mix control, even that isn't needed any more. 

I guess you might want to do parallel compression on many sources (e.g. all the parts of a drum kit), but even then I'd be more inclined to do it as an insert on a drum bus than as a send effect.

The most common send effects in the old days were Reverb and Delay, and occasionally something like chorus for a thickening effect.

 

Thank you very much.

In fact, I thought that, like CHAINS OF EFFECTS, I could also use CHAINS OF SENDS.

For the voice, for example, I direct via send to 3 AUXILIARY TRACKS. One of them has a Reverb Room, the other has a Reverb Hall that has its own auxiliary track that contains a SIDECHAIN compressor and, finally, the 3rd track that has a DELAY effect.

This way I can, individually, work better on the environments.

This technique has been very useful for me.

I thought maybe this could exist in CHAINS OF SEND.

As I said: I have the NEUTRON UNMASK the Guitar and KEYBOARD Bus. So, from the MAIN VOICE BUS I make a send to each BUS (GUARTARS and KEYBOARDS).

I thought that maybe it would be possible or useful to be able to generate this CHAIN OF SENDS that I make one by one and, when clicking on ADD SEND: call this chain.

I don't know if this would be a "trip" of thoughts, but I thought.

These SEND CHAINS would be something:

FREQUENCY UNMASK SEND CHAIN.

SEND 1 - SEND TO GUITAR UNMASK
SEND 2 - SEND TO KEYBOARD UNMASK.

In such a way that the operation could be carried out just like the EFFECTS CHAIRS.

 

 

[John Vere]

10 hours ago, Milton Sica said:

For example: Send to a COMPRESSOR, then to the NEUTRON UNMASK and so on.

Compressors are not normally on a send. They are Inserted directly in the signal path. Generally after the EQ. Of course there are creative ways to use these effects but a compressor is a tool you can use to make sure say a vocal track plays smoothly

And Unmask would also seem to be used in the same way you use a compressor but you feed it from a side chain. So once again not a tool that you put on a send to a buss. 

But I see no reason to note set those up as a FX chain in the pro channel where they belong and save that as a pre set. 

[gustabo]

4 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

Compressors are not normally on a send.

Parallel compression, aka New York compression

[John Vere]

I said normally 

[gustabo]

1 hour ago, JohnnyV said:

I said normally 

Parallel compression has become popular and has become a norm.