OK Chuck, this makes sense, but it still doesn't answer my question exactly of
how to do it, if I don't want the audio being routed to the A U X track. All I
want routed is the effects, say like reverb. This way I can not change the
volume of the audio, but simply only change the amount of effect, say... the
air reverb.
Am I going about this all wrong?
Chris.
----- Original Message -----
From: CHUCK REICHEL
To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:14 AM
Subject: Re: Effects and Busses, still very confused
Hi Christopher,
This article should clear up things for you.
I posted this to the list last year so it should be in the archives also.
Enjoy
YMMV
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Apr 12, 2012, at 8:36 AM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote:
Before I even chime into this discussion, let me start by saying this is
really humilliating, my lack of ignorance.
Though a ton, and probably even a majority of you on this list are, and
have been, very! willing to help me. Others however have said, jus, go, RTFM,
OK?
Let me say this one note before I start: I have done just! that. I have
read and red, and read. This still makes no sense. With this in mind, I am
not going to ask you all how busses work, or how to apply effects... Quote: I
mean, in what way, Chris?"... End quote: oh, I just am trying to apply them...
No... don't worry. I have some very very specific questions, so let's get
started, shall we?
1. I completely get the concept of an insert. It's basically a place
holder for any number of plugins. I also get that in PT, you get basically 2
sets of 5 of them per track, adding up to 10 inserts, A-E, then F-J. I also
totally get how to inject, for lack of better word, a plugin onto an insert.
2. Where I am getting confused, however, is when dealing both with buses,
and with auxiliary tracks. I understand that an A U X track, in itself,
doesn't really carry data, per sey. I mean, it technically does, in the sense
that you can route things to it through a bus, or we can set input and output
paths on it to different places on my interface, then get audio to play through
it, but that is just it... it can receive! audio, but it can't literally hold
audio. Correct me, if I am not reading things correctly. For instance there is
no track record enable button on an AUX track. Why? Well, bluntly, I edon't
think there will be, as you can't record onto an A U X track. The way my
friend explained it, who's not a PT guy, but uses A U X tracks all the time in
his studio setup, was to think of it like an A U X track being basically an
empty pipe. Because it's opened on both ends, you can't put anything in it to
stay. You can however make things flow through it. Anyway, let's go on.
3. I also partially! understand, sort of ish, what a bus is. I know that
it's basically a placeholder to send certain things from one point to another.
For example, I may have the output of a set of P A head speakers set on one
particular bus. Let's just call that bus for sake of example "Bus A." I now
could take the audio being fed either in or out, for that mind, from a track,
send it, with a send, to "Bus A," and then receive a copy of it on that bus,
thus meaning, the audio would be then fed through the P A speaker monitors. I
hear this is also good if you have, say, an external dat machine, or CD burner,
etc. We could put those on a bus, then send the audio from a track to, say,
that bus, then basically on the fly, we could record the audio from that track
into the device. I'd imagine really the possibilities could be endless. Now,
moving on to number 4, here's where I'm now, getting stuck...
4. OK, I have set up a session in PT. I have two tracks in the session.
One of them is a mnono audio track. One of them is a mono A U X Input track.
I arm the mono audio track for recording. I have my in, set to l/r 1, and my
out, set to l/r1. I now can hear my mike on my monitor, and hitting F12 to
record does work. OK. Now, on the mono A U X track... I insert an air reverb
mono plugin on insert A. Keep in mind: I have not put anything at all on the
insert of the audio track. That's really important for you to remember to get
what I'm trying to do. Now, back on the audio track, I interact with the
sends. On send A, I set that to bus, and under the bus sub menu in this pop
up, I set it to bus 1. Now, I go back down to the A U X input track. I set
the input path on this to bus 1, instead of being set to no input, as it was by
default. Now, I play back my session with space bar. When I do, I am noticing
that the reverb is not being applied to the audio track. See... this is where
I'm confused. I thought that sense we assigned that auedio track to bus 1,
we're sending a copy out from that track. Well, you can't have an out go to an
out, it just doesn't work. So, wouldn't that mean the input of the A U SX
track now needs to receive that bus's signal? This is why my logic of thinking
told me to set the input path of the auxiliary track to that same exact bus,
and leave the output path on the A U X track alone on 1/2 mono just like it was
all along. Even if I move the A U X fader all the way up to +12DB, I get
nothing.
5. The only way I have been able to make this work, and this is not even
using the sends at all, it is, using buses, bu not sends. What I do is, I
record my audio track. After it's recorded, I then, set the output to bus 1 on
that audio track. Then, I make an A U X input track. I set it's input! to bus
1. In other words, the same exact bus that I have set for the output on the
audio track I have set as the in, on the A U X track. Now, I insert my revergb
plugin on insert A of the A U X track. Now! if I play it back. Boy? do I ever!
hear the difference! It works perfectly! So, now I'm extremely baffled. Can
someone explain to me why that worked with my 2nd method, but not my first? I
know I probably am not understanding how sends exactly work and are used in
context, but have mercy on me. I've read and read the documentation. I even
have gone as far as to google and try finding things out about how buses and
sends work, but it's just not seeming to obviously add up. Just as I think I
get it, I obviously don't. I'm judging that I don't, based on the fact soly,
that what I am doing quite obviously for one reasn or more, isn't working. I
also hear with sends that I can send not the audio, but just! the effects to an
A U X track. That is essentially what I am wanting to do. Basically the
ultimate goal here I'm trying to achieve is to be able to feed the effects to
an A U X track, then be able to use the fader of that A U X track to turn up or
down the amount of effect being sent to the... w'w'w'w'w'w'wate a
m'm'm'm'minnit! Hark! I may have just hit on something. I just said a major
key word! I wanna send! hint hint? the effects from the A U X track. Does
this mean I need to set the sends on the A U X! track, not! on the audio! track?
God, I am so confused! LOL! OK Kevin, this is gonna part a our next
lesson. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! You all're probly lookin at me gowen, W? TF? is he
doing!
Anyway, you all let me know and maybe someone can clear up some of this. I
don't expect you all to teach me audio concepts as this list is for PT, not for
learning how to mix or learning different concepts like this. I gotta say I'm
quite humilliated at my ignorance even after reading the docs. Please help me.
I really don't wanna be a pest asking so much.
Chris.
