Buses

Buses are useful for mixing together different audio tracks (in stereo) and applying effects to the mix. You can mix the tracks at different volume levels by adjusting each track’s bus send level. Buses output to either other buses or to a main out.

You control the bus as follows:

To do this	Do this
Send audio data from an audio track to the bus	In an audio track, press the Bus Send Enable button corresponding to the bus, or choose the bus as an output for the track. If the track doesn’t have a Send module, you can insert one by right-clicking the track and choosing Insert > Send > [name of bus you want the data to go to].
Send audio data from a bus to another bus	If the bus doesn’t have a Send module, you can insert one by right-clicking the bus and choosing Insert > Send > [name of bus you want the data to go to]. Then click the Bus Send Enable button so that it’s lit, and adjust the Bus Send Level and Bus Send Pan.
Set the level of the audio data sent to the bus	In an audio track, set the Bus Send Level corresponding to the bus, or volume fader if the output is to the bus
Set the pan of the audio data sent to the bus	Adjust the Bus Send Pan knob
Set the input level to the bus	Adjust the Input gain on the bus itself
Set the input panning to the bus	Adjust the Input pan on the bus itself
Display the waveform of the audio that’s flowing through the bus	Enable the bus’ Waveform Preview button
Add a real-time audio effect to the bus	Right-click in the FX Rack and select an effect from the list (for more information, see Using real-time effects)
Remove an effect	Select the effect and press DELETE, or right-click and choose Delete
Set the output level	Adjust the Output volume
Set the output panning	Adjust the Pan setting
Set the Send Pan to mirror the source track pan	Right-click the Send Pan control and choose Follow Bus Pan from the pop-up menu. This setting is only active when the send has the same interleave as the bus it feeds into, and is set to Post Fader. If enabled, the Send Pan control no longer affects the output.
Select the output	Click the Output button and choose one from the list

 

See also:

Aux tracks

Surround buses

Surround buses are useful for mixing and adding effects to create a surround mix. For details, see Surround Mixing.

To patch a track through a bus

1.	Open the Console view (Views > Console View) or the Track Inspector (Views > Inspector).

2.

If you want to add effects to the bus, right-click in the FX Rack of a bus (if it is not in use already) and choose an effect from the effects pop-up menu. (If you are working in the Track view, you may first need to display the Bus pane by clicking the Show/Hide Bus Pane button located at the bottom of the Track view.)

The name of the effect you have chosen appears in the bus FX Rack.

3.	Set the effect’s parameters and close it.

4.	Repeat steps 2 and 3 for any additional effects you want to use.

5.	In the Console view or Track Inspector, select the channel strip that you want to patch through the bus, then do the following:

Drag the Bus Send Level control for the bus to the approximate level you want.

Drag the Bus Send Pan to the approximate setting you want.

Click the Bus Enable button for the appropriate bus.

6.	Repeat step 5 for all the tracks you want to patch through the bus.

7.	In the bus, adjust the Input Gain and Output Volume controls to the approximate level you want.

8.	In the bus, drag the Input Pan and Output Pan controls to the approximate positions you want.

9.	Play your tracks and adjust the Send Level controls, the Pan controls, etc.

To mute or solo a bus

Each bus has a Mute button and a Solo button. These controls act like the Mute and Solo buttons in a track, but they affect all the signal routed through the bus.

1.	Open the Track view, Track Inspector or Console view.

2.	Click the Mute or Solo button in the bus you want to mute or solo.

Bus selection

As with tracks, buses can be selected in both the Track View and the Console View. The current selection can contain a mixture of tracks and buses.

Bus selection is useful if you want to cut/copy/paste automation data in a bus, or delete multiple buses.

Track selection controls are labeled with track numbers, while bus selection controls are labeled with letters (A-Z, AA-AZ, etc.).

Figure 400. Bus selection control.

A. Bus letter

 

To do this	Do this
Select a bus	Click the bus letter in the Track view or Console view. The bus is selected, and all other buses—except the current bus—are deselected. When a bus is selected, both the bus letter and all the data in the bus appear highlighted.
Select several adjacent buses	Click the bus letter for the first bus in the group, drag the mouse to the last bus letter in the group, and release the mouse button.
Select/deselect all buses	Double-click a bus letter.
Add or remove a single bus from the selection	Hold the SHIFT key and click the bus letter to add it to the selection; hold the CTRL key and click the bus letter to toggle its selection status.
Select all tracks and/or buses that are assigned to a bus.	Hold down the ALT key and click the bus letter.

Select tracks/buses that are assigned to a specific bus

You can quickly select all tracks and buses that are routed to a specific bus (via outputs or sends). To do so, hold down the ALT key and click the bus’ Select control in the Track view or Console view.

To display the audio waveform of a bus

Enable the bus’ Waveform Preview button . This displays the waveform of the audio that is flowing through the bus.