Demistify Sends-Dialog

[snafu]

Hey there,


I'm trying to make sense of the Sends-Dialog. Though it is very clear for the most part, I can't make sense of the combo boxes at the bottom end where it says 'Audio 1/2 --> 1/2' (see the attached picture, encircled red area).


It shows 1/2 as default, no matter whether the input is a mono source or stereo. And the options an the right side combo box make no sense to me; there are pairs of channels (?) I cannot relate to my hardware.


So, I tried the manual, but it's telling me on how to set up Sends - maybe I missed the part where this is explained.


Thanks in advance for telling me!
cheers
snafu

[Fergler]

That is sending audio channels 1 and 2 (mono sources exist on both channels equally) to track 3's 1/2, and it's doing so post-fader (whatever exits the end of the FX chain and gain/pan stage of the sending track, will be received and merged with channels 1/2 of the receiving track.

All tracks in Reaper are stereo minimum and expand in pairs only (4,6,8,10, etc), mono signal is handled in 2 channels. You can deactivate channel 2 and route single channels all over the place, but on receiving tracks this will always leave one channel blank and you may need to deal with that after.

Common example uses:

1. Creating a bus track that contains all the audio from individual tracks at varying amounts, post-fader, to create a reverb channel. Send vocals, guitar, snare drum, etc to the reverb track 1/2 -> 1/2. Set reverb level to 100% wet.

2. Create sidechain compression from kick drum to bass guitar. Send 1/2 -> 3/4 pre-fader from kick drum track to bass guitar track, set up ReaComp to use auxiliary inputs (3/4), and adjust to desired compression. Pre-fader means you can adjust the volume of the kick drum in the mix without affecting the shape and character of the compression you dialed in.

[snafu]

Hi Fergler, thanks for your explanation.

whoa - that's a lot to swallow.

Originally Posted by Fergler

That is sending audio channels 1 and 2 (mono sources exist on both channels equally) to track 3's 1/2

So, by channels, I imagine L/R, like in left-side signal and right-side signal. But what are 3/4, 5/6 referring to (on the left side box)?


And even more mysterious to me: what are track 3's channel 1/2,3/4 ...etc.? I mean: If track 3 is a buss, I have no audio on it, so what do channel 1/2 reflect?
And if channel 3 IS a channel with audio on it, then to what do channels 3/4, 5/6 refer to?


I can't wrap my head around to what they really represent: they seem to be no hardware I/O's, nor digital I/O's of my soundcard (which in my case is a digital mixer). How can I access channels 3/4 of track 1 for example?


I found these mentioned in the english manual today, but are still non the wiser (had only the german manual recently).


cheers snafu


P.S.: I just recently switched over from Samplitude to Reaper - maybe I try to wrap my head around a concept that's completely unknown to my old DAW...

[domzy]

this has nothing to do with hardware outs or your soundcard, it's all about internal routing.
It's quite simple if you just think about each track as a (potential) 64 channel device - you can route stuff through any of these 64 channels.

If you want to set a hardware out from a track, click on the routing box and select a hardware out from the appropriate dropdown.

[nicholas]

This might help also.

Stereo (by definition) uses 2 channels - Left (1) and Right (2). When you pan a track with mono media, you are effectively determining how that track signal is balanced between left and right.

It's perfectly feasible to work with REAPER using only these two channels - many folks do. By default, REAPER assumes with an audio send that you want to send it along this path - channels 1/2, which by default are the channels your master uses to send output to your speakers. This is what you would do , for example, when sending audio to a reverb bus.

Beyond that I'd suggest learning as you go along and only as you need to.

For example, have you heard of sidechaining, or ducking? It can be used, for example, to automatically control the degree of compression applied to, say, an instrument or instrument mix by, say, a vocal, to stop the instruments drowning out the vocal. As the vocal kicks in, the instruments are automatically compressed.

To do this, you'd need to send the vocal signal to the instruments in such a way that it won't actually be played there with the instruments (which would happen if you sent it via 1/2)- so it needs to take another route - a bypass, or secret passage or tunnel if you like! That's when you might want to use channels 3/4, as this "bypass." You can then tell ReaComp to use this signal to control the compressor.

In this example, the stream sent along 3/4 would be for control purposes only and as long as it stays on 3/4 would not find its way into your speakers.

This technique has many applications and can get really complex. If you're interested, there's a fair bit about this subject in the User Guide. But my advice is to proceed slowly according to what you need.

PS: I don't want to risk confusing you even more, but it might help if in your mind you completely separate REAPER's channel pairings (1/2, 3/4. 5/6 etc) from hardware outputs.

Your master has a virtual "switch box" (right click master volume fader). By default, channels 1/2 go outputs 1/2, but any combination of REAPER channels can be routed to any hardware outputs.

Hope this helps and that I haven't sent your head spinning.

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by snafu

So, I tried the manual, but it's telling me on how to set up Sends - maybe I missed the part where this is explained.

Sections 2.25, 2.26

[snafu]

Thank you Domzy and Nicholas - that helped a lot!


I spent nearly 15 years with Samplitude - so it's a bit of achange here ;-)


I think it's very appropriate to think of these channels as "patchbay per track", whereas 1/2 is kinda hardwired to the master. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


So I have 62 virtual channels that act very much like audio controlled relays. Your ducking example helped a lot.


Thanks a ton - this will get me much further.


cheers
snafu


P.S.: after having read the manual: maybe it's just me, but in this case they'd better have you guys done all the explanation...

[serr]

Nothing is "hardwired" anywhere in Reaper, Snafu.

A track can have up to 64 channels. Track channels.

Any one of those, or any subset group, or all of them can be routed to another track or the Reaper master track.

The default is to show only 2 channels per track and further have them routed to the Reaper master. You know... If the default was to have every new track have all 64 channels and all of them routed to the master, new users might be overwhelmed.

You're used to limited aux bus availability in other DAW apps. You might have 16 auxes, for example, and once you use them up, that's it. Reaper lets you route between any two points as you please. The only limitation is a max of 64 channels on any one track. It feels like an unlimited resource in a way because you can end up with 100's of routings between tracks. It will kind of put your computer on blast if you go deep with nested routing gone wild! But it still seems kind of free to me after coming from Protools.

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by snafu

after having read the manual: maybe it's just me, but in this case they'd better have you guys done all the explanation...

Fair comment, thanks. Reading it thru, it could do with a clearer and more explicit explanation.

I'll add this to the 6.15 update.

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by serr

The default is to show only 2 channels per track and further have them routed to the Reaper master. You know... If the default was to have every new track have all 64 channels and all of them routed to the master, new users might be overwhelmed .

Jeez, not only new users, I'd say!

[foxAsteria]

My attempt at a visual guide to routing:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=200136

[snafu]

Originally Posted by foxAsteria

My attempt at a visual guide to routing:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=200136

And they said it's no rocket science :-)


I really appreciate the freedom of choice when it comes to routing with Reaper. I'm a few months on Reaper now, and never looked back for any reason! Wherever I look, I can only see superiority to ProTools, Samplitude or Cubase. Of course, it greatly depends on what you are trying to achieve and how, that point given!


But back to routing: I slowly get a sense for this. I found some cool ways to trigger midi functionality with audio signals this way (ReaTune/ReaGate/ReaControl), and I can build all sorts of crazy stuff.


To be honest guys: I'm a simple man, I was never into fuddling too much around, trying to do weird stuff, but for a good three weeks now, I play around with all sorts of routing possibilities, triggering stuff with audio, and just feel like a little child on christmas eve.


I set up a mic close to my right foot that triggers ReaGate when I stomp along to what I play. The MIDI-Signals trigger an EZDrummer kick drum. I can record the MIDI notes. Boom. I can convert them to project markers. Boom. I can adjust my project grid and tempo to these markers. Boom. I got a human "click-ed" project. Boom.


Oh, the fun of it :-D


Have a great one y'all,
cheers
snafu