Well there are a million uses for sends. Let me give you just one example.
When setting up a guitar signal chain I usually have an input channel where the guitar comes in and the direct signal is captured on the track without any extensive FX processing at all save maybe VERY light compression and/or EQ. The master send on this track is usually turned off although you can leave it on as a means of balancing direct and FX signals later (although there are other ways to accomplish that).
Then I create sends to other tracks where I placed the FX chains. For guitars I usually have two sets of FX chains on two different tracks. This allows me to switch back and forth between a set of effects chains within a song. Because the FX chains are on the received tracks the levels can be easily manipulated in the mix by using the track faders. One note of caution here though is that you must take the time to set up your send levels correctly so that you are driving the FX chains properly.
The FX chains are then sent to yet another receiving track where I place my ambience or reverb. Since I usually send multiple instruments or tracks into a single ambience by group keeping it on a separate channel allows me to share a single reverb with multiple instruments within a group. I do this because too many reverbs in a mix just creates mush.
Then I also run sends to a master channel so that I can control the overall level of the instrument in the mix with a single fader.
So: guitar->input channel capturing direct dry signal->
send 1 -> master channel for guitar (dry signal balance) AND to your reverb track
send 2 -> one or more channels with your fx chain -> send to master AND reverb channel
now you have control over each component, dry direct guitar, FX and ambience PLUS your master guitar track for controlling the level of the sum of all these parts.
Ok I know that sounds confusing. But it makes a difference in the careful construction and easy control over your sound. While you CAN stack everything on one track it makes it inherently more difficult to manage.
As an aside, this approach allows you to print stem mixes as well as fx and reverb tails independently, something quite useful especially when sending the mix off to someone else eventually or if you need to make changes later on. It can also allow you to render these independent components saving CPU power on final mix down without giving up control over the levels.
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