How Many People Are Using "Patch Points" & Aux Tracks in place of busses

I have started using a "template" provided in a paid CLA tutorial. I'm only using the drums from that tut that uses aux tracks and patch points. I do however sum it to a bus for final drum output before the Master Out.
 
In the end it's that drum bus (and guitar, bass, synths etc buses) that is exported to Harrison Mixbus for final "mix" and mastering.
 

The one thing I find about the way I use Aux trks is when I go into Console View, there isn't any folder structure and it an get a little confusing for me sometimes as far as whats an aux trk and whats a real trk. Then I have to use Icons and that's another story.

I include aux tracks for reverb and delay in the appropriate folder.
ie: Vocals, Guitars, Drums, Keys
Then I have a Buss for each folder.
I find being able to keep effects with the tracks and limiting the number of busses keeps me more organized.
Love the aux tracks.
T
 

Sad to say I haven't used those features even onc. I should at least give them a go. It just doesn't do anything in my workflow and Ive never had the need for it.

I use the patch points and aux tracks all the time. As an example, I find it very handy to set up a clean/dry guitar track which I can then send to different amps, effects, etc which is then sent to a bus for mixing. I usually put all this in a folder to help keep it organized, using simple color coded text icons for easy reference. Once I find the blend I like I will print any of the patches I'm using and bypass/freeze the amps/fx to cut down on CPU usage.

I'm using the aux tracks as the "ultimate buss" too.
 
Dry and effected instruments processed independently on the buss side then bring everything back together in an aux track.  One aux track per instrument usually.
 
I love the aux track features and I'm still figuring out how to best use them with track templates.

I use Aux Tracks in literally every project.   Mostly they're for group busing because I like the visual aspect of having everything in one area in both the Track View and Console View, and within Folders in the TV.  I still use Buses, but mostly for Aux Sends that span across instruments.
 
Patch Points I use less often, but I still find them useful for "mult-ing" or when I have some weird idea that requires something outside the strict one track > one bus paradigm.
 
For me, Aux Tracks and PPs are among the best SONAR developments in years.  
 

I use Aux tracks exactly as you describe, within a track folder, mainly with multi-out drum vsts like AD2 and Superior Drummer. I find it a lot more convenient to have my subgroups right there instead of  in the buss section.

patch points were a godsend for my workflow. i use nebula and aqua plugs a lot on a less-than-ideal system. i, for one, was very happy when cakewalk introduced patch points in sonar platinum. never looked back...

SWANG
patch points were a godsend for my workflow. i use nebula and aqua plugs a lot on a less-than-ideal system. i, for one, was very happy when cakewalk introduced patch points in sonar platinum. never looked back...

Hi Swang
I've been dabbling on and off with the Aqua plugs (freebies such as Tan, Ochre) to check stability etc. Eventually I intend to demo and potentially purchase Amethyst and Gold. When and if you have the time, I would be interested in how you use patch points relative to using Aqua plugs.
Thanks
Greg

CAPS LOCK!!!

bitflipper
The best justification I've identified so far: combining multi-instrument ensembles such as drum kits and orchestral string sections into an aux track. Kick, snare, overheads, etc. become one instrument, "drums". Violins, Violas and Celli become "strings". A bus can do that, of course, but what the aux track does for you is position the combined meta-instrument up in the track pane where it belongs during mixing, rather than down in the bus pane far from the action.
 

I am with you on this bitflipper
 
This is exactly why I use Aux tracks. mainly for the organization within the tracks area.  All of my Aux tracks all are colored grey, and I still use the Mercury Theme as as the  Black theme, no matter how good it looks, doesn't provide full track colorization yet, Bakers get it together ! 
 
I like sending all same or like instruments to an Aux track and managing it's overall volume from the Aux tracks alone when the group mix has been completed.  I can then take those Aux tracks and send them to the buses  for my Console view for the final Mix Down process and not have to worry about bunch of tracks.  

I use Aux tracks where I want an effect where there is no dry and wet control or I want to keep the effect on it's own track, so it can be bounced for later. Not quite got my head around using Patch Points though although it would seem to serve as a way to combine the dry and effected to signal into a summed output.
 
I find that bouncing directly is quicker than freezing sometimes, especially real-time on big East West samplers. Another thing about aux tracks is you can feed other tracks to them and just keep your main busses for overall group tracks. 
 
Anyway we all work differently.
 

Patch points are a bit confusing at this point. Tried following the directions but nothing works as described for me. Maybe a video will help.

I've started using Aux tracks as virtual tape sends for things like drums and strings. This is because of the analogue emulation aesthetic. You see, to use the console emulator as a summing effect, you need to place this effect last in the signal chain on a channel, and first on a buss. To emulate an analouge signal chain, the best way to do this is to create a tape aux...otherwise the tape emulation effect is in the wrong position in the signal chain, and when you're adding harmonic distortion, the signal chain is everything. I then feed the tape aux to a buss for final limiting and processing...these aux tracks are great too, because you can record the final mix of the drums and strings, then freeze the aux track, again much like printing to tape. Even though I have a quad core, 8 thread computer with 16 gig of ram, and an SSD drive...freeing up CPU and memory resources is invaluable particulary when you use a lot of phase linear stuff, virtual binaural stuff and like to mix and master within a session.
 
Ben