I'm having a hard time comprehending the use of the new Aux track feature in Splat. Signal chain stuff usually makes my brain hurt, so I try to keep it simple. For the most part, I output my tracks to busses for processing. For instance, I'll output all my lead vox tracks to a Lead Vox Bus with Prochannel plugins, reverbs, etc, then output that bus to the master bus. Very standard, and easy to control multiple tracks with one fader........right.
 
So, my question is......why would I use an Aux track. The applications in the JP e-zine don't really clarify anything for me. Can someone provide some real world SIMPLE examples for using an aux track instead of a bus? And explain the difference between the two......
 
Thanks guys.
 
~Jeff

If your comfortable using busses thats cool, one way to use aux tracks in your scenario is for parallel processing. For example nearly every mix I do I send the bass track to an aux track right next to it on the console. On the aux track I will I really distort it and blend it in with the original bass track, the output of both these tracks is sent to my bass bus.
Hope this helps.
Andrew

 I know what you mean, it gets a little overwhelming with all the options available in a Daw like Sonar.   Here's the way I keep it straight in my head.  Simply.
 
Aux Track - Are recordable tracks
Buss Channels  - Are not recordable tracks.
 
I realize, there tons of way to configure modern Daws, but to make it simple for myself.
 
Aux Tracks -  Multiple tracks in a project can be sent to an aux track, for further effect processing only, effects processing and recording or just for recording multiple channels to a single track.  These aux tracks can then be sent to a buss channel for further processing.
 
Buss Tracks - Are generally used to group multiple channels/tracks together for processing and routing only.  Generally, buss tracks in a Daw don't have recording capability.  
 
 Use a Aux track, if you want to record the output.   Use a Buss Channel , if you just want to pass the output on.

I'm with ya, and in the rare instance I may reach for an aux track, but for my purposes and for what I am comfortable with, busses will remain my bff.  Aux tracks make my head hurt too, and there is nothing in my work flow I can't do with busses, so I'm not going to stir the pot.  Maybe one day I will run into something that only aux tracks can do, but that day hasn't happened yet!

It just allows for a similar workflow to other DAWs where instead of the separate bus pane we have had for many years you can put those "busses" anywhere you want. So now you can work exclusively in the Track Pane (using Aux Tracks as your busses) and then the only bus you have in the Bus pane is your Master (but I'm guessing that could be bypassed too).
 
A real world application...
 
I often record into two tracks from my dual output amplifier. I used to have to create a bus in the bus pane if I wanted a single control for those two tracks. Now I can send those two outputs to an aux track instead, get the levels/effects I want on those individual outputs, hide the original tracks I recorded into and only have one track to adjust in the track pane instead of two/needing to move to the bus pane to adjust the bus.
 
Or you can do that with drums...
 
Or you can keep a parallel compression bus for a track right next to the track feeding it...
 
Or you can record multiple tracks into an aux track (you cannot record into Sonar busses) for quick sub mixes or test mixes (instead of having to export)...
 
Bunch of other possibilities too but really it's not introducing any new functionality. It's just making a whole pile of things easier/more flexible.
 
Hopefully that makes sense. Kind of spaced out today.
 
Cheers.

I use the Aux tracks for keeping things neat and for trying new stuff.  I got the idea when Craig Anderton was posting about spliting a track and working on various aspects of it.
Here's a quote from one of his posts 5 weeks ago.
 

Anderton
I bounce mixes to individual tracks all the time. A typical project of mine will have seven or eight mix files. There are several advantages...
 

• You can use exclusive solo to compare and contrast.
• Sometimes dropping part of one mix into another yields great results.
• I can do my "varispeed" trick on the mixed file
• It's easy to "virtual razor blade splice" the mix to remove something like 4 measures of an overindulgent guitar solo. Not, of course, that I would ever do that...
• You can squash the living crap out of one of the mixes, and mix it in like -20 dB below the real mix.

 
Of course normally this requires bouncing. I don't have a problem with that, but I am finding that the bus-to-track recording thing gives the benefit of real-time bouncing BUT with the additional benefit of being able to tweak what you hear, so you can stop after you make some adjustment and start over quickly instead of having to abort the bounce, tweak, re-bounce, etc.

 
 Also, try his "tip of the week".. Some of the past weeks deal directly with aux tracks.  Some good stuff there.

In a real world we used to work with large consoles that looked like they were made of knobs and buttons.
 

AUX sends were used mainly for parallel processing, while buses were used to group channels. Well, you could use AUX sends with buses for signal processing and route AUX sends as outputs, but that was a less common scenario. Nowadays compact and powerful digital mixers replaced huge and bulky mixing desks. Of course, with digital mixers and audio workstations the possibilities are almost endless, there are many creative ways to use different tracks and their combinations, but the basic idea still applies:
AUX - parallel processing
Bus - group tracks.
Hope that helps.

Aux tracks keep you from having to hop back and forth between tracks and bus view as the aux tracks are next to the driving track and I hear you can nest them in a track folder too.
 
That's one reason to use them instead of a bus.

I've discovered one drawback to using Aux Tracks as busses in that if you have sends on tracks that are sent to the Aux Track and pull the fader down on the Aux you can still hear the sends return (they are set to Post Fader). On a bus pulling down the fader aslo pulls the send level down with the bus. This has been a bit of a bummer. Has anyone else found this to be true?

My answer would be that if you are happy using busses there really is no compelling reason to use Aux tracks. As far as I can tell they add little in the way of functionality apart from the ability to record their output, a feature that I see of lttle use - I see fast track bouncing as an advantage, not a hinderence. I enjoy non linear, faster than realtime digital convenience and have no desire to resurrect my adat machines!
 
Perhaps this feature was added mostly because some other DAW's have the ability to do it. It reminds me a little bit of the Pre Sonar X days when there seemed to be 20 different ways to do everything in Sonar, adding much confusion for little gain. The X series took a lot of the redundant and confusing menu functionality out - much to our collective dismay at the time:) Here's hoping they don't start puting it back in.
 
It is a fairly transparent feature and easily ignored though. That said, I found Jamaica Plain to be the least stable version of Sonar in a very long time. Perhaps in my deeply flawed reasoning I have unfairly assigned that instability to the most notable change - that being patch point functionality.   As long as the next update improves on stability as promised, whether a fan of aux tracks and patch points or not, we will all be happy campers!