Need a quick reminder about routing my X1 channels

A long time ago, when learning DAW recording I seem to recall that the "output" setting of each channel should be set to Master, even though there will be bus-sends from these same channels, for fx, etc. But really what about grouping - vocals, drums,,,to a bus just for level control purposes for example, should that be done via the output or a send to that bus. Thanks CS

I rarely output tracks directly to the master bus, instead outputting to "sub-busses" like vocals, guitars, etc, all of which route to the master bus.   And the master bus routes to the mains.   That way each sub-group can be adjusted as a whole, not to mention group compression and/or EQ on drums, etc for a little extra "glue".
 

All of your tracks (and busses) MUST end up at the master bus, but often the route taken can vary from track to track.

For instance, I might route my drum tracks to a drum bus, but I might also route my toms to a tom bus, which in turn gets routed to the drums bus.

This is set via the tracks OUTPUT control - don't confuse this with the SEND

A SEND is used to take a copy of an existing signal, route it to a bus where further processing is applied to it, e.g. a reverb or delay. This signal is then blended in with the raw tracks

Sane with vocals. I might route my lead vocal tracks to a vocal bus, then route my backup vox to another vox backup bus. This bus then could get routed to either the main vocal bus or straight to the master, depending on what I want to do with the combined tracks.

Just make sure nothing is routed directly to your interface/soundcard.

silvercn - right, stevec's suggested routing is a preferred technique.