Hello,
 
For "widening" a track, I make a copy of the track and slide it by ~ 40mS, and then pan both of them left and right to the degree of widening that I want.  As an alternative, I can send to a bus with a delay of 40mS, and then apply the same panning.
 
Which is lighter on the CPU?  The later is easier to set up and “manage”, but is it more burden on the CPU?
 
Thank you,
 
Todd

The delay version is going to be slightly heavier on the CPU but only by a tiny amount, definitely not worth worrying about. A basic delay is very CPU light.

Not quite sure I follow but two tools to look at are the Sonitus Delay (which is low resource consumption and has a ton of controls) and if you are on X3 the Blue Tubes stereo dynamic thingamabob (not sure how resource intensive it is).
 
As far as nudging things around manually for a delay effect the sonitus will do that for you if you figure out how to work it and probably save on resources because I think you can create the "Haas" effect (which I think you are describing) without creating an extra track that needs to be played back and processed.
 
But... I have no idea whether using Sonitus versus having an additional track would use more resources.... and now I'm curious.
 
The Techniques sub forum is a good place to ask this as well. Cheers.

Because the delay is software based it would use more CPU, the track method uses more disk I/O but nether should be significant enough to matter unless multiplied many times over.

scook
Because the delay is software based it would use more CPU, the track method uses more disk I/O but nether should be significant enough to matter unless multiplied many times over.

That makes sense and is good to know. Thanks.

If you have time play around with the Haas effect. Make a copy of the track and slide it by ~ .3ms to .7ms. panning the channels all the way left and right. It will place the instrument in a different space in the stereo field. Haas Effect

Thank you everyone, good feedback!  Bayoubill, I will check that out, have heard of the Haas effect but really don't know any of the details.

You more or less described it in your OP. It's just a copy of the same signal with one slightly delayed. There is more science to it than that but AFAIK that's the basic principle. They used to use it over public amplification systems so things were more audible... due to the perceived "width" of the sound.
 
I have been told multiple times though that a stereo delay plugin will achieve the same thing... which you also described in your OP.

It describes what you are already doing

lol... near simulpost.