I've just read Craig Anderton's article in the May edition of Sound on Sound on using sends and buses in Sonar X3.   I was interested by something Craig says almost in passing right at the end of his piece, in bold below in the extract:
 
'To make it easier ...[this] will now be adopted for all tracks connected to that bus....useful primarily for drums and harmony vocals, which almost always go to buses. Be aware that this applies only to buses, not to sends (even though, technically, they are indeed buses).'


I take this to mean (borne out by trying the advice referred to above in a project) that 'buses', as referred to above, are when the output of the track is pointed to the bus (aux), and 'sends' are when the track is routed to the bus via 'insert send' instead, with the output from the track directed to the mains (or wherever).  
 
My question is, are there certain situations when it would be definitely more appropriate to use an 'insert send' to a bus and and others when it would be more appropriate have the output from the track to the bus?   I have the X1 Power book by Scott Garrigus but he only refers to using sends and doesn't even mention a direct output to buses.  Does this mean it's not common? 
 
Another question, when I create a bus in Sonar, say an FX bus, I notice there is an option to 'insert send' on that bus itself.  Is that option ever used in practice and in what sort of situations?  
 
Thanks for any advice.

My question is, are there certain situations when it would be definitely more appropriate to use an 'insert send' to a bus and and others when it would be more appropriate have the output from the track to the bus? I have the X1 Power book by Scott Garrigus but he only refers to using sends and doesn't even mention a direct output to buses. Does this mean it's not common?

There is nor right or wrong way, or appropriate way and non appropriate way to do these things, as long as you get the sound you are looking for.
 
I and allot of others always send all tracks to the master bus. when i use sends, the buses the sends go to go to the master bus. then the master bus goes to the main outs.
 
 
To break it down this is what I do
1. All tracks go to the master
2. All buses go to the master
3. Sends go to a bus, if you use sends
4. Master goes to the main outs 1/2
 
CJ
 

Hi Combo,
 
I haven't read the article, but regarding info in the book, I do talk about sends, buses and mains in the mixing chapter. A typical situation would be having a track with its output sent to a bus. The bus output would then be set to a master bus (where all signals for a project converge). The master bus output would be set to mains.
 
Now let's say that track is a drum track representing one instrument of the kit (snare drum) and you want to add reverb to it, but still have control over the dry snare signal. You could add a send to the track with its output going to a reverb bus (the reverb bus would have a reverb effect in its FX bin and its output going to the master bus). The track send would control the amount of wet (reverberated) snare and the track volume would control the amount of dry snare.
 
Of course, you could just add a reverb effect to the track itself, but using a bus in this situation is better because you can apply the same reverb effect instance to the entire drum kit, making it sound more cohesive. And each piece in the kit can have a varying amount of reverb.
 
This is just a basic example. Signal paths can be set up to be simple or complex, depending on what you need or want to do.
 
Thanks for reading my book!
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X3 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX3Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
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Thanks CJ and thanks Scott 
 
That's what I was after really - confirmation that there are no real guidelines other than the desired end product. Thanks again.

Combo
Thanks CJ and thanks Scott 
 
That's what I was after really - confirmation that there are no real guidelines other than the desired end product. Thanks again.

Yep. And that's why I got into this.

No rules.
And I get to do what I want!!