I'm using Addictive drums and I've set it up so each drum is being output to a separate channel. I'm now trying to arrange my bussing according to this video: maybe some of you have some across it but I'm not sure if it's all relevant seeing as I'm using addictive drums.
 
Basically I have all my each drum being sent to their own bus (in case I have more than one kick etc) and then I have each of those buses sent to 'drums' bus, which in turn is being sent to 'Drumsmaster,' which will house both it and some parallel compression later. Wish I could upload you an image but I can't on here.
 
Now, for some reason when I turn down the drums bus it doesn't bring down the volume of the drums, even though I have all the separate drum buses routed to it.
 
Also, when I try and change the fader on the kick bus, again nothing.
 
And should I be sending track 17 somewhere? This channel was created when I first inserted AD (as those of you who use AD will know) and it's the main channel where you program your midi information, 1-16 being all the separate outputs. But I don't know where it fits into the equation.
 
It also created two more tracks when I dropped in AD that I'm not sure about - Bus L+R.
 
Basically I just need some busing tips. I'm happy to wipe all this and start again. Please help the poor noob busser :)
 
Alex
 

The Bus L+R tracks are the bus outputs from the AD mixer.  They are likely routed to you main out instead of the drum busses and are the reason the drums are not getting quieter when you reduce the levels on the busses.  You can mute those tracks or route them to your bus to fix the problem.

Ahh yeah thanks, that makes sense :) So I'm wondering if I need a separate bus for drums at all...

I would use a separate bus and mute the AD bus output tracks.  The AD bus just allows you to apply affects to the entire drum kit within AD.

wisebaxter442
So I'm wondering if I need a separate bus for drums at all...

 
The most common reason for routing your drum vsti's (BFD3 in my case) out to your sequencer is so that you can use either your sequencers or other third party effects.
I hardly ever use effects other than the ones that come with BFD3 as there are so many of them and I generally find it quicker to use them within BFD3 but having said that, I always route them out to sonar on the off chance that I might use my other effects and also because when I'm mixing I prefer no to have to go back and forth from one mixer to another.
 
Back to addictive drums though, I would definitely route it's separate tracks into sonar as IMO the fx in addictive drums are not good.
 
Steve
 
Edit, Reading your question again it occurs to me I might have misread or misunderstood.
When you say, a separate bus for drums, I took it to mean, or can I just do all my mixing in AD's mixer, is that what you meant ?

Ok Dwardzala I'll do that
 
Hey twaddle, no when I mentioned a separate bus for drums I wasn't referring to whether or not I could do all of my mixing in AD. Now you've explained what those AD buses are for (i.e mixing within AD) I'll definitely use a bus within Sonar for the drums.
 
Another question is - AD created two tracks called mains L and mains R when I inserted it. On Dan's blog he says that these two channels can be used for parallel compression and other effects. Should I bother using these? Or should I again create a track in Sonar to achieve the same effect? I'm also confused as to how to use them when they appear in stereo like that. Just route them to a single bus? The whole stereo/mono things still confuses me. I know that a mono signal was recorded using one mic etc but then it comes to messing around with stereo and mono in the mixing stage I get stumped. Thanks for all your help guys.

The two mains in AD are similar to the Bus in AD (except the Bus in AD outputs to the mains in AD).  If you set up AD as a simple instrument track, the mains in AD are what get fed into Sonar.  Again, you would probably mute them because you are doing all of your routing in Sonar.
 
If you wanted to apply affects to your entire drum mix, you would apply them on your Drum Bus in Sonar.
 
The reason the tracks in the right side of the AD mixer are stereo is because each of the drums has some panning applied to it to spread it in the stereo field.  In order to preserve that panning, the overheads, the bus and main outs in the AD mixer have to be stereo outs.
 
I like to think of everything in terms of mono.  When you record a stereo source, it really is just 2 mono sources representing the left and right channels.

Does that mean that if I delete the Bus L and Bus R and just route all of my drums to a bus in sonar then I'll lose some of that stereo quality sound?

For whatever the worth, I use custom kits I create in Battery 3, where each kit piece is routed to its own stereo pair of outputs.
 
In Sonar then, I have a track folder with all of the audio tracks for the kit pieces in it.  I have multiple drum buses set up: 1 for Kick, 1 for Snare, 1 for Toms, 1 for Cymbals, and 1 for hi-hat, all of which then get routed to a main Drum Bus.  Another bus is set up for parallel compression.  (Edited to add that I don't have overheads because all of my drums are done with Battery 3, though I will be exploring the new Addictive Drums with X3).
 
So, each audio track for each kit piece gets routed to the appropriate bus, then all of those buses get sent to a main drum bus, which itself is then routed to the Master Bus.
 
The multiple buses for me give me control by groups of kit pieces, so I would have a general volume level and common effects for the Toms, for example, and I also have the main Drum Bus to control overall drum kit volume and all of that.
 
Here is a link to a pretty informative video by some Cakewalk folks, on getting good drum mixes:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9W1MD80kk
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks for that Bob. Your set up sounds very similar to mine seeing as I too watched that brilliant video by the cakewalk dudes. That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve but addictive drums has thrown a spanner in the works for me because when I dropped it into sonar and selected 'all sim audio outputs mono' like I was instructed in another cakewalk blog, it created all these other tracks that didn't fit into the equation, like Bus L and Bus R, Main L and Main R. I've now deleted those bus tracks and have my drums going to a separate bus in Sonar, but not sure whether I should ditch the mains L and R too and use the parallel compression setup from the video. In case you haven't come across main L and R, here's what the blog said about them. Might help you help me.
 
Mains L + R are here as an output and submix of your drums. Don’t delete this as it would come in handy for a parallel output used for compression, reverb, or another type of useful processing you can think of. This will save you time in the event you need to bus your drums.
 
The fact that these tracks are in stereo has also thrown me. The parallel compression they recommend in the video is on one mono track I think. I just want to use that setup they recommend in the vid, with addictive drums. Thanks bud