Hi :) I am curious about these two different ways to bus things. Here is a scenario: Currently I have four guitar tracks (each with their own amplifier in the track's FX area), and all of them have their track out going to a bus that contains an eq and compressor, and then that bus goes to master. Would it be better for some reason to use the sends to go the bus instead? I guess I'm confused about the difference between the two in the case of application. Thanks in advance for the help!

Well if you send the track outputs to the master buss and... then you have track sends going to the busses (as described)you will have the tracks (essentially dry) and the buss (wet) going to the Master buss......so you can "blend" ...'mix" the 2 sounds together . This s OK and is sometimes desired depending on the end result and your goal. Often times you set the track up with some FX... say your amps... and then set up a "send" to say a reverb (with just the effect audible ..100% wet) and then balance it again to the master buss.

Compressors and EQ tend to be used as processors rather than effects. The difference being a processor normally affects all of the signal, i.e. no "Dry" and an effect uses a blend of "Wet" and "Dry".

So an effects buss would normally be set up as "Send". If the buss is for EQ and Compression it would make more sense to use it as an ouput, although whether you'd want the exact same compression and EQ on four different guitar tracks is a completely different matter. You'd have that even if it was set up as a send though, but of course you could mix the "wet"  and "Dry" together.

I normally use compressors and EQ on instruments on a per track basis. i.e. Track Prochannel or FX bin rather than on a buss.

I normally use compressors and EQ on instruments on a per track basis. i.e. Track Prochannel or FX bin rather than on a buss.

With the only exception to parallel compression (NY compression), then you will have a compressor on the bus with the track sending it to that bus.
 
CJ

Sometimes if you boil these kinds of things down to their basic- it sticks better
Assigning a track to a bus is adding it into the track's path
- a series path.
Adding a send' is adding a second path- a split off the original. You now have two paths
- parallel paths.