BassRocket
Can I chime in?
The problem I have with busses is that it's the same effect for a group of tracks. It sort of makes sense to me for drums. But still, its the SAME EFFECT spread across the entire kit, right?
Like the original post, I too don't yet understand how to effectively use sends and busses.

Maybe imagine a send like this:
 
You have a tub, kitchen sink, toilet , dishwasher, lawn sprinkler.  They are all using the same water supply in the same way that all sounds using a reverb send are using same source

bitflipper
The most common use of sends is for reverb. You want multiple instruments to share a common reverb for homogeneity and CPU efficiency, but each track will likely send a different amount of signal to the reverb bus. 

 
So, in this example, say you have 3 Tracks going to a Send for reverb:
Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3
 
Is it normal to have the three tracks also sending to a bus (like the master bus)?  If so, then only a partial amount of the signal is processed for the reverb, or is it that there are double the audio, one part reverbed and the other not?
 
 

husker

bitflipper
The most common use of sends is for reverb. You want multiple instruments to share a common reverb for homogeneity and CPU efficiency, but each track will likely send a different amount of signal to the reverb bus. 

 
So, in this example, say you have 3 Tracks going to a Send for reverb:
Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3
 
Is it normal to have the three tracks also sending to a bus (like the master bus)?  If so, then only a partial amount of the signal is processed for the reverb, or is it that there are double the audio, one part reverbed and the other not?
 
 

A send in itself is not a track or a thing, its more of a tap point which you get a duplicate of the track's audio, either before or after the fader.  So to do reverb you would need a bus or and auxiliary track with a reverb setup on that bus.  Then you send (or tap into) a desired amount of the track and send it to the Bus. The bus reverb is set to 100% wet so that everything you send will end up being heard as wet. This way the Dry/Wet balance of the track is controlled by how much signal you send to the reverb bus.

husker

bitflipper
The most common use of sends is for reverb. You want multiple instruments to share a common reverb for homogeneity and CPU efficiency, but each track will likely send a different amount of signal to the reverb bus. 

 
So, in this example, say you have 3 Tracks going to a Send for reverb:
Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3
 
Is it normal to have the three tracks also sending to a bus (like the master bus)?  If so, then only a partial amount of the signal is processed for the reverb, or is it that there are double the audio, one part reverbed and the other not?
 
 

Hi. I would use sends for reverbs/delays, and outputs* to buses. (*drums to drum bus, bass to bass bus etc)
You can use sends from/to the buses as well.
All the best.

I think I am beginning to understand, but let me rephrase my question (I think I asked in haste before).
 
I have three tracks:  1, 2, and 3.   In the channel strip, say I have all three routed to a bus (master, drum bus, whatever).  I also have a send on those tracks that route to a Reverb Send.  That Send also have a routing at the bottom of the strip, that does not necessarily have to be the same bus route as the three individual tracks.  Does the "routing" of the bus on the bottom of the Send not matter?
 
Thank you all for your replies and patience.
 
 

husker
I think I am beginning to understand, but let me rephrase my question (I think I asked in haste before).
 
I have three tracks:  1, 2, and 3.   In the channel strip, say I have all three routed to a bus (master, drum bus, whatever).  I also have a send on those tracks that route to a Reverb Send.  That Send also have a routing at the bottom of the strip, that does not necessarily have to be the same bus route as the three individual tracks.  Does the "routing" of the bus on the bottom of the Send not matter?
 
Thank you all for your replies and patience.
 
 

If I understand correctly, the "routing at the bottom" of each track/bus are its output.
The sends section are above the fader, and the outputs below.
Does that make any sense?

husker
So, in this example, say you have 3 Tracks going to a Send for reverb:
Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3
 
Is it normal to have the three tracks also sending to a bus (like the master bus)?  If so, then only a partial amount of the signal is processed for the reverb, or is it that there are double the audio, one part reverbed and the other not?

Yes, most of the time all busses end up being subsequently routed to the master bus. The exception would be if you wanted separate hardware outputs from certain busses, such as with the headphone mix example.
 
A bus need not go directly to the master bus, though. For example, you might have all drums going to both a drum bus and a parallel distortion bus, which get combined and sent to an Instruments bus and finally to the master. Similarly, vocals could be sent to a raw vocal bus and a reverb bus and a compression bus. Backing vocals might be sent to a common BGV bus. All four would then be combined into one Vocals bus.
 
So yeh, the only bus that's usually a final endpoint is the master. Other busses are typically intermediate points of convergence.

Perhaps a picture would help.  In this example, I have three tracks that are routed to a drum bus. They also have a Send to a Reverb. At the bottom of the Reverb Send, there is a routing to the master.  I understand the tracks routed to a a drum bus, but I'm unsure of why there is a routing on a Send.
 

husker
Perhaps a picture would help.  In this example, I have three tracks that are routed to a drum bus. They also have a Send to a Reverb. At the bottom of the Reverb Send, there is a routing to the master.  I understand the tracks routed to a a drum bus, but I'm unsure of why there is a routing on a Send.
 

The routing on the sends are because you may want to use different fx for different instruments, hence the choice to route to another place/bus/AUX.
(This routing looks ok to me )

The MASTER bus represents the total culmination of all your recording and mixing efforts. If you want to hear the reverb, you have to "send" it to the MASTER. The purpose of using a SEND is to "mix" a dry signal from the TRACK with an effect stored in a BUS so you can control how much reverb/effect goes into the sound.
 
A crude (and I mean VERY crude) example would be your homes plumbing system.
Water comes into the home from one source, usually cold (a TRACK). To make some of it HOT it's sent to a hot water tank (REVERB bus) to be "processed". It's then sent out to your bathroom shower (MASTER bus) to be "mixed" with cold water (the TRACK signal) where you can enjoy the experience. From there it all ultimately goes down the drain to the septic tank (like most of my music).
 
 As an alternative, you can route the entire TRACK to the REVERB bus making the entire TRACK "wet" , but that would be like taking a shower with straight hot water... the choice is yours.