Isn't this solved with the "Post" button for the send? The post button makes the send post-fader which means that lowering the volume fader will lower the amount that is sent to the reverb bus. As long as you run all of your drums through one bus, you just need to create one post-fader send to the reverb bus. When you lower your drum bus fader, you will not hear any drums in the reverb channel. Apply this to everything in track and you can get away with only one reverb.
 
Does that make sense? Look at the signal flow chart in the Sonar pdf. It's page 888 for Sonar X3. Not sure what it is for Platinum, etc.

Mantofini
Isn't this solved with the "Post" button for the send?

 
haha! Yeah... I've just double checked my current project and the reverb send from the drum bus is indeed post fader 
 
What a wally 
 
 

@Mantofini  Well, I always anyway use post-fader.   It doesn't solve my query, because if I lower the fader on the group bus, its not connected to the reverb, so it doesn't lower the reverb amount.  Its the instrument itself (eg single drum piece) that is connected to the reverb, not the Group bus.
 
@synkotron   You SHOULD be using post-fader ... that's the default, and for most purposes is what people will need.  And above, when I mentioned bringing the Drums Bus down completely, I said that just to make the point that I would still hear the reverb of the drums instruments.    Because changing the volume of the drums bus fader is not affecting the reverb at all.  
 
Probably, I am not explaining myself very well :-)  
 
But, in conclusion, how I see it is, if I'm bussing instruments to Groups, and those instruments require reverb, then I need to have one instance of my reverb per Group.  I send all my drum pieces to the Drum Reverb, pads/strings to Pads/Strings Reverb etc, and those reverbs output is set to be their relevant group.  Then the fader on each Group will control overall volume of instruments sent there, AND their reverb proportinately.
 
 

ULTRABRA
@Mantofini  Well, I always anyway use post-fader.   It doesn't solve my query, because if I lower the fader on the group bus, its not connected to the reverb, so it doesn't lower the reverb amount.  Its the instrument itself (eg single drum piece) that is connected to the reverb, not the Group bus.
 
@synkotron   You SHOULD be using post-fader ... that's the default, and for most purposes is what people will need.  And above, when I mentioned bringing the Drums Bus down completely, I said that just to make the point that I would still hear the reverb of the drums instruments.    Because changing the volume of the drums bus fader is not affecting the reverb at all.  
 
Probably, I am not explaining myself very well :-)  
 
But, in conclusion, how I see it is, if I'm bussing instruments to Groups, and those instruments require reverb, then I need to have one instance of my reverb per Group.  I send all my drum pieces to the Drum Reverb, pads/strings to Pads/Strings Reverb etc, and those reverbs output is set to be their relevant group.  Then the fader on each Group will control overall volume of instruments sent there, AND their reverb proportinately.
 
 

For it to work, you would need to route all of your drum tracks through the bus. The send then goes from the drum bus to the reverb bus. In other words, you would mix you drum kit into the bus to get the balance you want, then you add a send to set an overall ambience for the kit. If the send is post-fader, lowering the drum bus fader would decrease the amount of drums in the reverb bus.
 
Is there a specific reason you want sends from the individual kit pieces and not the overall kit?

I set the output of all of the drums, the parallel drum compression bus (if I use one) and the drums reverb bus to the drum bus. Then add sends from the drum tracks to the drum reverb bus. Once you the drums levels are set the overall balance of the drums (including the reverb and the parallel bus) won't change by bringing the drum bus up or down. I usually have at least two reverbs going. I always use a dedicated drum reverb, if I want it to sound similar to the other reverb(s) I use the same plug-in with similar settings.
 
Rocky

bluzdog
I set the output of all of the drums, the parallel drum compression bus (if I use one) and the drums reverb bus to the drum bus. Then add sends from the drum tracks to the drum reverb bus. Once you the drums levels are set the overall balance of the drums (including the reverb and the parallel bus) won't change by bringing the drum bus up or down. I usually have at least two reverbs going. I always use a dedicated drum reverb, if I want it to sound similar to the other reverb(s) I use the same plug-in with similar settings.
 
Rocky

This! :)

Mantofini
 
For it to work, you would need to route all of your drum tracks through the bus. The send then goes from the drum bus to the reverb bus. In other words, you would mix you drum kit into the bus to get the balance you want, then you add a send to set an overall ambience for the kit. If the send is post-fader, lowering the drum bus fader would decrease the amount of drums in the reverb bus.
 
Is there a specific reason you want sends from the individual kit pieces and not the overall kit?

Because I want different reverb amounts on each kit piece (or pad/string etc).

I do mostly orchestral tracks and use on reverb for each section (strings, brass, etc.). I normally use QL Spaces and it has separate reverbs for each orchestra section. They are recorded in the same space but at different locations to theoretically provide the right depth. Seems to work for me.

Hei Dave - so you make a bus for each section strings, brass etc, and then add Spaces as an insert on each section?   Or as a send so that each instrument going to that section can have its own level of the reverb?

ULTRABRA
Hei Dave - so you make a bus for each section strings, brass etc, and then add Spaces as an insert on each section?   Or as a send so that each instrument going to that section can have its own level of the reverb?

I'll use strings as an example. I create an effects bus called String Effects and add an instance of QL Spaces on the bus. In Spaces I choose a hall preset bank and load the strings patch in the preset bank (there are separate patches for each orchestra section). I have an instance of Play for each string section (1st and 2nd Violins, Violas, Cellos, Basses). Each of those instances has a send set to the String Effects bus with the same output level. I do the same for Brass, where each instance of Play that is loaded with a brass section goes to a Brass effects bus loaded with the brass reverb patch, and so on. Since the presets in Spaces are based on the real-world locations of the different sections in the same hall, I can get a consistent reverb sound but with the real-world differences for each section. It is almost too easy to do.
 
As far as the levels go, because of the way that Hollywood strings is recorded, I set the send level for each string section the same. Other sections like brass and woodwinds are also set to the same send level as the strings. I might tweak the levels of an individual section for effect. Perhaps I want the trumpets to sound like they are further away for some reason. I'll increase the reverb level, decrease the dry output to the Master bus and add modulation to the trumpets to make them sound if they are playing louder but are further away. Adding modulation in this case changes the timbre to add more of the brass "buzz" you get at high volume levels.