Connecting Effects as Sends

[ LiB ]

The second of the two effect routing methods is Send mode. A send splits off a portion of the audio and sends that portion to its own destination, through a special "send" output to the effect device. The output is then returned to the mixer to one of its four stereo returns. This routing technique is usually used when you want to apply an effect to just a part of your device's audio signal, as opposed to the entire signal. Sends are also used when you want to share one effect device with more than one sound module.

Setting Up a Send

Again you want to start with an empty rack. This time, when you load devices into the rack, you're going to change the default routing.

Start with the mixer.

Now you need to add a sound module; load the Dr:rex.

Next you will need to load a loop into Dr:rex.

Next you will add the reverb just as you did in the Insert section; however, you have to be careful that the reverb isn't connected as an insert by default.

NOTE

If the mixer was not selected and highlighted before adding the RV-7, the RV-7 will be created under the Dr:rex Loop Player and will have been routed as an insert effect by default.

Sending Audio to the Effect

Now that you have your effect device patched in as an effect send, you need to actually send audio to it before you can hear any of the effect.

NOTE

The farther to the right you turn the Aux knob, the larger the portion of audio that will be sent to the effect connected to the send. This allows you to gauge how much of the effect you wish to apply.

Setting Up a Return

As suggested earlier, when you use the send option to apply effects, you will need a place to return the output of the effect device. You can do this by using the four stereo returns on the mixer.

As with the previous exercise, when any effect is added to a rack so that the default routing is set to Send mode, the returns will also be automatically routed. In the next exercise you will learn to set the return manually.

To begin you will need to disconnect the reverb's output from the mixer's returns so that you can follow the steps to reconnect it manually. This will help you in situations in which an effect device may not have been connected to the returns automatically.

NOTE

As demonstrated in this exercise, when you connect the output of a stereo pair, such as the RV-7's output, to a stereo paired input, such as the mixer's returns, when you connect the left cable, the right cable will be connected automatically as well. This also applies when disconnecting a stereo paired connection.

NOTE

To assign the effect to a return other than Return 1, simply choose the return you wish to use from the mixer's connection menu in Step 6.

Using Mixer Channels as Returns

Since the mixer has only four stereo sends, then four stereo returns should be sufficient; however, as you may have noticed, the returns allow you to control only the volume of the effect returning to the mixer. What if you wished to apply EQ to the effects return? Or even more creatively, what if you wished to send the return of one effect to another effecte.g., send a reverb's return to a chorus? There is a way to do this.

NOTE

When connecting the output of the RV-7 to a channel on the mixer, it is important that you select the left input, not the right. If you choose left, both the RV-7's left and right outputs will be connected to the mixer's channels.

NOTE

In this exercise you could connect the outputs of the RV-7 to any channel other than Channel 1 (the SubTractor is already connected to Channel 1). You should check which channels are available prior to routing the outputs of any effect device to the mixer; if you choose a channel that is already occupied by another device, that device will automatically be removed from the mixer.

[ LiB ]