Submixing with a Combinator

Nesting a complex setup away into one tidy, "spaghetti-free" space in your Rack is more than just a convenience for big projects.

When even a well-organized submix strategy becomes slow to navigate, converting submixes to Combinator patches will add another layer of organization to your project.

To combine a submix

1.	Select all the instruments, Mixers, and effects in a particular submix and choose Edit > Combine (Figure 10.9). Figure 10.9. This Combinator is holding an orchestral submix. The Combinator will not change the submix inputs and outputs.
2.	Assign the rotary knobs and buttons to device parameters (Figure 10.10). Figure 10.10. In this Combinator, rotary knobs are assigned to orchestral instrument group channels.
3.	Name the Combinator device as you want it to appear in the master Mixer.
4.	Save the patch, and from now on you can load this setup into any song.

If you know you're going to be scoring a large project with lots of instruments, you can organize your instruments into combinations from the start.

To start a project inside a Combinator

1.	In an empty Rack, create a 6:2 or 14:2 Mixer to use as your master Mixer.
2.	With your Mixer selected, create a new Combinator. Reason will connect the Combinator to the master Mixer automatically.
3.	Click in the Combinator device area and create another Mixer to use for the instruments that you'll create inside the Combinator (Figure 10.11). Figure 10.11. Create a Mixer inside a Combinator if you know your project will be complicated.
4.	Start creating instruments and writing your tracks.