Differences between SENDS and ROUTING

Cubase
1

Hello,

I am using Cubase 8 PRO and have a question. What are the differences between;

a) sending a track to FX channel via SENDS

and

b) routing a track to FX channel via ROUTING?

Thanks,
cnk

2

Hi.
A) You can decide what portion of signal you sending to FX channel. Signal may be pre or post fader.

b) hmm, I dont remember to can rout track to FX channel, but can rout it to group.

3

In addition to the above:

Sending - The original track is still routed to the stereo mix and is not affected by changes to the FX channel.
So what happens on the FX is always in addition to the original channel.

Routing - The original track signal is completely re-routed to the FX track - What happens on the FX track is replacing the original track.

For example you send vocals to an FX track with a compressor and you hear original vocal plus compressed vocal (parallel compression)
If you route vocals to the same FX track you’ll only hear compressed vocals.

For basic use routing to an FX channel with a specific effect is not any different than just putting the same thing on the channel inserts.
Also not that group and FX channels are pretty much the same thing.

4

That used to be the case, and still is with the Routing Rack. But the new Direct Routing Rack lets you route to multiple destinations in addition to what is set up in Routing.

5

I got it, thanks for the answers! I think also I can send a midi track to more than one FX channel but I can only route a midi track to one FX channel (in other words to one way)?

6

Another use for routing is to spread the CPU load when you’ve got a track with many inserts pushing your computer over the edge but you don’t want to bounce or render in place.

You only need to drive one core over the edge and even though the rest of the CPU is idling you’ll run into problems. So take your CPU heavy track with its rack of 8 CPU hungry inserts and split off the last four putting them on a FX track - then route to that. The FX track will get its own CPU thread spreading the CPU load more evenly.

1 Like
7

That is interesting. I magine all kinds of audio problems appearing in the master bus when routing one channel to multiple fx channels?

8

Thank you. Might someone know, regarding CPU usage, if there is any difference between routing or sending a track to fx / group channels?

9

Depends on how it gets used. If you were messing with the signal on one and then blending them together in parallel, then yeah phase & related concerns might need to be addressed. But if a channel had a 1/4 note delay and then had dynamic panning moving it around it shouldn’t be an issue. Or you might use multiple destinations in conjunction with Mute Automation to bring up different FX chains at different times. It’s kind of like we always need to be on the lookout for audio problems no matter whats being done anyway.

A bit off topic. We’re getting a bunch of first time posters like yourself (welcome to the forums) who are reviving very old threads. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m curious how you ran into this 6 year old thread which seems like it would be pretty buried.

1 Like
10

Thank you for the advice. I guess it’s pure luck. Great to be here!