QUESTION: Solo On FX Channels?

I have a question: I have -never- really understood what is supposed to happen when one Solos just an FX channel.

I thought that one should only hear the ‘effected’ sound on that channel. (ie. the ‘wet’ sound of anything that is routed into that channel)?

I hesitate to use the ‘b’ word because I may just not get it, so I’d like an explanation.

  1. -Sometimes- when I solo an FX channel, I -do- hear what I wrote above (just the ‘effected’ sound on any tracks that feed into it.)

  2. But then -other- times, I’ll get the -dry- sound of one or more channels along with that effected sound.

  3. OR sometimes, I’ll get -nothing-… in which case, I cancel all solos, then again solo that FX channel and -then- it’s like the thing resets itself and I get #1.

So… can someone explain the ‘logic’ behind how solo works on FX (and I assume also) Group channels? Or is this a… er… ‘anomaly’? Why do I sometimes hear ‘dry’ tracks (that aren’t even outputting to the FX channel)? Is there some sort of ‘precedence’ involved? (ie. does the order in which channels appear in MixConsole make a difference?)

TIA,

—JC

My experience is that your standard “wet” FX, like verb and delay, will solo 100% wet in FX Channels. Sidechained compressors and such will play the sent track’s signal as well when solo’ed.

I’ve never seen what you’re describing… One time you solo ads hear the return only, then next time you hear the dry and/or random tracks that aren’t even sent to the FX?! Weird.

To me, the sensible thing is to use Control Room and its Listen Bus, which works exactly like a true solo bus should.

Coincidentally just had a convo about this earlier today: How to solo FX channels? - Cubase - Steinberg Forums

AFAIK the only way to hear just the wet sound without using the control room is to make the effect send pre-fader on the sending channel and set its volume to 0