Audio Bus

An Audio Bus is a virtual channel that groups multiple audio sources for collective processing and routing.

screenshot

Concept

In traditional mixing, a bus (or buss) is a signal path that combines multiple audio channels into one. Think of it as a funnel: many sources flow into a single channel where they can be processed together before reaching the main output.

Common use cases:

Drum Bus: Route all drum tracks to one bus, apply compression to glue them together
Reverb Send: Create a bus with a reverb effect, send portions of multiple tracks to it
Parallel Processing: Blend a heavily compressed copy with the dry signal
Submix Groups: Group backing vocals, strings, or other instrument sections

Creating a Bus

Buses are created through the Mixer when setting up routing:

FX Bus (for sends)

Open the Mixer
On any channel, find the Sends section
Click {icon:Add} to open the send menu
Select New FX Bus...
Enter a name and choose an icon

The new FX bus appears in the mixer, and a send is automatically created to route audio to it.

Output Bus (for grouping)

Open the Mixer
On any channel, click the Output selector
Select New Output Bus...
Enter a name and choose an icon

The channel's output is automatically routed to the new bus.

Sends vs Direct Routing

There are two ways to route audio to a bus:

Direct Routing: The channel's entire output goes to the bus. Use the Output selector to choose the bus. Best for submix groups, drum buses, and parallel compression.
Send: The signal is tapped and added to the bus for mixdown. The original signal continues to its destination while the bus processes a tapped portion. Both contribute to the final mix. Best for shared reverb and delay effects.

Adding Effects

Add effects to process all routed audio together:

Select the bus in the timeline
Add audio effects as you would to any audio-unit
Effects apply to the combined signal of all sources routed to this bus