[Roy Parker]

@John said:
Hi,

if you use an FX Bus, it is also routed to an output, which has to be set to a mixer output that either is on it’s own or included in another output.
If you have a compressor and/or limiter on a Stereo Output, where all your audio is going through, it is bound to behave and sound different when you split your outputs for separation and there’s only, e.g. a Snare going through a copy of the same compressor/limiter.  

Indeed, the levels being sent to the new FX Output Bus (via POST-fader sends to the newly created FX mix-bus) would have to match the levels being sent to the original stereo output bus. I would never suggest to blend it with another output. That’s already happening by default on the 1-2 bus when switching to multi-out. As you stated, the new “FX” output bus has to be on it’s own with the rest of the output buses.

One other layer of complexity in the level of mix buses prior to the output buses. Any buses used via sends would also have to have it’s own post-fader routing back into this new FX output bus as well. After all, their outputs are running through the main stereo output’s effects. It sounds complicated, but in reality, is simply a matter of repeating what you’ve done on the other mix buses already.

The levels in the new FX Mix Bus *should* sum up to be the same as when using the stereo version. Once inside the DAW, I obviously sum the multi-out tracks to my “drum kit” group bus. This group’s volume is louder than the stereo version of the SD3 output. If I lower my drum kit bus inside my DAW to match the stereo output track from printing a stereo out version from SD3, I find that the characteristics that were the direct result of the effects in the main output inside SD3 remain in place. It is VERY close. Not just similar in nature.

A/B testing (in and out of the song’s mix context) for all the nuances produces remarkably little. What I do not remember from the last effort was if I found it better, at least in part, to adjust the new FX output channel’s fader in the DAW separately from the rest of the tracks or not. Once I go into multi-track mode, it is not summed in the sam manner as if being summed as part of a stereo bus inside SD3. Then again, that would b the same as if there were never any effects in the output bus to begin with. All that A/B matching sort of becomes a non-factor after getting to a certain point. The same level of differences will exist when comparing multi-out to stereo out regardless of whether or not there were effects in the stereo out-bus or not. Maybe a sort of natural compression going on with everything in the same bus depends on when that sum happens? I dunno. Way above my head at this point.

FWIW, I do “record” the output rather than bounce using the SD3 functionality,but that’s just because I find it quicker and easier to do so.

[Roy Parker]

Just to verify something. If I was to switch from stereo to multi-channel, any FX on the output bus 1-2 will only apply to whatever is going to end up going through bus 1-2. This has not always been the case, has it? I swear I’ve not run into this in the 2.X versions. It sounds obvious and matches reality, but then getting a multi-channel output bounce to match a stereo bounce becomes a nightmare.

I tackled the issue like this on a small bit I was doing. The SD3 preset had lots of outbus FX going on.
#1: Saved each bus 1-2 effect as a user preset.
#2: Created a new group bus.
#3: Instantiated a copy of each plug on the new bus, setting each one to it’s preset I had just saved.
#4: Ran post-fader sends from the rest of the buses to this new bus.
#5: Selected multi-channel and assigned the buses to the out-buses accordingly.
#6: Muted the plugins that were left in bus 1-2 (used with the stereo output)
#7: I tracked the outputs, including the new effects bus, in my DAW to respective channels.

I compared the output from a Stereo “bounce” I had done and the new multi-channel. It was very close. I ended up lowering the volume of the new FX bus I created on the multi-channel outputs by Something like 4-6db. After the bounce, an additional 1.2db narrowed what was left of the gap. A large part of this SD3 kit preset came from the master out-bus FX as seen in the stereo mode.

I hope that I have missed some sort of obvious functionality somewhere or that my workaround can help someone.

[Author]

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