Dear Rob,
No problem, hopefully we can get you up to speed on this stuff, it can be confusing.
Buses:
If you are only using your Buses to control levels of groups of channels, why waste any of your 16 Buses for this function?
You will need your Buses for creating
monitor mixes and feeding FX,
etc.
A Bus allows you to route
channel AUDIO to a bus. You can either have a
Mono bus or use two Buses for routing Stereo panned sources. Example: If you have a set of 10 drum channels you might want to Pan your Tom Toms so they go around the Stereo Pan, or possible Stereo Room mics or Stereo Over Head mics on the the drum kit. You would need to use a Stereo Pair of Buses, one panned hard Left and one panned hard Right. As the audio routed to Buses is actually sending the audio signal to the bus, you can put EQ and Compression on the Bus for an overall EQ on the L and R Drum Bus in our example.
DCA:
The DCA does NOT PASS AUDIO, it is a mechanism for controlling channels
level.
One of the benefits of using a DCA over a Bus is we only need to use one DCA if we are only controlling the
level of a group of channels.
An advantage of using a Bus and Subgroup is that you can process the audio that is hitting the Bus with
EQ and Compression as well as use the SubGroup to feed a Matrix Mix. Since DCAs are only controlling
level we can also use DCAs to control a Mix Bus Master, if needed.
Matrix Mixes:
Matrix Mixes should be looked at as Mixes of MIXES. So let's say you need to
send a mix to a video guy. No problem, you can tap your main L/R mix bus and
send him a Matrix mix that
has it's own level via a Matrix Mix. You can get more advanced and create a Drum SubGroup, an all Instruments SubGroup, and an All Vocals SubGroup. Now you will have a little more control over the mix feeding your Matrix Mixes. Have you heard mixes
fed to a video guy off the Main Mix Bus, (lots of Kick and lead vocals in a small
venue, as this is what is generally needed in the
house)? By creating your video mix from a mix of sub groups you can dial in a perfect Matrix Mix to feed the video guy. Another use for Matrix Mixes is to feed an overflow room with a set of powered speakers, or feed the Foyer.
Buses Webinar:
X32 Live! Webinar: Mix Buses - YouTube
Matrix Mixes Webinar:
X32 Live! Webinar: Matrix Mixes on the X32 - YouTube
Best Regards,
Joe Sanborn
Manager, Product Support
MUSIC Group
BEHRINGER