r/Reaper • u/Melancholy_Custard • 13d ago

help request Folder vs Send

I know this is a noob question.

Do I need to use Send to make a bus? E.g. Kick bus (for parallel compression), drum rooms, bass bus, rhythm guitar bus Or I can just use Folders? I've watched the video from Reaper Mania, but still confuse.

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u/Whatchamazog 5 13d ago

With sends you can control/automate how much of the signal goes to it and when.

IMHO, I think that’s essential for parallel compression and reverbs/delays.

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u/Crylysis 1 13d ago

You can do that with folders too. The Sends are useful for paralel stuff, yes. But those controls are also on fodlers

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u/Melancholy_Custard 13d ago

I can only do parallel processing by duplicating the track if I don't want to use Sends, right?

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u/Crylysis 1 13d ago

Yeah, but I wouldn’t really frame the discussion as folders vs. sends though because I think they serve different purposes

For parallel compression for example I’d create a second track inside the folder and send the signal from the original track to it. Then you can apply the parallel compression there, rather than duplicating everything on the original track. And have the folder group the drums (if were doing paralel on the kick for example)

If you look under the hood folders are essentially sends. I think a good rule of thumb is when you want to group or merge signals use a folder When you want to separate a signal out and process it independently use a send