Output Busses

Output Busses allow you to create sub-mixers. Sub-mixers can be very useful for pre-mixing a multi-mic’ed drum kit, or a horn section, for example. You can also use a sub-mixer configuration to route several external input signals (from separate microphones, for example) for recording onto a single audio track (see “Recording a sub-mix onto an audio track”). You can have as many mix busses as you like in a Reason song.

For multiple levels of sub-mixing, it’s also possible to create an Output Bus that is fed by an existing Output Bus.

Creating an Output Bus

The fastest and easiest way of creating an Output Bus for several mixer channels is this:

1.	Select all mixer channel strips that you want to route to the same Output Bus.

2.	Press [Ctrl]+[G](Win) or [Cmd]+[G](Mac) - or select “Route to > New Output Bus” from the Edit menu or context menu of one of the selected channels.

A new Output Bus channel, named “Bus 1”, is created to the right and the selected channels are automatically routed to it as indicated on the channels’ Output labels.

The step-by-step instructions below show how you can assign individual channels to an Output Bus - one channel at a time. The picture shows a number of Audio Tracks in a song with individual recordings of the drums of a drum kit:

Audio Tracks with separate drum recordings routed to the Master Section.

Now, we want to create a sub-mixer which mixes only the individual drum channels. The advantage of doing this is that we can then control the sound and volume of the entire drum kit using only one single Mix Channel:

1.	Click the Output selector (the gray name tag) on the Kick channel and select “New Output Bus”.

Alternatively, select the Kick channel strip and press [Ctrl]+[G](Win) or [Cmd]+[G](Mac).

A new Mix Channel is created in the Main Mixer and its corresponding Mix Channel device is created in the Rack. The Kick channel is now routed to the new Mix Channel via the internal P-Lan network.

The Output selector area on the Kick channel is colored and the name “Bus 1” is displayed to indicate the name of the Output Bus it is routed to:

The Fader section of the new Output Bus channel gets a colored background and a red Fader knob to indicate it is an Output Bus.

2.	Click the Output selector on the Snare channel and select “Bus 1”.

The Output selector area on the Snare channel is now colored in the same color as the Bus 1 channel and the Output Bus name is displayed:

3.	Repeat the procedure for the remaining drum channels in the Main Mixer.

4.	If you like you could now rename the Output Bus channel, e.g. to Drum Mix, and drag the channel strip to the right of the individual drum channels for better overview:

The changed Output Bus name is automatically displayed in the colored Output area on all channels routed to that Output Bus channel.

If you look in the rack, you can see that the Audio Output display on the Audio Track devices for the individual drum channel now show “Drum Mix” instead of the default “Master Section”.

Output Bus destinations on the Audio Track devices in the rack (front and rear).

Rerouting channels

If you like you can change the Audio Output destinations - or create new Output Busses - by clicking the Audio Output selector on the device front panel, or in the Audio Output display on the rear panel, or in the Output selector area on the channel strip in the mixer.

If you manually deassign all channels from the Drum Mix Output Bus channel, the Output Bus channel automatically becomes a regular Mix Channel. If you want to assign channels to this Mix Channel, and thus make it become an Output Bus channel again, click the Audio Output selector on the front panel, or in the Audio Output display on the rear panel, and select “All Channels > Drum Mix”. These routings can also be made in the Output selector area on the channel strip in the mixer.

Deleting an Output Bus

To delete an Output Bus channel, select the Output Bus channel strip in the Main Mixer - or the device in the rack - and press [Delete] or [Backspace].

When you delete an Output Bus channel which has other mixer channels already routed to it, the source channels will be automatically re-routed to the default Master Section again via P-Lan.

On the Mix Channel/Audio Track devices in the rack, “Master Section” is now shown in the Audio Output displays to indicate that the channels have been re-routed to the Master Section device.

Recording a sub-mix onto an audio track

The example below shows an Output Bus (sub-mixer) configuration with four microphones connected to one input each on the audio interface and then routed from the Reason Hardware Interface to the Direct Inputs on four Mix Channel devices. The four Mix Channel devices are routed to the “Drums SubMix” Output Bus for sub-mixing:

Direct routing of individual Audio Inputs to Mix Channels which, in turn, are routed to an Output Bus for sub-mixing.

To record the sub-mixed signals from the “Drums SubMix” Mix Channel onto Audio Track 1, click the Rec Source button on the “Drums SubMix” Mix Channel device, and then select “Stereo Input” and “Drums SubMix” as Audio Input source on the “Audio Track 1” device:

The Rec Source button on the Drums SubMix device activated and “Drums SubMix” selected as Audio Input on the Audio Track 1 device.

See “Recording audio from Mix Channel outputs” for more details.

In the sub-mixer setups above, each source Mix Channel could also house individual Insert FX. See “Creating an input channel for recording with effects” for tips on how to record with FX.