Send / Return (FX Bus)
Definition
A routing configuration in which a portion of a channel's signal is sent to a shared effects processor — such as a reverb or delay — and the processed signal is returned to the mix on a dedicated return channel. Allows multiple sources to share a single effect instance.
In Simple Terms
Instead of putting a reverb on every track individually, you set up one reverb and send a little bit of each track to it. All your instruments share the same space, and you save CPU. This is how professionals use reverb and delay.
In Practice
Rather than inserting a reverb independently on every vocal track, all vocals send to a single reverb return channel at different send levels, ensuring they share the same acoustic space efficiently.
Common Confusion
Send/return (parallel processing) is fundamentally different from inserting an effect directly in the signal chain. With a send, the dry signal is preserved; an insert replaces the signal with the processed version.