A mult is a splitter. You plug the signal into one point, and it comes out of 2 or more points on the patchbay, which you can then route to 2 or more different pieces of gear. In other words, it enables you to send the same signal to "mult"-iple inputs.

For instance, say you want your snr to have a quick pop on the lows & mids but natural decay on top (maybe the room had a nasty resonance you want to get rid of without ruining the rest of the natural ambience)... you can run the snr track directly from the multitrack into the mult, then from the mult into 2 adjacent channels on the mixer. From there, EQ each channel so the 2 desired frequency ranges are emphasized, and apply the different dynamics to each channel.

There are a lot of different possibilities. They come in very handy. I recommend putting at least one on the patchbay if you're building it now. It's better to have a mult and not need it than to wish you did have one.

As for ProTools... A mult might still come in handy, tho it would depend on how you use PT. Hard to think of a scenario for that. Maybe if you have more physical inputs than outputs?

Within ProTools you would realize a "mult" by either routing an Aux-Send within your source channel to a bus and then take the bus into several channels. Or - in a tracking situation - you could (I think so) assign the same physical input to several different channels at the same time.
Either way, what you then do in those channels is up to you...

M.

Thhe only problem with multing on Pro Tools is the delay between the tracks(on analog this isn't as big of a deal). What you would have to do is record the tracks and shift them till they are in sync with your originals. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it doesn't. This is one of the biggest turn offs of digital mixing.

And in Samplitude you only duplicate the virtual objects into adjacent (or not adjacent) tracks and do whatever you like to do with them... or not.

So what would I need to build a patch bay that splits signals in this manner? Is this an off the shelf type purchase.
Right now we've got our 888's and out board gear all normalled to dbx 1/4" patch bays.
thanks for the replys. Craig

Any patchbay that can be configured as "half-normalled" can be used for a two-way mult. By patching from the top row jack (output) of one channel on your patchbay to any another input (bottom row, but not the one directly underneath) you now have multed the signal. Both the patch cord destination as well as the "normalled" jack that is directly underneath the original output are receiving the same signal...

Hmmm - I'm not sure my explaination is very clear. It's not very hard, but for some reason I'm not describing it too well! Someone else want to try?

The thing you have to be most concerned with building a mult patchbay is the db loss from original to mult. I'm actually having a box built that will split 8 sends into 48 outs(for my effect processors, i do a lot of layering and combinations).

On Protools, you can copy the file you want and paste it on another audio track.

Also in PT5.1 I use duplicate track function for kick/snare/vox.

another use for a 'mult' is the 'nashville exciter', ie layering an over compressed version of the track under the main one