Tap, Post and Group Settings for the Wing Digital Mixer

The Wing digital mixer by Midas has several routing and signal processing options, including Tap, Post, and Group settings, which are essential for managing audio signals effectively. This post is in response to the following question. “A BUS can have Tap, Post, Group mode and any channel sent to it can have the same. What’s the difference?” Here’s a breakdown of what each one means. The picture above is the “Tap”.

1. Tap: The Tap setting allows you to measure the signal level at a specific point in the signal chain. This is particularly useful for monitoring purposes. When you set a channel or bus to Tap, you can see where the signal is at a certain point in the processing chain without altering the signal itself. It’s typically used for gain structure, helping engineers to optimize levels without affecting the output. This determines where the signal is taken from within the channel processing chain. For example, you can set the tap point to be before or after the insert, or even before or after the fader.

2. Post: Post refers to routing or processing that happens after a certain point in the signal chain, usually after the main processing effects like EQ, compression, or any other dynamics processing. When a signal is sent as Post, any changes made to the signal will be captured in the routed output. This is commonly used for effects sends, where you want the effect to be applied to the processed signal rather than the original input. When a send is set to “post fader,” the signal is taken after the fader, meaning the fader’s level control will be applied to the signal sent to the bus.

3. Group: Group or Subgroup sends are similar to a post fader send, but the level is fixed at +0.0dB, and the pan control is copied from the channel. This is useful for grouping multiple channels together and controlling their output level as a unit. Settings in the Wing mixer pertain to the ability to route multiple channels or signals to a single group or bus. This allows for collective processing or mixing of similar signals (like drums or backing vocals) as one unit. Grouping channels enables the engineer to control the overall level and processing of these channels together, simplifying the mixing process. Kinda like a DCA. (Digital Controlled Amplifier).

Just remember that basically in the Behringer WING, “Tap” refers to a signal point within a channel’s processing chain, where you can send a signal to a bus. “Post” means the signal is sent after the fader, affecting the level at the bus, and “Group” means the signal is sent to a bus at +0.0dB and copies the pan from the channel.