More details are in the pdf docs for Voicemeeter Banana, which can be downloaded from the website where you got VoiceMeeter from. Each strip can also be connected to Voicemeeter using another program called VBCABLE. One example of how I use busses and strips: I hook up Skype's 'microphone' to a bus (Voicemeeter Output), and I hook Skype's 'speaker' up to a strip (Voicemeeter Input). Generally, anything that brings sound into Voicemeeter. Each 'strip' can be an input such as a microphone, or an AUX cable, usually inserted into the Line-In socket on the computer.
first bus is BUS0, fifth bus is BUS4.It's the same for the strips (STRIP0 - STRIP4). Referring back to that screenshot I posted, the five sliders on the left hand side are called 'Strips', and the right hand sliders are called Busses. Turns out if someone else thinks I'm a genius, I mustn't be that basic after all. And here I was thinking I had been relatively simple with the stuff I was doing.