Channel strip numbers not matching up...

Ok, so after a long time away from logic I’m back to trying to remember what I had learned before but I’m feeling lost.....

 

So, I loaded a new project and loaded ten audio tracks to practice vocals. On the left channel strips at the top it states “track 1, audio 5, track 2, audio 6 etc.....why the “audio 5” and not “track 1, audio 1 ?

 

The other issue I’m having is I’m trying to record one take at the top of the screen (track 1), and while I have track 1 selected and highlighted logic is recording into track 10 (the last track I loaded up at the bottom of the screen)......what’s up with that?

Which Logic Version ?

10.5.1

First of all, the actual channel number is not important, just like you don't care whether the shopping carts in the mall are used sequentially.

 

Recently, the numbering mechanics have changed a bit between Logic versions with the big step of moving max Channels, Instruments and Auxes from 256 to 1000 in 10.4.5. In 10.5.1 it has settled like this:

 

If you create a new Project with 1 Audio Track, you'll get these Audio Channels:

- Audio 1 (that's the one you just created)

- Audio 2 (not visible, but reserved for playback of Selection-Based Processing A)

- Audio 3 (not visible, but reserved for playback of Selection-Based Processing B)

- Audio 4 (this is the Preview channel for preview playback of Loops and playback in the audio file editor)

 

If you create another Audio Track, it will be assigned channel Audio 2, and what was channels Audio 2,3 and 4 will be shifted to Audio 3,4 and 5. This will continue until you hit 1000 channels in total. If you delete a track, its channel will be reused once a new track is created, but the highest 3 will not decrease.

 

Similarly, a Software Instrument will be created when you select New Project, which serves to play the Click. It will be Inst 256. This has changed recently.

Initially it was #256, the highest possible number by then.

Then it moved to #2 in 10.4.5 with any new Instrument pushing it up one notch, topping out at 1000 Instruments. This caused a problem with older projects where the metronome couldn't find /follow its matching Click instrument due to the changed numbering.

Since 10.5.1 it is created at #256 again, and will automatically count up once 255 Software Instruments are created.

 

To cut to the chase, if you create 8 tracks, then delete the first 4, your tracks will use channels 5 and up.

 

And if track 10 is rec-enabled, it will record, regardless of which track is selected.

Wow - thanks for taking all that time Fuzz!!!!

5am here and my head is on backwards trying to troubleshoot my mic for the last seven or eight hours. That’s a lot to understand when I’m exhausted but I’ll dig into your explanation when I wake up with a clear mind - thanks again!

Honestly you don't need to understand any of it. Logic automatically assigns channel numbers depending on what is available, and as Fuzzfilth pointed out the "rules" for automatic assignment change with different Logic versions. By the time you'll think that you finally get it, it will have changed. All you need to know is that you don't have to worry about those numbers unless you're trying to troubleshoot a situation.

Thanks David - you saved me a bit of head wrecking as I was about to try to understand everything Fuzz had wrote