64 bus maximum Logic X - How to delete them?

[digvalley]

After a year of Logic X'ing, I have been able to find answers to my questions in this forum. Now I have stumbled upon something that seems very simple, that I can not find the answer to. I therefore present to you my first post in this forum:

 

Error message in Logic Pro X:

"All 64 busses are used. Try to simplify the routing by deleting unused or disposable send effects, flattening summing stacks, or replacing patches with multi-output instruments and internal effect busses with simpler ones, for example."

 

Can't I just simply delete the unused busses? There are many unused of them. I try deleting aux tracks, but that does not free up bus space.

Is there a good way to see which of my buses that are unused?

Please help. Thank you.

[David Nahmani]

To unassign busses, look at your sends and outputs on your channel strips, click the unused busses and choose "No send" or "No output."

[simon.a.billington]

Its now reasonably easy to hit the 64 limit since they started including Summing Stacks Especially if have a big project that exploits them, submix stems and multiple Aux strips for effects.

 

I haven't hit the ceiling myself, not yet. But I can imagine some would.

[greenman]

I agree, and I see that even the normal Pro Tools version has 256 busses

[simon.a.billington]

Probably worth us saying something to the dev team otherwise it may never be changed.

[digvalley]

I'm STILL struggling with this. The busses doesn't free up, even though I completely remove them. When I add other tracks, it doesn't take the free'd up busses. Just get the same error message.

[stardustmedia]

Because there is still some routing going on, somewhere. Maybe hidden tracks? Maybe you deleted tracks that send/output to a buss and as far as I know Logic still remembers those routings even if the original "sending" channel is deleted.

 

Have a look in the environment (CMD + 0, or menu 'View')

[David Nahmani]

If you want, attach your project file to the thread so we can have a look?

[digvalley]

Good idea, thank you. This is an older file with less tracks, just because I couldn't figure it and started over with an older file of the project The project hits the 64 bus error if I add another instrument or bus. Would great if you can look at it at point me in the right direction of freeing up my busses. I'm able to delete them, but they are still not freeing up and the same error message pops up. Thank you!

For some reason I am not able to upload here. Link for download, available for seven days: http://we.tl/DWCPK48hco

[Eric Cardenas]

Hi digvalley!

 

I have no problems at all creating additional buses on this project.

We need to know more about your setup.

 

Click this link to your signature and add your system information:

• Logic version and sub-version (e.g. Logic Pro X 10.2)

• OS X version and sub-version (e.g. OS X Yosemite 10.10.5)

• Computer (e.g. MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, iMac)

• Processor (e.g. 2.2 GHz Intel i7)

• Memory (e.g. 8GB)

• Audio interface manufacturer and model (e.g. RME Babyface Pro)

 

(most of that information can be found by choosing Logic Pro X > About Logic Pro X, and  > About This Mac)

[digvalley]

Eric, Thank you so much for your quick response. I have updated my signature. Any ideas?

[Eric Cardenas]

Not the faintest.

I created a new send to bus 62, 63, and 64 without a problem.

 

I am however missing a lot of plug-ins that you use.

[digvalley]

Are you able to send to the previous unused busses though? I know some in the 30s are not being used for anything. What do you do after adding to the 64th bus?

[Eric Cardenas]

Ok...

I had the same problem you had after I created all 64 buses.

 

Then I found a lot of orphaned bus routing that I forgot to delete.

Deleted those and was able to go on.

 

You'll have to do the work and locate all the buses that you don't need.

[digvalley]

Ok, thank you. I have located all of these busses, the problem is: when I unassigned them from everything and try to add another instrument, I get the same 64 bus error. How do I add new instruments after the 64 bus error hits, even though there are previous vacant busses?

[Eric Cardenas]

Delete the routings that you don't need.

I think you have 4 Drum Machine Designers inserted with all with a bunch of groups that you don't use.

[digvalley]

OK, I am still trying to fix this. Can you please tell me or show me a screenshot on how to delete the routings? How do I delete a bus? I can delete a bus in the channel strips. If bus no.38 is present in many channel strips, do I have to delete all of them? Tried that, but I still get the same error and the bus is still showing if I try adding a new one.

[Eric Cardenas]

Make sure that no channel strip uses bus 38 as its input.

Make sure that no channel strip uses bus 38 as a send or output.

[Arnaud]

Bus usage cleaning is something I often need to do, even more frequently nowadays with the "Patches" functionnality of the Library which can create quite many new aux returns for busses, when you browse from patch to patch and which does not always do the "cleanup" after you have changed a track's patch to a different one. Classical example are "overal" aux returns for an FX (reverb, delay, whatever), which LPX automatically creates outside a track stack on top of configuring the track stack upon patch loading, with some send somewhere in that track stack routed to this external aux return (using a bus for that). You change to a different patch, the track is reconfigured, nothing is sent any longer to that bus but the external (outside track stack) aux return is not deleted in the Mixer (i.e. the Environment) and therefore the bus keeps being "used" technically speaking, although nothing is sent to it.

 

Anyways, back to the question.

 

When I'm going to run out of busses in a larger mix, I save my project and I simply playback the whole project, and I hit pause after it has been played back in full. This freezes the playhead and the display, and in the mixer pane, all individual channel strip "clip" level boxes still dispay the maximum peak level of that channel strip reached during playback. I mask everything but aux returns and look for those for which the box is emply. They exist, but nothing was ever sent to them across the whole project length (don't move the playhead!, this resets to blank the display of all of these boxes!).

 

I select them and delete them, then play back the project again to make sure nothing has changed in its sounding. It usually did not but, should it, "revert to saved" to cancell this and do the more time consuming analysis (see below).

 

Now, if you want to see the effect of that, try adding an new bus send on any track, you'll see that there are now blank spaces in front of some busses numbers: the deletion of the auxes above has just freed their input busses! Et voilà).

 

More lengthy procedure in case the quick one is problematic or you don't trust it (I don't trust myself at least half of the time) : Once you have identified the aux returns with empty max-peak-level boxes after playback, note their bus numbers (displayed as their input). Then go channel strip by channel strip along your whole mixer window (including opening all track stacks and checking the subtracks), and make sure that no one has its output or a send routed to that bus number. Now you are extra sure you can delete all aux returns which would have this bus number as their input.

 

Hope this helps...

[whereismymind]

Thanks Arnaud but this is quite a long process to do ! I can't believe there's no official trick for that. I usually have to clean bus usage too. I recently receive a 8 tracks sessions that actually uses every single bus of Logic !!! Can I do your trick in the environment window ? The majority of my busses have been removed from the mixer cause I thought that would free them up ...

[james317a]

Because there is still some routing going on, somewhere. Maybe hidden tracks? Maybe you deleted tracks that send/output to a buss and as far as I know Logic still remembers those routings even if the original "sending" channel is deleted.

 

Have a look in the environment (CMD + 0, or menu 'View')

 

... Thank you so much, this was brilliant advice. I've now tracked down the issue and resolved it.