A master bus?

[skyreacher]

Cab anyone tell me what a master bus is, and how would I find it, and put it to use in logic pro x 10? I`m a beginner as you will be

able to tell.

 

Thanks, Tim.

[David Nahmani]

On an analog console, a bus is a conductive trace on a printed circuit board. In other words, it's like an audio cable. You route tracks to a bus, and the bus routes all the tracks to a destination, usually a channel strip. The master bus is the bus that contains your entire mix and is, in turn, routed to your speakers. In Logic, the master bus is called "Stereo Output", and it is routed to the "Output" channel strip.

 

Hope that helps?

 

[shivermetimbers]

Here … is an article about analog consoles and terminology. The DAW is partly based on analog consoles and some terminology can get confusing.

 

You have Audio channel strips which are all eventually (bused) routed to Output channel strips. The number of Output channel strips will vary depending on your audio interface. Some interfaces simply have a stereo output and others have multiple outputs.

 

With an eight channel interface, you may have eight outputs in mono, 4 stereo outputs, or any combination of the eight.

 

Logic generally labels the Output 1/2 as a Stereo output. However, both stereo and multi output interfaces are all routed (bused) to a Master channel strip which is appropriately labeled as Master Output..

 

The Master output channel strip is used as the master control fader for all sub output channel strips. Unless you are working in Surround sound, it is best to leave the Master channel strip fader at '0' and forget it exists.

 

Even though the Stereo output is technically not the master bus, you can use it as such unless you are using a surround sound set up.

[David Nahmani]

Logic generally labels the Output 1/2 as a Stereo output. However, both stereo and multi output interfaces are all routed (bused) to a Master channel strip which is appropriately labeled as Master Output..

When working in stereo, nothing is routed (bused) to the Master Channel Strip. No audio goes through the Master Channel strip. The Master channel strip is not a bus but a VCA that remotely controls the level of all output channel strips without modifying any of their audio routing. The Master channel strip is labeled "Master", but not "Master Output". The VCAs faders that were introduced in Logic 10.1 are exactly the same as the Master channel strip (in fact their channel parameter Sub 1, Sub 2 etc... is listed under the same "Master" category as the Master channel strip), except that instead of controlling the levels of all output channel strip, they can control the levels of whatever channel strips you want. Because a VCA channel strip does not have any audio routed through it, you will not see an input or output slot, or any audio FX inserts or bus sends on the channel strip.

 

Unless you are working in Surround sound, it is best to leave the Master channel strip fader at '0' and forget it exists.

I completely agree with that.

 

Even though the Stereo output is technically not the master bus

Even though in Logic it's not labeled as such by default, when working in stereo, the Stereo output is, technically, the master bus: it is the bus used to mix down all the audio that will end up in the final mix that you output to your speakers and bounce to your final mix audio file.

[shivermetimbers]

Yes, six of one and a half dozen of the other. It is all software coded and dependant on how it is labeled. So technically speaking as per the attachment, there is no 'Master bus.'

 

We can all agree to disagree and call the stereo output fader the Master fader (in a stereo project).

 

.

[David Nahmani]

So technically speaking as per the attachment, there is no 'Master bus.'

Your attachment shows channel strips, not busses. A bus is not a channel strip, it's an invisible pathway for an audio signal. In my previous screenshot I showed how to route audio signal to the "Stereo Output" bus, which is Logic's master bus. It is labeled differently in Logic, but technically it's exactly the same thing as the master bus on an analog console.

 

We can all agree to disagree and call the stereo output fader the Master fader (in a stereo project).

Faders, channel strips, and busses are different things.

[shivermetimbers]

A bus is not a channel strip, it's an invisible pathway for an audio signal. It is labeled differently in Logic, but technically it's exactly the same thing as the master bus on an analog console.

 

Well then, there we have it.

 

Since we are not using analog consoles, we can use the terminology labeled as such in Logic.

 

All audio channels are routed to the Stereo Output channel strip. This is done in program code and no invisible pathways or circuit boards are used. The Stereo Output channel strip fader is controlling the output signal level. So the Stereo Output is the correct term for what is incorrectly referred to as a 'Master Bus.'

 

Hopefully LPX still has 64 buses. When using a send or I/O, you can select the routing, pathway, or bus that the signal will travel thru.

All audio signal (regardless of the pathway) will eventually end up at the Stereo Output Channel.

 

Here is one of many videos that tries to clear up the confusion about sends, Aux's, and Buses.

 

 

 

So to avoid more confusion, let's leave it at what David originally posted:

[wireless_head]

Hello

Guys, is there a way to quickly create a new MIX BUS. For example you've already  occupied a stereo out for a mix bus (used it for EQ, comp etc), but you need a track (with references) that will avoid that mix bus. Or I will have to just route everything to a new mix bus?

[MikeRobinson]

Quite a few of the "Library Patches" use automatically-assigned busses to work part of their mojo.  It can be very informative to go to the Mixer window, select a strip that's associated with the patch, and to ask Logic to limit the display only to this track and to other tracks that are related to it.  This shows you how the patch designer "did it."

 

(The exercise also points out how much simplification you can do, if you've filled your project with lots of luscious-sounding library patches and you're now running into System Overloads.  Each library patch is designed to sound gorgeous by itself, and to be easily added and removed, but that can equate to a lot of redundancy and inefficiency.)