LPX is no longer offering to convert stereo to mono :(

[dottom]

After (finally) upgrading to 10.8.x I was thrilled when Logic asked me if I wanted to convert a stereo (vocal) track that I was dragging onto a mono audio track! What a time saver.

However, now I have the same situation - a track that's clearly marked as mono input, but when I drag the stereo WAV track onto it, it just automatically changes the track to stereo. I've tried a dozen times. I've also tried with a brand new track, again Input set to 1 channel.

I have checked Preferences > notifications to make sure I haven't set the dialog to "don't show again", but it's not in that very short list.

One thing I note is that when I drag the audio track onto my track, the name of the track is changed to the filename. It doesn't always do that (it does, most of the time), but I wonder whether that might be a clue.

Anything else I should check, or should I just bit the bullet and do the old 2-channel muted bounce trick?

[des99]

I'm not sure of the heuristic Logic uses to give that option offhand, but is there a need to actually convert the file? You can just select the Left or Right channel of the stereo audio file to turn the channel strip to mono without any destructive processing or new files needed... that's the most time saver method of all.

Or you can force-insert a mono plugin (eg, a gain plugin or whatever) to mix the two channels to a mono channel if that's what you want to do.

[dottom]

Thanks for the reply. For sure, these are all good options. I was just curious if we had a bit more precision on when exactly Logic offers to convert those tracks.

You mention "selecting the Left or Right channel". Can you elaborate on what you mean by "selecting" a channel?

I'm hesitant to assume the left and right channels contain exactly the same audio information, so I'd still probably opt for some kind of summing down to mono.

[des99]

11 minutes ago, dottom said:

You mention "selecting the Left or Right channel". Can you elaborate on what you mean by "selecting" a channel?

Choosing the left or right side of a stereo channel with the channel format options, like this:

11 minutes ago, dottom said:

I'm hesitant to assume the left and right channels contain exactly the same audio information, so I'd still probably opt for some kind of summing down to mono.

I think just choosing "Mono" in the format option with a stereo audio file on that track will sum both channels - worth checking. (Edit - yes it does).

Otherwise, just force insert a gain plugin in the first slot, by holding option and choosing a mono plugin (there are other ways to do this too). You'll see it converts the channel to mono, and sums both channels:

So in any case, the format menu is the easiest and fastest way to achieve what you want, imo.

11 minutes ago, dottom said:

I was just curious if we had a bit more precision on when exactly Logic offers to convert those tracks.

Like I say, I don't know offhand, I'd have to go and test to determine the behaviour. So as it's something you want to know, that's something you can do - let us know what you find if you do... 👍

[billbates]

On the Inspector channel strip first press the 2 entangled circles so it becomes one circle to make it mono.

Then press the little Bnc button on the Inspector channel strip which will bounce as a mono file.

Don't press command B.. ... that will bounce as a stereo file.

I use this to make mono audio files for audible.

[David Nahmani]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:58 PM, dottom said:

I was just curious if we had a bit more precision on when exactly Logic offers to convert those tracks.

For the sake of precision, note that Logic never offers to convert the audio file itself, it offers to convert only the format of the track to match the format of the audio file you're dragging.

If you've started doing anything with the track, for example if you've already inserted a plug-in, or added an audio file to the track, then when you drag an audio file that doesn't match the track format, you'll get that dialog asking how you want to handle the track format. 

If the track is empty and there are no plug-ins, then Logic automatically changes the track format without asking you. 

[dottom]

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If the track is empty and there are no plug-ins, then Logic automatically changes the track format without asking you. 

Ah! yes, that must be it.

About a year ago, I did some testing using a stereo audio track and then playing with panning to see if there was any difference with a true "mono" track and mono audio file. At that time I concluded there was in fact a difference, and so I have become obsessed with bouncing down stereo audio tracks to mono (for vocals, specifically).

I should probably repeat that process because it sounds like I may be making unnecessary additional work for myself.

Quote

 

Then press the little Bnc button on the Inspector channel strip which will bounce as a mono file.

Don't press command B.. ... that will bounce as a stereo file.

 

I assume the Bnc button is the same as CTRL-B (bounce in place)?

[triplets]

6 minutes ago, dottom said:

I assume the Bnc button is the same as CTRL-B (bounce in place)?

No, it is not. Control-B will always give you a stereo bounce.

The Bounce button gives you a mono bounce if the track format button is set to mono like explained earlier.

[dottom]

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The Bounce button gives you a mono bounce if the track format button is set to mono like explained earlier.

Wild.

Is this a feature that can only be accessed by a button on the GUI ? Or is there a menu / hotkey equivalent?

[des99]

29 minutes ago, dottom said:

About a year ago, I did some testing using a stereo audio track and then playing with panning to see if there was any difference with a true "mono" track and mono audio file.

It depends on what that track contained. If there were differences between channels (even small), then it's stereo, and whether you leave stereo, sum to mono, or choose just one side will all sound different.

If you have a dual-channel audio file that contains the same signal in both sides, it's just two copies of a mono channel. Picking the left or right side will sound identical, and leaving the track stereo or summing to mono will all make the track sound the same but louder.

Also remember that on a mono track, the pan knob pans that mono channel within the stereo field of your mix. With a stereo track, the knob (by default, though it can be changed) is no longer a "pan" knob, it's a balance control, which just affects the volume on the left or right sides - this is different to panning a mono track.

So there are lots of differences going on here, and it's good to understand what's going on and make appropriate decisions.

[des99]

15 minutes ago, dottom said:

Is this a feature that can only be accessed by a button on the GUI ? Or is there a menu / hotkey equivalent?

Generally no, because the button on a channel is saying "bounce *this* channel" and you might have hundreds of tracks - it's impractical to have individual key commands for "Bounce from channel 1", "Bounce from channel 2"... "Bounce from channel N" etc.

You can reliably tie this to track selection either, as you may have multiple channels selected. So a button it is, with the key command dedicated to always bouncing from the main stereo mix, which is usually what's required anyway.

[dottom]

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Generally no, because the button on a channel is saying "bounce *this* channel" and you might have hundreds of tracks - it's impractical to have individual key commands for "Bounce from channel 1", "Bounce from channel 2"... "Bounce from channel N" etc.

You can reliably tie this to track selection either, as you may have multiple channels selected. So a button it is, with the key command dedicated to always bouncing from the main stereo mix, which is usually what's required anyway.

 

I appreciate the perspective here. I do respectfully disagree however - anything that there is a GUI element for ought to be replicated in a menu (and possibly hotkey) that's just basic UX.

In fact what's horribly missing here is the ability to "Bounce In Place" multiple tracks at once (individually, as a batch operation). That has come up frequently for me (for example, locking down Flex-timed vocal tracks) and has always been frustrating. Where CMD-B bounces the main mix, CTRL-B (or is it CTRL-Shift-B?) bounces in-place and uses the selected track(s). It should not be a stretch to imagine an alternate mode for bounce in-place that treats each selected track individually (sequentially) rather than mixing them together - and there you would have your menu-equivalent of the Bnc functionality.

Anyway, I know it's useless to gripe as Apple will do what Apple will do.

I'm glad I learned about the Bnc button though. I had never seen the utility of using it over bounce-in-place. Thanks!

 

[oscwilde]

1 hour ago, dottom said:

I do respectfully disagree however - anything that there is a GUI element for ought to be replicated in a menu (and possibly hotkey) that's just basic UX.

Catch is that Logic (DAWs in general) doesn't have a "basic" UX.
Logic's instruments and FX have over 7,000 parameters (UI elements)....let alone the UI elements in the various editors, arrange, mixer, smart controls, library, file managers, a.s.o.
You sure you'd want this number of params replicated in a menu/have this many key commands?
In this respect, it'd be overwhelming/poor UX design.

[des99]

8 minutes ago, oscwilde said:

Logic's instruments and FX have over 7,000 parameters (UI elements)

Yep, and they could be in any insert on any track, so you have to replicate those exponentially for all possibilities - this is *stonkingly* bad UX. 🙂 

Often, a convention in software is to target ("select") an object first, and then apply a command to that object - ie, we don'e have to have 1000 individual mute key commands for each track, we have one track mute command, and apply it to a track selection. But this use case is limited too - so we have buttons on the actual track which have an implicit "this mute button is for this track", and this is something that can't practically be done by key commands, due to the variable nature of them.

It makes no sense to implement key commands for "Bounce from Output 1&2", "Bounce from Output 3&4" etc, especially as the developers have no idea of how many outputs you will have on your system to create key commands for. Maybe you've just got two outputs, maybe you've got 128...

These kinds of key commands work fine with static, constrained items, like menu entries, but they don't work for dynamic/variable items. There is no direct independent key command for "Run MIDI transform on the 69th MIDI region on track 84" - instead, we select the item, and trigger the generilsed key command for "Run MIDI transform on this", and that's exactly the same concept for the mute/solo/bounce buttons on tracks, and many other concepts in Logic (and software in general).

Anyway, somewhat of a digression... 😉

[oscwilde]

27 minutes ago, des99 said:

Anyway, somewhat of a digression...

😂