Logic Pro 9 Switch left & right output channel.

MikeyC

Logician
Hey & hello all, I'm new to the forum, fairly new to Logic, but I hope I will be able to contribute soon!

I have a question that I haven't been able to resolve myself:

Due to the wiring of my speaker system and the location of the wall socket, I have the left and right speakers reversed. In Mac's Audio Midi Setup, I switched the device channels and the sound test confirms the switch.

Yet in Logic (v. 9.1) The pan knobs are operating as if I didn't switch the channels: if I move one to the right, the signal moves to the left.
The I/O assignments for stereo won't let me assign the channels from within Logic. I don't get why Logic does not work with the Mac's setting, or am I missing some setting in Logic?

Thanks for you help!
 
Here's a work around that will probably do the trick: On your main Stereo Outputs, insert a stereo Gain plug in. Open it and press the Swap L/R button. That's oughta' do it.....
 
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Here's a work around that will probably do the trick: On your main Stereo Outputs, insert a stereo Gain plug in. Open it and press the Swap L/R button. That's oughta' do it.....

Thanks for the quick reply!

Weird thing happens: with the gain plug-in on main outs set to switch, the regular track pans now work fine, but the one on the main output still doesn't. Does that make any sense?
 
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It's just a work around. So, if that's how it works - then that's how it works! :D Hopefully you can live with that slight limitation.
 
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Well, it does seem less of a hassle than making a custom cable that switches the routings for my speakers (which is being suggested to me on another forum). :)
 
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Due to the wiring of my speaker system and the location of the wall socket, I have the left and right speakers reversed.
:eeek:

This has nothing to to with wall sockets. The two plugs of the speaker cables are in your audio interface, right? Just reverse there position.

Or is there some magic in your wiring we do not know?
 
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It's actually all about the wall socket in this case, I fear. To give you an idea of my setup and speakers: I've got a stereo jack inserted in the Line Out of my Mac Pro. The cable leads to my right speaker, where it is not detachable. Also incorporated in my right speaker is the power for the system, hence the power cable goes there as well. There is one last cable going from this speaker to the left one.
In short: all cables lead to the right speaker. To keep all the cables to the left of my desk, I want to put this speaker on the left side. I can't detach the cables (and I'm not gonna go cut n solder stuff) so I need a software based solution.
Eli's is the closest we've got so far. I was hoping for a preference setting in Logic to permanently switch audio channels.
 
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Sorry to sound rude, but this is nonsense. Get a power extension cable and put the speaker on the other side. Left speaker left, right speaker right. Point.

Well, you can refine Eli's suggestion:

  1. Put a Gain plugin into the output channels of Logic like Eli said.
  2. Create an Aux channel in the Logic mixer. Name it "Masterbus".
  3. Set the output of the "Masterbus" to your Stereo Output.
  4. Set the input of your Masterbus to Bus 1.
  5. Forget the output channel forever. This is a good idea anyway.
  6. Do never send your signals to the output channel, only to your "Masterbus" which is Bus 1.

This way you can pan your sum as you like because the Masterbus pan works as expected.

Later on, when you realize that reversed speakers aren't a good idea, you just have to remove the Gain plugin and let everything else as it is. Keep using the Masterbus instead of the output channel, this has several advantages. Save a Logic template with this Masterbus for all your songs.
 
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Sorry to sound rude, but this is nonsense. Get a power extension cable and put the speaker on the other side. Left speaker left, right speaker right. Point.
I understand it may sound to you that way.
My setup is in the corner of a living room (which is also used by others) with a glass desk where you see everything behind it... maybe you can empathize with the fact that having 3 black cables visibly going 5 ft across and up on a white wall is not appreciated by everyone...
Anyways, I was hoping for a short quick solution when I started the thread.

Thanks for your refinement, I will try it out.

Gtg for now, thanks to all of you for your help and patience!
 
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maybe you can empathize with the fact that having 3 black cables visibly going 5 ft across and up on a white wall is not appreciated by everyone...
Maybe you can hide the cables somehow. In a narrow white plastic cable channel or something else.
 
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Great idea Peter - Using the masterbus as you describe.

FTR, I have used this exact same kind of masterbus setup in my autoload/template for many years now. And it has nothing to do with reasons involving panning. As Peter says, it has many other advantages.
 
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I'm not sure why Logic is behaving this way BUT you can place a Gain Plugin on Logic's stereo outputs and it has a switch L&R function. It might be a quick workaround.
 
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I'm not sure why Logic is behaving this way
It's not a Logic thing in this case. MikeyC has his monitor boxes reversed which are directly fed by the Mac's built-in output. He cannot (or does not want to) exchange the monitor positions for technical and personal reasons. He could solder a reversed stereo plug but we were told that this isn't an option. He wants a software solution and appeals to our phantasy ;)

you can place a Gain Plugin on Logic's stereo outputs and it has a switch L&R function. It might be a quick workaround.
Yes, this is what Eli said. I just suggested to add an Aux as a masterbus before of the stereo out. The single channels do work correctly with the flipped Gain plugin in the output but it seems that MikeyC balances the output directly. And this last balance knob works reverse to the reversed final output because it is the very last stage. Using a masterbus as "output" normalizes the situation from the view of the user.
 
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My mistake Peter. Sorry about that. I've been changing my preferences for the list lately and for some reason when I first viewed this topic it was in threaded mode and I didn't notice there had already been 11 replies - of which Eli's was almost the first one.

Regarding Logic's behaviour though, in Mikey's original post he said he reversed the outputs in AudioMIDI Setup. It surprises me that once this had been done that panning in Logic is still reversed. This was the behaviour I was referring to.

Kind regards
 
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I didn't notice there had already been 11 replies - of which Eli's was almost the first one.
...
Regarding Logic's behaviour though, in Mikey's original post he said he reversed the outputs in AudioMIDI Setup.
And I missed the part with the setup. Maybe we should read the posts together ;)

Indeed, Logic doesn't care about the speaker settings in the Audio/MIDI Setup. Strange. This would be a better solution than flipping channels in Logic. But the setup has no influence.

The only way I have to reverse the channels outside of Logic is in Totalmix, but one needs a hardware interface with routing capabilites for that. Haven't tried to switch with the built-in interface but according to Mikey it doesn't work.
 
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