A quick query:
Why does the Mixer only give the option to show Track Names below the Channel Strips? There seems to be no way to show the Channel Strip Name instead, which seems rather odd, since these are....Channel Strips...
The default in L8 is actually to show Channel Strip names. The names you see in the tracks (by default) aren't Track Names, they are Channel Strip names.
If you enter a name on the Arrange track header, this name will be the "track name."
Unless you use the command to create a Track Name, in which case you'll first see the dummy name "*Track Name", or have configured your track header to do something else, you are editing the CHannel Strip name when you edit the name that appears in the track list.
If you have already named the "channel strip," this track name will replace it on the Mixer channel strip.
Here, if I rename the Channel Strip, that would be a Channel Strip name, and it appears in the Mixer as expected.
It's so easy to call the name in the track list for track names, but that's how all this got messy in the first place. The thing that works the best, is to stick to naming Channel Strips only, because these names appear also in the Mixer (unless you want to use track names to, which I do).
For a simple solution, it's probably a good idea to configure the track header so it shows Channel Strip names or Track Names consistently. By choosing to view only one column and avoiding Auto-NAme mode, you'll avoid a lot of confusion. Much of the problems come from the Auto-Name mode, which - of you use software instruments and want to see patch names in the mixer, or use external MIDI, is bound to create confusion, especially in two column mode.
Changing the Channel Strip name in the Arrange Window, however, does not affect the name below the Channel Strip in the mixer!
It does here, in 8.02, - both in Auto-Name mode and Channel Strip Name mode, if I don't use Track Names.
Similarly, changing the name area below the Mixer Channel Strip will change the Track Name in the Arrange window, rather than (as one would expect) the Channel Strip Name.
Maybe what you (or I) describe only appears on some Macs, but remember that the name you see in the track list actually IS not Track Names (by default), but Channel Strip names.
I think the confusion mainly comes from the fact that Logic doesn't default to show track names in the track list, but Channel Strip names.
So this really seems like a simple bug: There is no way to force the Channel Strip name to show below a Channel strip in the Mixer (at least for tracks with names).
If the track has actual track names (and not just "track list names' = names in the track list), that's true, but you can show Channel Strip Names in the channel strip still, if you enable 'Instrument Name' in the MIDI Track Components menu. Then they will appear at the top of the Channel Strip, and not at the bottom.
I like the idea of having an option for seeing both Channel and Track names for audio tracks in the at the bottom of the channel strips in the Mixer.
It can be confusing to mix a song if one by accident has assigned the same audio channel to several tracks, so ideally, a mode where the channel strip would show the Channel Strip Name, and - under that - a small pop-up menu showing the various tracks that use this channel would serve as a warning that one has used the same CHannel Strip for several tracks. Since one cannot have more than one set of automation and plug-ins for a channel strip, it would be good to have a way to make newbies discover that they are about to edit the settings of several arrange tracks - if they change the setting of a channel strip that's used by several tracks. That pop-up menu could look like the menyi at the top of the CHannel Strip (which says "Setting" when not used), ad an asterisk could at the pop-up menu could indicate that this Channel Strip is used by several tracks.
The Channel Strip in the mixer never had a (channel strip) name, but was only showing the Track name. If you turn off View: Track Name in the mixer, then the Channel Strip will show no name at all!
Actually, it shows the Channel Strip name until you manually enter a track name - which I somehow like, even if it would be better to be able to show both (as an option).
(One would expect it to show the Channel Strip name, but it never does).
You probably use Track Names then?
Just to add to the confusion, try this:
Create several tracks in the Arrange Window all assigned to the same Channel Strip. Give them each unique Channel Strip names.
But - that's not possible!
If they are all assigned to the same Channel Strip, they can only have/share one Channel Strip name, meaning that if you edit one of them, the other is edited as well.
OTOH, if you have enabled "Same Instrument Tracks", you'll see the same channel strip several times in the Mixer (if it is used several times in Arrange), and with unique
track names (if real track names have been given to them).
Since people will always think of the names that appear in the track list as track names, I believe there will be confusion around Logic's solution until the end of time - or until the track list defaults to show track names. This also would have it's pros and cons, but I still think it would have been a better solution.
Anyway, by configuring the track header to show either Track Names or Channel Strip names, you'll avoid some of the confusion trigger by the fact that the track by default doesn't show track names. But that's not a global preference, so you have to make sure this setting is chosen in every song.
If you want to use both track names and channel strip names, let alone see two columns at the same time, and click on the name in the right (or left) column to edit it's name, you're bound to get gray hairs.
