Strange panning/stereo behaviour when using Drummer

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Danny Chung Author

Level 1

5 points

Strange panning/stereo behaviour when using Drummer

I'm running Logic Pro X 10.2.1

17 inch MacBook Pro (early 2011) with 8G RAM and 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 processor. Running OS 10.10.5

I've only just noticed this strange behaviour in Logic Pro X.

I start up Drummer, Kyle appears with the two 8 measures of drum patterns. So far so good.

On pressing play, the drum track plays, with drum sound in the centre of the mix as the panning knob is in the centre. So far so good.

Then after a while, the drum track audio comes out mainly in the left monitor with very little coming out of the right monitor.

The panning knob, or more precisely, the stereo balancer knob as the Drummer track is a stereo input, has not been touched at all, yet the drum sound appears mostly in the left.

The stereo input shows most of the signal on the left side with some still remaining on the right side.

I've checked that automation is off with the pan set at zero.

I've tried it without the audio interface, using the built in speakers, but it still occurs.

It not only happens on when you start off with Drummer. I've seen it happen with my finished tracks. The Drummer track would be centre pan and then suddenly, the drum audio goes to the left side.

It happens when the automation is turned off.

It happens even when the automation is turned on with the pan set at zero, as I try to force the track to be centred in the mix. The drum audio still goes to the left.

And now to ask that time honoured question: Does anybody know what is going on?

Many thanks

Danny

iMac, Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on Feb 13, 2016 2:35 AM

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Answer 1

Danny Chung Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 14, 2016 8:00 PM in response to Danny Chung

Looks like I worked this out myself.

I disconnected my MIDI keyboard, my USB hub, the external CD-ROM and the USB card reader/writer from the laptop.

Only my Apple keyboard and audio interface (Scarlett 2i4) are connected.

The Drummer then behaves normally with no unexpected panning to the left when starting a project from new nor during playback on completed projects.

I suspect it is problem that arises during connection to the Midi keyboard.

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Answer 2

Feb 14, 2016 10:25 PM in response to Danny Chung

Hmmm, out of curiosity; were you using a Logic Project Template? Perhaps this issue will arise again, obviously something to do with a MIDI assignment that's been saved somewhere.

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Answer 3

Danny Chung Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 14, 2016 11:27 PM in response to animist08

Nope, never used Logic Project template. I always used Empty project.

So far the solution appears to be disconnect the midi keyboard from the laptop when not in use.

I was suspecting the plug-ins but I don't have a lot of plug-ins, only six from Focusrite, that came as part of the audio interface when I bought it.

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Answer 4

Feb 15, 2016 12:04 AM in response to Danny Chung

The other thing you can do is look at your AUDIO MIDI Setup which is an App that resides in the Application " Other". You get to it by clicking Launchpad (the rocket icon). This is the way your Mac handles MIDI input and output in general. The inputs 1&2 (L&R) should be set to 0.75 and the outputs are set by default to 100%. It's possible one of the sliders here has been moved.

if you've ever been annoyed by Logic not saving, for example, how you've configured your buttons to appear in say the Track Header (buttons you may have added or removed) its because they'll only get saved in a Template and won't appear again in ANOTHER empty project, you'll have to configure your buttons all over again. I got tired of doing this. You're almost always gonna have a few Instr Tracks, possibly a few Audio Tracks and plugins like the stock-standard EQ plugin right? So it's time saving to use templates with all those basic things pre-loaded. And you'll be able to save Screensets to quickly move between full-screen Mixer, Piano Roll, Audio Editor instead of the default crowded view.

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Answer 5

Danny Chung Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 17, 2016 6:50 AM in response to animist08

Waited a few days to find out if the Audio MIDI setup tip worked. Tried it as you suggested. At first it appeared to be the solution.

However I started a new project today and Drummer pan was behaving well. When I went off to do other things, the laptop went to sleep. Came back and woke up the computer, pressed play, the same panning problem appeared on Drummer. I checked the Audio MIDI settings again to see if they had been changed, no change at all. I then disconnected the MIDI keyboard. Quit Logic Pro and started it up again with my new project. Lo and behold, the Drummer pan dead centre again.

So it appears the MIDI keyboard is the cause of this strange panning behaviour. It's not a big deal of a problem, just annoying. Then again, if you're not using the MIDI keyboard very much, simply disconnect it. I suppose when doing the mix, just keep make sure the MIDI keyboard is not connected to prevent it interfering with the mix.

Thanks for the tip anyways.

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Answer 6

Feb 17, 2016 7:00 AM in response to Danny Chung

If the panning problem rears its ugly head again with the MIDI controller plugged in try hard resetting the MIDI controller (refer to controller manual). Good opportunity to update Firmware anyway. Happy productions

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