Surround effects

Surround effects

Logic Pro X offers a number of surround effect plug-ins, and also includes surround versions of the Sculpture and ES2 synthesizers. Your Audio Units instruments and effects may also work in surround.

Important: The project surround format determines the surround format of plug-ins. For more information, see Set the project surround format.

Insert a surround effect plug-in

  1. Set the channel strip’s output to Surround. For more information, see Set the channel strip output format.

  2. Click any Insert slot, then navigate to the Mono → Surround (on mono channels), Stereo → Surround (on stereo channels), or Surround version (on surround channels) of the plug-in you want to use.

    For example, on a stereo format channel strip, navigate to Delay > Delay Designer > Stereo → 5.1 (ITU 775). If the project surround format is set to 7.1 (SDDS), the Plug-in pop-up menu of a stereo channel strip is displayed as follows: Delay > Delay Designer > Stereo → 7.1 (SDDS).

Tip: It’s possible to release the pointer on the plug-in name, instead of navigating all the way through the hierarchy to the channel format. The plug-in opens automatically using the default channel strip format.

Insert plug-ins that do not match the channel format

  • Option-click a channel strip Insert slot.

    The Plug-in pop-up menu displays all available formats for the plug-in, rather than being limited to the matching format. Any down- or upmixing that may be necessary will happen automatically.

    • The default format of software instruments is stereo (if available). Mono and the project surround format are offered as additional formats.

    • The default format of effects plug-ins is the current channel strip format (at the insert point in the signal path).

    • All plug-in format variations (based on the current channel strip input format, and all available plug-in output formats) are offered, up to the maximum allowed by the project surround format.

      Note: This applies only if the output of the channel strip is already routed to a surround bus or output.

    • Logic Pro effects plug-ins can also be operated in a multi-mono configuration, based on the project surround format.

Logic Pro X automatically performs surround downmixes and upmixes whenever the format of the input and output channels don’t match. For example, if you insert a quadraphonic plug-in into a 5.1 bus, Logic Pro X performs a downmix from 5.1 to Quad, followed by an upmix back to 5.1.