[Logic Pro] Tips, Favourite Features, Discoveries and Surprises

ErrkaPetti

@mistercharlie said:
@ErrkaPetti Not sure! I use it for grabbing a few bars. If I wanted longer, I would probably just record to a new audio track in Logic. Or use two recorders in Drambo.

Ok… But you can’t record from Audio Out/Master Track, it can’t be routed in Logic Pro for iPad…

Samu

@ErrkaPetti said:

@mistercharlie said:
@ErrkaPetti Not sure! I use it for grabbing a few bars. If I wanted longer, I would probably just record to a new audio track in Logic. Or use two recorders in Drambo.

Ok… But you can’t record from Audio Out/Master Track, it can’t be routed in Logic Pro for iPad…

Export the project as audio and import it back to a new track...

el_bo

@ErrkaPetti said:

@mistercharlie said:
Another tip. You can put Drambo in the FX slot on the master bus (the main stereo out channel).

Drop a recorder module into a drambo track, and you can use it to resample anything you can hear. And then—this is the killer part—you can drag the audio out of the Drambo recorder and drop it anywhere in Logic. Into a track, into a Quick Sampler.

And if you p-lock the first step of Drambo’s sequencer with a rec and play trig, it will capture a perfect bar of audio, in time.

This is really, really great, and makes resampling super fast. LOVE IT!

I saw a question earlier today - someone here wanted to resample the audio from Master Track, and, the solution was as you wrote here, put Drambo in the FX Slot and record to a Recorder Module.

The problem - it seems to be an limitation in Drambo how long the recording can get (60 seconds?)…

Are there any possibilities to increase this recording length in Drambo?

Create a Bus that will be the resample bus. Set Sends for all tracks and bring level to Unity Gain (About 2 '0 clock position). Then create a new audio track, with its input set to that bus. This is where the recorded audio will be. Then just chose which of the audio or instrument tracks you want to record, using Solo/Mute.

It's long form recording of course, but is useful for jamming also.

klownshed

@el_bo said:

@ErrkaPetti said:

@mistercharlie said:
Another tip. You can put Drambo in the FX slot on the master bus (the main stereo out channel).

Drop a recorder module into a drambo track, and you can use it to resample anything you can hear. And then—this is the killer part—you can drag the audio out of the Drambo recorder and drop it anywhere in Logic. Into a track, into a Quick Sampler.

And if you p-lock the first step of Drambo’s sequencer with a rec and play trig, it will capture a perfect bar of audio, in time.

This is really, really great, and makes resampling super fast. LOVE IT!

I saw a question earlier today - someone here wanted to resample the audio from Master Track, and, the solution was as you wrote here, put Drambo in the FX Slot and record to a Recorder Module.

The problem - it seems to be an limitation in Drambo how long the recording can get (60 seconds?)…

Are there any possibilities to increase this recording length in Drambo?

Create a Bus that will be the resample bus. Set Sends for all tracks and bring level to Unity Gain (About 2 '0 clock position). Then create a new audio track, with its input set to that bus. This is where the recorded audio will be. Then just chose which of the audio or instrument tracks you want to record, using Solo/Mute.

It's long form recording of course, but is useful for jamming also.

You can also send every track to a bus directly. You can then make a new audio track with the input assigned to that bus.

The easy way to do that is select all tracks (or all the tracks you wanna resample) in the mixer and set the output to a new bus and they’ll all change simultaneously.

You can also do that with track stack (select all tracks and stack the lot). Then set the output of the stack to a bus.

I often record the output of effect sends like this, although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time. Not tried that on the iPad yet.

auxmux

@jonmoore said:

@auxmux said:
LOL, I think interface design and even aesthetics has a lot to do with it. Cubasis and Reaper remind me of using old Linux or Windows interfaces which were functional but experientially lacking.

Aesthetics are an intrinsic aspect of the best interaction design. Don Norman, a founding god of UX best practise always understood this. A co-conspirator of his, Jakob Nielsen, not so much. He'd argue the case for a digital experience with the aesthetics of a Windows 95 era spreadsheet given the chance! 😱😱😱

Much as Emagic era Logic Pro had horrendously busy instrument UI's, LP viewed holistically was a superior user experience to it's main competitors. IMO Ableton led the way from the get-go in terms of providing a category-defining non-skeuomorphic experience. Even lacking a multitude of features available in Cubase, Logic Pro and MOTU Digital Performer, it redefined the look and feel of digital audio software.

Over (a very long) time, Apple has moulded the mature Emagic product they purchased into a sleek modern UX. I suspect part of the reason it's taken them so long to convert Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro for iPadOS, is that they realised iPadOS already has killer IP's across AV categories and the artists using those killer IP's have evolved sophisticated expectations. My biggest surprise, was that I expected Apple to do a better job with FCP than LP. It's great to be wrong.

Ah yeah, I remember when Nielson was more popular in mid to late 2000s. His followers tended to be super zealous too. Don't recall Norman will read up, thanks.

el_bo

@klownshed said:
You can also send every track to a bus directly. You can then make a new audio track with the input assigned to that bus.

Yeah...I showed that in an earlier example, for recording Audio from instruments that are being played from the AUv3's own playing surface. it's good for single use. But if you set a separate 're-sampling' bus via Sends then those output channels can be used for other things e.g Groups

jonmoore

@auxmux said:

@jonmoore said:

Ah yeah, I remember when Nielson was more popular in mid to late 2000s. His followers tended to be super zealous too. Don't recall Norman will read up, thanks.

This is THE book and edition to look out for (the images aren't links as I'm sure you have a bookshop preference):

But whilst you're at your bookshop of choice, check out this equally epic essential from another of Don Normans peers.

Apologies for the UX excursion to everyone else. LOL

ErrkaPetti

@el_bo and @klownshed - thanks for the tips on routing above!

Yet another question, seen another here raised the same question, can I/we record MIDI from iFretless Bases GUI (when playing on the basstrings?
Can we route MIDI easily just like in AUM?

mistercharlie

@klownshed said:

although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time.

Just an aux track somewhere inside the stack, or on the top-level “folder” track?

gregsmith

I’ve just been given 2 tips by @FredAntonCorvest to make the excellent AUBE easier to use with Logic Pro.

These may be super obvious to others 😂

Firstly, I didn’t realise you could set the default instrument for a new track to none. I thought you HAD to have one, so I was delving into this drop-down menu every time which has no search bar, and trying to browse by developer.
I thought the only alternative way to get a search box, was to load with a default, then long press and replace on the default instrument, which felt long winded too.
Anyway… set default to none, then you can add a new track, and hit plus to add a new instrument, with a search box. Job done.

Secondly, I didn’t realise you could show the on screen keyboard with the Magic Keyboard connected, so thought I had to disconnect the keyboard to get AUBE to show.
Not so! When you’re in a text box to search there’s a little box that pops up in the bottom right hand corner that allows you to show the on screen keyboard and load AUBE. I’ve probably seen this a million times and not needed it, so stopped noticing it.

Hopefully these tips help someone else.

klownshed

@mistercharlie said:

@klownshed said:

although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time.

Just an aux track somewhere inside the stack, or on the top-level “folder” track?

I put them inside the stack on the Mac, keep things together.

I tend to group (via track stacks) sub groups like Drums, Bass, Synth, Guitar etc.

Logic on the iPad doesn’t seem to have bouncing of tracks yet (Logic on the mac has a bounce all and replace tracks with audio command which is great for making stems it just future proofing your projects — wouldn’t be surprised if something similar is on the todo list for iPad too).

So nothing to see here. Yet. :-)

I’m looking forward to see what’s coming in the next update.

Interesting times for the iPad. :-)

mistercharlie

@klownshed said:

I’m looking forward to see what’s coming in the next update.

Interesting times for the iPad. :-)

Yes indeed!

ErrkaPetti

@klownshed said:

@mistercharlie said:

@klownshed said:

although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time.

Just an aux track somewhere inside the stack, or on the top-level “folder” track?

I put them inside the stack on the Mac, keep things together.

I tend to group (via track stacks) sub groups like Drums, Bass, Synth, Guitar etc.

Logic on the iPad doesn’t seem to have bouncing of tracks yet (Logic on the mac has a bounce all and replace tracks with audio command which is great for making stems it just future proofing your projects — wouldn’t be surprised if something similar is on the todo list for iPad too).

So nothing to see here. Yet. :-)

I’m looking forward to see what’s coming in the next update.

Interesting times for the iPad. :-)

Hmmmm, haven’t Logic Pro for iPad Bounce Track?

If you tap a track there’s a menu show up with Bounce as one of menu options… Is that something else?

zzrwood

I am loving the ability to have multiple audio interfaces - I can now use my Fender Mustang Micro (headphone amp) to provide a direct audio input over usb-c for guitar and bass (using the bypass setting)
The amps and effects in Logic are great!

dokwok2

Low-latency monitoring mode:

frosttrance_7

Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

dokwok2

@zzrwood said:
I am loving the ability to have multiple audio interfaces - I can now use my Fender Mustang Micro (headphone amp) to provide a direct audio input over usb-c for guitar and bass (using the bypass setting)
The amps and effects in Logic are great!

What’s the bypass setting and which device are you sending output to? (As I recall, the Micro doesn’t pass the host’s output to its headphone jack.)

auxmux

@jonmoore said:

@auxmux said:

@jonmoore said:

Ah yeah, I remember when Nielson was more popular in mid to late 2000s. His followers tended to be super zealous too. Don't recall Norman will read up, thanks.

This is THE book and edition to look out for (the images aren't links as I'm sure you have a bookshop preference):

But whilst you're at your bookshop of choice, check out this equally epic essential from another of Don Normans peers.

Apologies for the UX excursion to everyone else. LOL

Awesome, thanks!

zzrwood

@dokwok2 said:

@zzrwood said:
I am loving the ability to have multiple audio interfaces - I can now use my Fender Mustang Micro (headphone amp) to provide a direct audio input over usb-c for guitar and bass (using the bypass setting)
The amps and effects in Logic are great!

What’s the bypass setting and which device are you sending output to? (As I recall, the Micro doesn’t pass the host’s output to its headphone jack.)

The bypass setting is the last amp setting - cyan - on the Micro. I have a small hub with three usb-c ports, so one is either for the Apple headphone adapter, or my Roland J6 or MC-101, both do audio over USB and have headphone sockets.

The Micro also gets charged from the iPad…

I have other audio interfaces, but this is super compact for travel and the Micro does double duty as a headphone amp with Bluetooth for backing tracks.

klownshed

@ErrkaPetti said:

@klownshed said:

@mistercharlie said:

@klownshed said:

although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time.

Just an aux track somewhere inside the stack, or on the top-level “folder” track?

I put them inside the stack on the Mac, keep things together.

I tend to group (via track stacks) sub groups like Drums, Bass, Synth, Guitar etc.

Logic on the iPad doesn’t seem to have bouncing of tracks yet (Logic on the mac has a bounce all and replace tracks with audio command which is great for making stems it just future proofing your projects — wouldn’t be surprised if something similar is on the todo list for iPad too).

So nothing to see here. Yet. :-)

I’m looking forward to see what’s coming in the next update.

Interesting times for the iPad. :-)

Hmmmm, haven’t Logic Pro for iPad Bounce Track?

If you tap a track there’s a menu show up with Bounce as one of menu options… Is that something else?

You can bounce regions, but not tracks.

For many circumstances this doesn’t matter as you can select everything on a track and bounce and the result is the same.

On the Mac you can “bounce and replace all tracks”. This has the added bonus of rendering the aux tracks within stacks too. Cool feature.

Also the track stack also gets rendered so you get and additional mixed stem of the sub tracks including any fx send where you included the returns inside the stack.

In the meantime being able to record the output of busses in real time is good enough for me.

When I need the full power of Logic on Mac I use Logic on Mac :-)

I want the iPad to be a different experience and basically a bit more streamlined.

I am thinking I’ll use Live Loops a lot more on the iPad; I can bring some projects over from the Mac that need some arrangement work and jam out ideas with Live Loops which I much prefer with multitouch.

ErrkaPetti

@klownshed said:

@ErrkaPetti said:

@klownshed said:

@mistercharlie said:

@klownshed said:

although since track stacks were introduced I put aux tracks into the stack which will render the audio with a bounce which is quicker than having to record in real time.

Just an aux track somewhere inside the stack, or on the top-level “folder” track?

I put them inside the stack on the Mac, keep things together.

I tend to group (via track stacks) sub groups like Drums, Bass, Synth, Guitar etc.

Logic on the iPad doesn’t seem to have bouncing of tracks yet (Logic on the mac has a bounce all and replace tracks with audio command which is great for making stems it just future proofing your projects — wouldn’t be surprised if something similar is on the todo list for iPad too).

So nothing to see here. Yet. :-)

I’m looking forward to see what’s coming in the next update.

Interesting times for the iPad. :-)

Hmmmm, haven’t Logic Pro for iPad Bounce Track?

If you tap a track there’s a menu show up with Bounce as one of menu options… Is that something else?

You can bounce regions, but not tracks.

For many circumstances this doesn’t matter as you can select everything on a track and bounce and the result is the same.

On the Mac you can “bounce and replace all tracks”. This has the added bonus of rendering the aux tracks within stacks too. Cool feature.

Also the track stack also gets rendered so you get and additional mixed stem of the sub tracks including any fx send where you included the returns inside the stack.

In the meantime being able to record the output of busses in real time is good enough for me.

When I need the full power of Logic on Mac I use Logic on Mac :-)

I want the iPad to be a different experience and basically a bit more streamlined.

I am thinking I’ll use Live Loops a lot more on the iPad; I can bring some projects over from the Mac that need some arrangement work and jam out ideas with Live Loops which I much prefer with multitouch.

Yeah, you’re right, bounce region, not tracks… Thanks for a clear summon on that…
Time will tell how many missing features from Mac-Logic that will be added to iPad-Logic the coming year…

Hope they add real export of individual tracks, both MIDI and Audio - although we can export Audio, but not the easy way…
Ohh, and most important, the full Alchemy to iPad!

Samu

@frosttrance_7 said:
Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Nothing wrong, it's normal to play slightly ahead of time, so quantize to the rescue...
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

[Deleted User]

@Samu said:

@frosttrance_7 said:
Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Nothing wrong, it's normal to play slightly ahead of time, so quantize to the rescue...
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

1/16 Is it when you use 16 bars or is it ok for 4/4 ?

Samu

@BerlinFx said:

@Samu said:

@frosttrance_7 said:
Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Nothing wrong, it's normal to play slightly ahead of time, so quantize to the rescue...
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

1/16 Is it when you use 16 bars or is it ok for 4/4 ?

1/16th notes squeeze in 16 steps in a bar...
1/8th is 8 notes in a bar.
1/4th is 4 notes in a bar.

A 4/4 beat is 4 bars...

[Deleted User]

@Samu said:

@BerlinFx said:

@Samu said:

@frosttrance_7 said:
Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Nothing wrong, it's normal to play slightly ahead of time, so quantize to the rescue...
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

1/16 Is it when you use 16 bars or is it ok for 4/4 ?

1/16th notes squeeze in 16 steps in a bar...

Thanks for your response it was a bit a silly question

Samu

@BerlinFx said:

@Samu said:

@BerlinFx said:

@Samu said:

@frosttrance_7 said:
Whenever I record after a count-in, Logic does not record the first beat or few notes that I play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Nothing wrong, it's normal to play slightly ahead of time, so quantize to the rescue...
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

1/16 Is it when you use 16 bars or is it ok for 4/4 ?

1/16th notes squeeze in 16 steps in a bar...

Thanks for your response it was a bit a silly question

I extended the answer a bit more to make it clearer...

cyberheater

@Samu said:
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

How do you do that?

Samu

@cyberheater said:

@Samu said:
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

How do you do that?

With nothing selected on the track go to the inspector and set the quantize defaults for new regions.

Once you've recorded something you can for that specific region change the quantize settings or even turn them off to see how sloppily you've actually played

Play around with the app and you'll get the hang of it I hope...

richardyot

@cyberheater said:

@Samu said:
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

How do you do that?

You do it in the Inspector, tap the little 🛈 button bottom-left.

cyberheater

@Samu said:

@cyberheater said:

@Samu said:
...set the region defaults to quantize to say 1/16, the quantize is non-destructive so you and adjust it after recording.

How do you do that?

With nothing selected on the track go to the inspector and set the quantize defaults for new regions.

Once you've recorded something you can for that specific region change the quantize settings or even turn them off to see how sloppily you've actually played

Play around with the app and you'll get the hang of it I hope...

I can only see those options if I create a MIDI region first.

On a blank track I don't see the option for quantize.