Logic Pro 8 – Saving Your Favorite Software Instruments on Vimeo.

For other Logic tutorials, I highly recommend SFLogicNinja’s videos on Youtube. Where other videos go through basic concepts (like how to make a marker) to try to sell video sets, SFLogicNinja goes through some more advanced topics and doesn’t try to sell you anything.

Sometimes, when opening up the loops or library sidebar window thingy, Logic Pro 8 doesn’t draw the arrange area correctly.

I have a few classic synth lines I want to try to redo in Logic (or Reason 4) and today we’ll start with something simple: the synth in Genesis’s Abacab.

I’m not sure what synthesizer was used on the track, but part of replicating the sound is to really think about what you hear when it plays. Here’s what I hear:

• Monophonic synth
• 2 Oscillators
• Both of them Sawtooth waves
• One pitched a Perfect 5th above the other

This is very easy to make in Logic’s ES2 software synth.

First: Start with a clean slate. Apple knew you’d need clean slates, which is why they give you the tutorial presets. Pick the Analog Init preset.

This gives you a single oscillator set to a sawtooth wave.

Second: Enable that 2nd oscillator, set it to a sawtooth wave, and bring the tuning up 7 semitones.

Third: Change the oscillator mixing to give each oscillator 50%. Do this by dragging the point on that mixing triangle to the middle between oscillator 1 and 2.

Finally: The setting isn’t set as a monophonic synth. Holding multiple keys down won’t cut off the previous note. Set the ES2 to Mono.

There – now you have the Abacab sound. Adjust the glide/portamento to taste and you should be good to go. It should sound something like this (feed readers, please go to site for audio):

At the time of this post, Logic Studio is #12 in rank by top selling Apple Software applications.

Among full, Pro apps (not counting Express versions), it is number 1.

It’s higher on this list than Aperture and Final Cut Studio.

I think Logic’s days of being Apple’s red-headed stepchild are over.

But put all three of us together and it’s a bizarre love triangle.

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p>And yes, I did complain about something similar in Reason 4, but I’ve never had this problem in Logic until version 8. This is likely a bug with Logic 8. Reason 4 just wasn’t designed with alternate keyboards in mind.

Machine: PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0Ghz

Versions:

Logic Pro 8.0 and 8.01

Mac OSX 10.4.11 and OSX 10.5.1

Problem: Some Logic 8 Key Commands are mapped by key position, not key label. This causes problems for people who don’t use the American QWERTY keyboard layout.

Description In-Depth:

There are a lot of cool key commands you may not be able to use based on your keyboard layout. Some default key commands that are compromised in the Dvorak keyboard layout are:

• / – Go To Position
• Shift-] – Next Channel Strip Setting
• Shift-[ - Previous Channel Strip Setting
• = - Merge Regions
• Shift+= - Merge Regions Per Tracks

There are more, and it generally seems to involve anything with /, =, [, and ].

Why not just reassign them? Because Logic 8 has Key Command Spaghetti. Try to change one of these commands and you get a notice that something else is using that key. They’re all tangled. Who really wants to pull that string?

EDIT: You can reassign them without much of a mess. It took me about 10 minutes. Back up your current key commands, go to the key command window and filter out unused key commands. Expand all the commands and switch between US QWERTY and your alternative layout. Anything that changes needs to be taken care of. Anything that conflicts is usually in another editor, so it shouldn’t cause problems with your current operation. I haven’t had problems…yet.

Read more about this problem here, and how it affects international (Not North American) users here.

What It Looks Like:

A shortcut menu for region merging with US QWERTY. Looks fine.

A shortcut menu for region merging with Dvorak. The key commands have changed.

And what you get when you try to reassign key commands correctly under Dvorak.

How To Recreate it

Simply switch your keyboard layout to Dvorak, or to something with a different layout, and you’ll witness the magic of Logic spaghetti. If you have the key command open you may see them change right in front of you.

If you are having problems with this, please let Apple know. You shouldn’t have to change your keyboard layout everytime you want to produce music with the efficiency of key commands.

Plus, Dvorak is awesome.

Edit: See above underneath the bug description to see how you can solve this problem on your setup. Just keep in mind that Logic will have some key positions mapped for everyone else until Apple fixes the default key commands.

I am diligently and delicately working to do everything possible to amend this tragic family situation. As a father my only goal is to get my daughter back home. I appreciate your continued support and understanding in this desperate hour.

Via: BT’s Daughter Kaia Officially Listed As Missing |

SFLogicNinja, aka David Earl, has posted a number of Logic tutorials on Youtube. They aren’t just basic concepts either. Some tutorials are advanced Logic Pro techniques, including Audio To Score, Groove Templates, and more.

From what I’ve seen the videos are easy to follow along with and great for wrapping your head around Logic when a training series book just doesn’t cut it.

SFLogicNinja on Youtube.

Versions:

• Logic Pro 8.0
• Mac OSX 10.4.10

Problem: Arrange window does not draw correctly when going in and out of Arrange Folders. The arrange timeline is off and some regions get cutoff.

What it looks like:

How to recreate it:

1. Create a few tracks
2. Create a region on each track
3. Stuff regions into a folder
4. Go into folder
5. Make the media sidebar viewable
6. Go back up to higher arrange level
7. Hide the Media window

Is it a fluke?

Maybe. I can only reliably recreate it during CPU intensive sessions during playback and those sessions were Logic 7 projects.

Open a MIDI file. It could be anything you got from the net – something like an old Duran Duran song. It should be something General Midi compliant. Logic Pro 8 will ask if you want to create a New Environment or a copy of the one you’re importing. Either choice is fine. Logic Pro 8 will do it’s very best to match the GM MIDI tracks in the file with it’s own instruments.

I’ve been reading some posts on forums that Apple is completely ripping off its users by lowering Logic’s price. How this is the case boggles my mind.

Typically, the only people complaining are the people who either:

1. Bought Logic before the August cut-off
2. Are pissed because the price cut didn’t happen when they bought it

I suppose that if you bought Logic during the end of July I can understand your frustration. This kind of thing happens to everybody at some point. But it’s only another $200 to upgrade.

Others are upset that they just spent $1k on Logic a year ago. If you’re running a semi-professional studio I get the feeling that $1k for software will be the least of your expenses once you compare it to microphones, outboard gear, midi controllers, studio monitors, the Mac, and all the other bunch of things you may have.

Then there are users who don’t run studios and save every penny to buy Logic (Pro), and get pissed that it’s price dropped. Somehow they believe that Apple has a moral obligation to inform their users that their products will get price reductions and when they will be updated.

Would that be helpful? Hell yeah – then everybody would wait until the next version of everything, never buying anything NOW ever again. Are they obligated to do that? Of course not.

At the end of the day, the only people who should be complaining about Logic’s price drop are the people who make competing DAWs.