Midi Routing/effects, Trying out Express for the first time Options

[keybie]

I'm considering Logic Express and have played around with the 30 day demo. I've imported the Garageband demo songs so I can get to know it, and also MIDI files, but without a manual and no prior experience with DAW software I'm stuck and need some help:

1) It seems that you can only use 5 effects per track -is this true?
Someone told me that equalizing/tone controls also counts as effects, so 5 seems very limiting to me.

2) I currently don't have any MIDI interface with my Mac, but thought I'd be able to try out the MIDI capabilities of Logic by having it play Quicktime instruments and/or some sort of soft-synth like Garageband has, but I'm not getting any audio output at all. I assume I have to assign instruments/channels somewhere.
Where/how do I do this?

(I'm on a 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 with MacOS 10.4.9)

This post has been edited by keybie: Mon 9 Apr 2007, 18:20

[Jim Hoyland]

In the screenshot you've posted (nice touch btw), the first 8 tracks are audio tracks for the playback of audio files (ie AIFF, WAV, SD2 etc). The next 8 are audio instruments which can be loaded with one of the many synths / samplers that come preloaded with Logic (we'll come back to these). The remainder of the tracks shown are midi tracks which will address an external midi device, assuming you've got one, and that its set up correctly in OSX's Audio/Midi Setup Utility.

To play back your midi files in Logic, the simplest route will be to assign each of the tracks to an Audio Instrument track. Obviously you have only 8 showing on screen at the moment, but you may have more available in your Audio Environment (click on Windows > Environment to see this). Assuming you have more Instrument tracks available, you can change an arrangement track you don't need into one you do by clicking and holding on the track name (e.g. Audio 5 in your window). A menu system will appear where you can select (for example) Audio > Audio Instruments > Audio Instrument 9. Once you have enough Instruments, you can load the soft synth you need by selecting the track in the arrange page and clicking in the top box in the I/O section of the track view (left hand side of the arrange page). A menu will appear showing the various instruments you have available. The EVP88 is a good place to start as this will preload an electric piano setup so you can get some sound from the get go. Repeat for each track as required. Of course you may not need a seperate instrument for each midi track in which case you can assign multiple tracks to the same audio instrument.

Its worth saying that Logic is a "Pro" application, very rich in features, and can take a long time to learn. It may be worth you while to get some training.

This post has been edited by Jim Hoyland: Thu 12 Apr 2007, 10:06

[keybie]

Once you have enough Instruments, you can load the soft synth you need by selecting the track in the arrange page and clicking in the top box in the I/O section of the track view (left hand side of the arrange page). A menu will appear showing the various instruments you have available. The EVP88 is a good place to start as this will preload an electric piano setup so you can get some sound from the get go. Repeat for each track as required. Of course you may not need a seperate instrument for each midi track in which case you can assign multiple tracks to the same audio instrument.



Thanks for taking the time to explain.
I have a feeling things look slightly different here, so let me tell you what I've done and you can correct me where I'm going wrong:

1) After loading the song (an empty document which I've imported a standard MIDI file into) I decide to start with the "piano" track. So I click (and hold) where it says "Audio 6" with a gray background (I assume this is what you mean when referring to the track-name and not the actual track data (which I assume are the green vertical (thick) "lines"/"rectangles" on the right hand side of the screen marked "Trumpet", "piano", Drums" etc).

2) When I click on "Audio 6" a menu with a sub-menu comes up as you've described:

Does that look about right?
As I have no idea what those instrument numbers correspond to I've just used the same instrument numbers as the tracks for now.

3) Hmmmm... I'm getting pretty confused about the next stage: loading the soft-synths.
Let me see.... You must be talking about the "mixer fader" on the bottom left hand side.
If I click on the top of the 3 buttons underneath where it says "I/O" I seem to be able to choose between several different soft-synth devices:


... hey, it's working!!!!
I'm confused about the various instrument groups (mono, stereo, multi-channel) and sub-groups (AU generators, AU instruments and Logic Instruments) and there's no EVP88 to be found (but perhaps that's because it's a demo version and it isn't included).

Well, it looks like I've figured it out anyway, so consider this a "how to" for others who might be stuck

How does Logic Express compare to other DAW applications in the same price range? Does LE "have it all", or are there other applications worth looking into?
It's hard to get this kind of information from the usual Apple stores because they only sell LE.

I also need a MIDI and audio interface so I can hook up the rest of my MIDI gear (keyboards, synth modules etc.). I haven't looked much into that yet, but a 19" rack device with MIDI and audio input/output would be practical and probably be a more long-term investment than the usual table-top "entry level" units, or am I getting it all wrong?
I like to keep my desk clean and uncluttered, so by having rack devices I would have that sorted out.
I'm certainly no pro, but I like to buy quality instead of the very cheapest crap I can get my hands on. On the other hand I don't have unlimited funds available. This is so far just a hobby.
Suggestions?