Logic 7 Express Options

[peterpen]

Just got Logic Express 7 - using it on an eMac with an Edirol PCR-A30 controller and Harmon Kardon Soundsticks.
But I'm not hearing anything when I play something on the controller. I can see that the MIDI signal is going in and it is getting recorded, but there's no sound.
Total newbie question, but hey - that's what I am.
any tips?
thx,
peterpen

[justd]

HI Peter,
you will need a soundcard or a interface. Did you set the midi-signals right by starting the Logic 7? It's always Core Audio Input and the output depends on your Soundcard or the Interface. Reset your Logic and reinstall the midiconfiguration. I hope I helped you, I'm also a Newbie and had the same Problems, but now I work wonderful with the Logic. I love it, but it needs time.
Justd[FONT=Courier][SIZE=1][COLOR=purple]

[uberlama]

Same problem here. I'm on an iBook G4. No midi interfaces whatsoever.
I can't get a beep out of it. I hear sounds from the Garageband loop browser, but when I drop it onto a track and play back, it's quiet. I've done the whole setup assistant a couple of times to no use.
The Transport floater says "No In" and "No Out". I figured that's probably it, but I don't know how to change that. If I click that little display that says no in/no out it displays "MIDI Reset..." until I let go of the mouse button.

This post has been edited by uberlama: Tue 28 Dec 2004, 16:29

[fabiodata]

Hi guys.
you have to open the midi environment and set a new internal object (quicktime) from the menu. Then connect the line between the multiinstrument already present and the quicktime object.
That's all
Hope this help.
Ragards
Fabio

[uberlama]

Aaah! Now I get it! Thanks a lot. I'm used to much lower end software like.. uhm, FruityLoops... and stuff. Probably takes some time to learn a program like this on my own (the tutorial didn't do much)

[jessone]

Try this. On a midi track, you also need to have one audio track (I've named it "monitor") in record mode before you'll hear anything from your midi controller. Good luck.

Jess

[Chalexfor]

hey im brand new to logic and macs actually but im having the same problem as the others. logic recognizes that my midi controller is present and it records the messages i send but its silent when i play it back. i also use an m-audio mobile-pre usb interface for my audio tracks which i use as my output. how do i set up a midi output so i can hear what ive recorded. also how do i monitor what im playing. my midi controller works perfectly in garageband and reason just not logic and my native instruments symphonic orchestra program. i dont understand. thanks so much

[mmoston]

I had the same problem when I got my LE7 and was trying to control it with an Edirol PCR30. You have to go into the Logic environment and follow Fabidata's advice. It's a shade deeper than Reason's plug and play.
Good luck.

[thepup100]

Hi there,

I'm a total novice to recording and am just trying to get to grips with logic express 7. The problem I'm having is that although I get a midi signal showing in the transport bar and a light comes on at the bottom of the track meter, I never actually get any output level either in sound or showing in logics mixer. I have noticed that the track record button only shows up on the audio tracks - it does not show on any of the instrument or midi channels. I have tried going into view and selecting 'track record' but track record is already highlighted.

By the way, Im using a tascam us-122 sound card which runs my audio and my midi controller (m-audio 49e) is running via usb straight into my mac g3 imac dvse. (i have tried plugging the keyboard into the sound card via a midi lead but it is the same problem)

Can anyone help? Any suggestions would be most welcome,

cheers,

macca.

[Chalexfor]

ok it worked for me this time but how do i get it to save that setting? thanks so much guys. ok so now how do i set up other programs to be plug ins to logic such as reason or a native instruments symphony orchestra program. is that delt with in the plug in program or do i deal with it in logic. thanks again

This post has been edited by Chalexfor: Sun 9 Jan 2005, 02:15

[Vissequ]

I had the same problem. I followed fabiodata's advice and I now am able to hear sounds on my iMac G5 when I play my Keystation 61es and have a MIDI track selected. The problem now though, is that I only hear the Quick Time Synthesizer sounds. If I select one of the String or Bass tracks in Logic, the same standard QT sound is there. How can I get it to play different sound fonts?

Thanks
Connor

[Vissequ]

They work now!
I just restarted Logic and the built-in system instruments work now.
Does anyone know how I can get my .sf2's that I downloaded to play in Logic?

[Chalexfor]

how do i save changes i make in the environment without saving a file?

[Vissequ]

how do i save changes i make in the environment without saving a file?

To my knowledge: that isn't possible. You'll always have to save changes to a file somewhere. It doesn't seem to matter though, because I'm assuming that you'd want to save all files of the enviornments you modified anyway. If you want to save a standard enviornment setting for your MIDI Keyboard or other device, then I think you could create a file, save it as the autostart file (details on the on-screen help) and then it will load whenever you open Logic. You'll then just need to simply click FILE >> SAVE AS... whenever you're ready to save the file as something.

This post has been edited by Vissequ: Mon 10 Jan 2005, 04:39

[Chalexfor]

i got a buncha of things going on that i dont know how to deal with. first off if i have a m audio mobilepre usb interface set as my driver. i want it as my input but not my output because my midi goes through my standard computer output so my audio goes through the interface but the midi goes through my headphone jack. is it possible to set my interface as an input but not output or to set my midi output to the interface. also how do plugins work. how can i use reason settings to record in logic. is there a way to import midi files without the files changing to the specific midi track in logic such as like a basic midi track? sorry for all the questions, im not very good at this stuff. by the way thanks for all the help so far

This post has been edited by Chalexfor: Mon 10 Jan 2005, 07:10

[Chalexfor]

also how do you bounce a file into mp3 or whatever if it has midi in it. after converting it to mp3 all it plays is the audio tracks not the midi. thanks again

[Pipeline35]

First off, midi is not an audio file, per se. A midi file only instructs an audio device how to deliver the sound. Kind of like a player piano roll if you have ever seen one. The information on a piano roll is useless unless you have a player piano to translate it into audible notes.
I digress.
You need to bounce the sequence to disk before you can leave Logic with your mix intact... which leads to the issue of selected file format for your bounce.
Secondly, I do not recommend mP3 as a medium for your final audio. Broadcast wave is the chosen industry standard for archiving music. mp3 is a codec that is designed to compress the file size to meet the demands of consumers whom want to exchange music files quickly. While it is debatable whether the information lost in this kind of compression is noticeable to the human ear (certainly so, in my opinion--but I am an audio snob), I suggest that the final master file of your mix be a "lossless" file format (these include: SDII, wave, broadcast wave, AIFF, etc.).
You can always make a conversion copy as an mp3 later, if you decide to share a smaller size file with your audience.
Hope this helps,
As far as Logic and M-Audio are concerned, I leave those questions to be answered by more qualified people, as I am a ProTools engineer.
Good luck!

[ktraffi]

Sorry I still don't get it. I've had Logic Exdpress about two weeks and have imported several midi files successfully from my old program. I can see them playing but can't route the midi to the internal instruments. Quicktime plays back the files through the internal audio outputs which is all I have for this system right now.
I'm not sure which is the midi-environment and haven't seen how to connect lines between obects and instruments. I'd be very grateful for more detailed instructions.
Thank you in advance.

[justd]

hi there,
use one of the demosongs of logic and clear them from the original audio and save the empty template.
justd.
8)

[taRtuFello]

I am using logic express 7 with an m-box and I have a problem: when I record audio tracks they get recorded with a little delay and I have to manually set them back in the correct time they where played. I heard this is a fairly frequent problem on logic. Does anybady know a solution? thanx

[MojoJojo]

I had the same problem, no sound. I would open a midi file in Logic but could not hear anything no matter what I tried. If you want the garage band instruments to be triggered, drag the midi file to a new empty garageband window and save it as a band file. Then open it in logic and the computer will play the sounds.

[des915]

Hi,
im a newbie at Macs in general and have recently purchased an iMac G5, 1gb RAM w/Logic Express 7, and an O2 keyboard.
They way i understood it, an interface wasn't needed to use the setup unless i wanted to enter my own samples from intruments, voices etc, into the music. Well i wanted to become familiar w/the program first before i began inserting my own external sounds.
My question is what 80% of users in this forum have asked...
Why am i not hearing anything from the instruments?
I can hear the Garage Band instruments but i cant hear a single thing from Logic Ex. Same thing as everyone else. I can visually see the notes being keyed..Did i misunderstand the Mac website? do i need an interface afterall? i THINK i have set my driver correctly to the Core Audio setting, using the "Built-in audio". i read fabianos advice of "opening the midi environment" by setting a new internal object (quicktime) from the menu. First of all, a new object, like the instruments?
and what menu? i didnt even try to connect the line between the two cuz i couldnt even get past the first part. i cant figure out how to even use QT for my advantage, there doesnt seem to be a link between the two. This has been an extremely frustrating week trying to firgure this program out. If anyone has any ideas on how to help a Mac newbie get sound from Logic Ex..please help. Thanx.

[gdoubleyou]

You should be able to use the internal sound. In the audio preferences/audio driver make sure that Core Audio, and the internal hardware is selected.

On the channel strip make sure you have the correct output selected in the I/O section.

[cuzzin]

ok im COMPLETLY new to the logic scene, and because of this i dont have a midi keyboard. Just some questions,

a) im notgetting any sound, and although you have said how to get sound, i dont know where to go, what menu things are under etc. can someone plz elaborate that one?
b) do i need a midi instrument in order to hear sound?
c) do i need a midi instrument in order to make the music?

thank you for your time and i hope to get a reply soon.

[coldharbour]

You don't need any external midi gear or audio interface to hear or make sounds, but of course a midi keyboard comes in very handy if you wanna play something.

I'm using Logic Pro 7 but I guess the procedure is more or less the same in Express.

First of all go to "Audio Hardware & Drivers" and make sure your sound card driver is enabled.

Then :

1. Open Environment
2. Choose "Audio" from the left side of the window
3. Create new audio object
4. Choose the correct device (for instance "Core Audio")
5. Choose correct channel, for instance "Instrument" if you want to play the Garageband / other soft synths
6. Open Track Mixer -> you can now see the channel strip for the Core Audio instrument track you just created
7. Choose the correct output channels (if they aren't automatically set) and then just above the output channel selection insert the instrument you want to play.
8. Open Arrange and double-click below the existing tracks -> a new track is created. Keep mouse button pressed on the track and a menu appears, choose Audio -> Audio Instruments -> Instrument 1 (or whatever numer the instrument is you created)
9. Play with your keyboard (make sure the keyboard is set to send on the same midi channel as is selected with your instrument) or get some midi data on the track and start the playback.

[Teddanson]

Hi, I am running a G4 powerbook with Logic express and a MIDI keyboard connected by basic midi interface (cables). My questions are 1. how would i hook up my microKORG synthesiser to my compouter, and 2. How do I set up logic to output the sound that the synth is making in real time, and then record it? The KORG has has stereo (1/4 in) audio plugs and a headphone (1/4 in) plug for output but thats it, so im not sure if I need a mixer , or what I between the synth and the computer. I know Logic can handle this, I just have no clue how. I would love for somebody to help me out. Thanks

[psytricks]

Hi, I'm new too! I just bought a G4 powerbook and Logic Express. I also bought the Apple pro traning series book by Martin Sitter. This has helped me so much, as I couldn't imagine just trying to figure out Logic by myself. I totaly recomend this book to anyone getting started. It's a bit of a slog working through it, but it's really helped me!

[coldharbour]

Hi, I am running a G4 powerbook with Logic express and a MIDI keyboard connected by basic midi interface (cables).  My questions are 1.  how would i hook up my microKORG synthesiser to my compouter, and 2.  How do I set up logic to output the sound that the synth is making in real time, and then record it?  The KORG has has stereo (1/4 in) audio plugs and a headphone (1/4 in) plug for output but thats it, so im not sure if I need a mixer , or what I between the synth and the computer.  I know Logic can handle this, I just have no clue how.  I would love for somebody to help me out. Thanks

You don't need an external mixer, you only need an audio interface that's capable of direct monitoring - for instance MOTU 828/896.

Connect the interface to your computer, install the necessary drivers, enable the freshly installed system in Logic's Audio Hardware setup - and you're all ready to go.

Plug your synth into your audio interface's analog inputs, create an Aux input in Logic's mixer and choose the input channels where your synth is connected.

You can now control your synth via MIDI through Logic's arrange and monitor the signal in realtime in Logic's mixer. You can also apply effects etc. and of course also record the signal. There's no latency.

[Adrian Delso]

How are you monitoring? You will need to connect your interface to some sort of amp/speakers or headphones.