mrhudson

Good afternoon, I spent several hours tracing through an issue here - that any CPU load generated by a reverb placed on an Aux isn't being released after playing stops entirely. For example, I was playing live with EW Hollywood Strings, sending reverb to an aux bus. When playing live, the CPU activity spikes, as expected, but never falls back to zero once my playing stops. This is true even if I switch to highlight a no input/no output track. I was able to isolate it to the presence of the reverb on the aux - it's as though, once awakened, the reverb keeps cranking and calculating. As it turns out, someone else found the exact same thing and documented it very well here, albeit on a larger test scale:/viewtopic.php?t=151053 Now, I'm still on Logic Pro 10.5.1. Anyone happen to know if this was fixed in later versions of Logic? Appreciate any thoughts on this one.....

Good afternoon, I've been spending some time remeasuring and testing key latencies within my system. Testing using Logic Pro on a well-spec'd imac from late 2019, lots of RAM, 64 buffer, 44.1k. Metric Halo ULN8 3D interface. Kawai MP11SE sending MIDI over USB directly into the imac for soft-synth control (no external MIDI hardware). Do I have this test process right?: Test 1: Starting from a blank project, I ran a loopback test and I/O ping test and measured a consistent recording delay offset of 51 samples. After entering that in Logic, I confirmed that audio waveforms align perfectly on loopback. Great, easy enough. (Sidebar: If I measure this delay right at the speaker, or in a headphone, another 20-30 samples are introduced. I don't know if folks adjust for that - transducer delay?? Maybe I goofed somehow, not sure - held mic right at the speaker cone). Test 2: After tightening up recording delay, I played my Kawai controller with a drumstick, recording the tick of the drumstick as audio and comparing that to the onset of the matching MIDI event. At 120 BPM, I was off ~72 ticks, which is ~37 msecs. That seemed waaaay too high for a standard MIDI latency. I've never noticed latency that bad driving soft synths, e.g Garritan CFX. So....... Test 3: .....I recorded audio out of the Kawai and compared that with the matching MIDI event. This produced an average difference of 4 ticks, so ~2msecs, which sounds more sane. I suppose this test excludes any latency caused by the keyboard generating its own audio, but that's never detectable. This in mind, I went back and redid Test 2 by just recording the 'thump' of the keyboard key bottoming out, which came closer to 4 ticks or 2 msec. So, presumably Test 2 suffered from a mechanical issue - a delay between drumstick hitting key and full depression/MIDI note triggering. (Unless Test3 is itself invalid? Seems ok....) So, perhaps things end up 3 msec tighter after making these adjustments. Small, but I understand these delays can accumulate with overdubs (especially if you always focus on the most recent overdub when adding the next one). Having done all this: * What's the best way in Logic to correct for MIDI latency? There's a overall MIDI preference setting that I could set to -2 msec, but Logic also provides track/region-specific delays in the track inspector. I also have a Roland TD9 drumset that I'll subject to Test3; if delay values vary by MIDI device, probably better to use track-specific delay adjustments in a template? (and/or your ears, of course) I've not tried other MIDI cabling alternatives, like a MIDI cable into the ULN8, which in turn transmits over USB. It's USB delivery in the end either way, but not sure if the ULN8 would provide a better USB path? Appreciate any guidance on this one!

Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts. I really found my workflow improved by setting up a template to handle my most typical, audio tracking tasks - for example, I have a grand piano with a known tracking approach, so having a tracking template set with routing from interface preset, etc., was a big help. And so on from there, just the backbone tracking basics, and I can delete what is unused. I have an eight channel snake all set from ULN8 interface through into my Logic tracking template. So that absolutely did save time,but mixing.......I figured having some mixing backbone might be helpful, but channel strips are probably just as useful without getting locked in too much. I think part of the motivation for thinking about mixing templates stemmed from something like Slate's new VCC product, where you can group things across channels and treat similarly. Of course, that takes time to set up those groupings, but maybe there are workarounds that don't require templates. Anyway, thanks for the chat all.

Good morning, I am trying to get better at using templates to improve my workflow. For tracking, I built something great with my metric halo interface. Covers most of my bases. I am trying to think through the best way to handle subsequent mixing tasks off that initial tracking template. Some options: (1) Create a separate mixing template as a copy of the tracking template, set to include all the various CPU intensive plugins. Would have to export audio from tracking to mixing template. Would allow me to upsample to 96k eventually to test out the sonic value of doing that. Seems kind of clunky though. (2) I researched the “copy audio configuration” feature – I could have a mixing template and then copy that into/over the tracking template once ready. Have never tried this one – work well or tricky? That is, does this require having EXACTLY the same track arrangement, count, order, etc.? (3) Set up one template for both tracking and mixing, bypassing all plugins while tracking – have seen custom workarounds in the environment that facilitate this but never tried. (4) As a workaround to (3), could I use Low Latency mode with the max delay set to 0ms to effectively turn off most plugins? Any side effects? (5) Have channel strips saved and just load those track by track when ready to mix. Are there other options I haven’t considered? Thanks for any guidance.

Good afternoon, As a piano player, one thing that I am confronted with when mixing at home is the relationship between left hand piano stuff and any bass lines I might play on virtual instruments. I struggle somewhat with how to get that right, but here are a few things that I've tried, but I'm looking for some more tricks or ideas or perspective: (1) As a piano player, give up on your left hand being "the thing". Downplay it with EQ, or in how you play, and let the bass guitar be the bass. In a sense, then, a matter of pre or post-hoc arranging - bring down piano left hand. (2) Reverse of above. Let the piano through, don't worry about foregrounded bass. (3) Make the bass guitar more trebly, less bassy on the amp sim or other controls. Leaves more room for the bass from the piano. Make sure the bass tone has enough punch or pop against the percussive bite of the piano. (4) Cross EQ things. Give the bass say 80-120Hz, piano 120Hz to whatever. Play with the splits, whatever sounds good. (5) Panning (piano left, bass right of center) So, basically, various cross-EQ options/separation. Are there any other tricks that will allow a piano left hand and bass lines to co-exist better? Possibilities for side-chaining? Compression tricks? Just want to avoid muddy blend down there. Also want to avoid taking away the low end of the piano too much to clear room for the bass, while also taking away up higher up for the sake of vocals, say, leaving a honky barely-piano sounding thing. Or, is piano just one of those instruments that covers such a broad range of frequencies that you can't, in a mix with stuff going on, retain its "fullness" in all cases? Thanks for any tips or tricks to try out (with ears being the final judge). Might something like multiband compression on the low end of the piano only work, let the first part of the piano low notes through then clamp down maybe? Bass rings out beyond that?

Glad I came across this - was having trouble liking the virtual electric bass samples that come with Logic8. Before buying something else, I want to make sure that its not just my lack of skill in using them, vs them not being perhaps the best. I've got one channel I just setup that sounds okay-ish, running through some amp sims in Guitar Rig3 on my Receptor, but still sounds plastic-y...... For those who moved up to say a Scarbee bass, etc.., big improvements, or not as critical in the context of a mix?

Thanks! I'll probably leave the mix alone for a while, although, knowing me, I'll revisit it later to see if I can add a few touches that up it somehow. I did spend some time creating a second version, though, trying to enhance the audibility of the lyrics - a good exercise in that. Of course, when you write and perform a song yourself, there is no mystery regarding what you are singing - easy to forget. I removed the volume automation that was leading to the trailing off of phrases (partial cause, at least), and ducked the piano in places where it was competing with the softer vocal parts. This was in lieu of retracking (I don't have a dedicated studio, so setting up is a bit of a production). I think the vocal/piano balance is improved and more stable, and its probably done for now (good enough for my purposes!). Thanks again for the listen and pointers...... http://www.4shared.com/file/146368916/17cd8f89/FinalLullabyV2.html

Well, I'm not quite sure what to make of this song. Has landed into being a pretty sad thing, based on a few sources of inspiration. I would think that the title, Final Lullaby, probably has self-evident implications........ I guess for me, on this one, obviously any comments on the mix and so forth would be great, but when mixing something like this, with a broad piano presentation, where else could you put other instruments? Seems like things would have to stand as is..........Anyway, any arrangement suggestions, would be awesome. Mp3 http://www.4shared.com/file/144719091/483343e7/FLBYV1.html

No, these are great comments, and really you do hit on some of the key things - its a funny song, really - quite brief, not a ton to it, so I almost feel like I'm torn between a song that is too short or too long. You would have laughed at the first version Right now, its got more length, but the middle section is distinct in that it is less intimate, absolutely, as you said, which is tricky. I like the idea of trying out individual instruments for the strings to make it less "ambient" or washy whatever the term might be. There is a lot of change from beginning, middle, end in terms of "proximity", if you will. The drums, yeah - I have a china crash layered with a "normal" crash, that's probably part of the garbage-y, trashy sound in the mix. I'll need to play around with that a little bit more - barely needs much on the drums front I figure. Of course, the other thing to do would be to just have the guitar solo over the initial instrumentation, skip some of the middle section, and exit via the "last" part.....another thing to try...... Of course, I'll finish this and then have the ever-frustrating "now what?" Ha, the home recordists plight..... Thanks for the ideas! I'll keep at it.......

Well, its been a long time certainly, but I wanted to rework this tune, having learned a few things in the past year (or so I think!). Anyway, here's an updated version that sounds much cleaner to my ear, with a tweaked arrangement and vastly more subdued middle section. Thanks for any feedback! http://www.4shared.com/file/142799294/687d1dfd/AMLV9mp3.html

Clipped as in: I had automation curves around the vocal passages, and the shifting of the automation curves caused the front end of vocals to be muted - as in "Close your eyes" becomes ".lose your eyes". I just did some more clean-up, then froze the tracks - I actually think that it was the freezing of the tracks prior to the bounce. I just froze the tracks, after fixing everything, and the automation curves moved again. So, maybe its the freezing of the tracks? Hopefully I can revert to saved and clear out this latest issue.... Yup, just reverted to saved version - cleared it up. Must be freezing the tracks that does it.......?@#???? Logic8.0.2, by the way....

Good evening, I'm trying to bounce a LogicPro file with a lot of automation, and when I commence the bounce, whether bounced realtime or offline, the vocals are being clipped and affected - it is as if the automation curves are being shifted. Any reason why that might be? Sounds fine on standard playback, only happens once I start trying to bounce?

I'm curious to get a sense of what folks can "hear in their head." There is a lot of talk about perfect pitch, relative pitch, etc., but I'm curious about people's varying skill with respect to "imagining notes and music" in your head. For example, play a note on the piano (or whatever instrument). Close your eyes, hear that one note in your head. Probably not too hard to do for anyone I would hope. But what about moving beyond that? Imagine a C being sung/played, sustain it in your mind, and then layer an E above that. Hear both notes absolutely clear as day in your head, as if two distinct voices were singing it simultaneously - not the interval going back and forth, alternating, simultaneously and perfectly distinct imagining. Can you do that? Well, how far can you take this layering and simultaneous mental/musical imaging? Just curious what other folks can do in this domain - haven't heard as much conversation about this...... In a sense, this doesn't have too much to do with pitch perception necessarily - you can get the required notes at your instrument right before trying - its more a matter of clear, mental recreation.....maybe perfect pitch ties into this, but I suppose one could have perfect pitch and yet not be able to simultaneously layer notes in their mind......

Okay, I have a Kurzweil SP88 that I am trying to use to control the software sounds in LP8 via MIDI. And, I have an Apogee Duet that has no midi capabilities...So, I connected the SP88 using an MAudio Uno cable (MIDI to USB) and I seemingly can't get logic to recognize the SP88. What silly things could I be missing? I have a little Maudio keystation 49 that Logic finds automatically via a straight USB cable - not sure where I'm goofing! Thanks for some help!

So if I go buy the new Mainstage 17" Macbook Pro w/4Gbytes RAM and not go nuts with third party plugins or Space Designer, what are the odds that I can actually rely on this onstage? Such a mixed bag of comments on the Internet about this thing and its hard to shell out $$ for a MBP when I'd only be buying the MBP for Mainstage and live use (already have an iMac at home) (and not buying a better keyboard)......