simplesly

Ivy bridge mobos with TB are starting to appear - I think the prices will come down when we start to see more PCs with TB ports as more manufacturers will begin to produce hardware to use with them. Right now it's just the usual Mac suspects like Lacie and Sonnet and they've never been cheap...

He's using logic 8, so no flex. Possibly his issue was something that was fixed between logic 8 and 9?

Honestly I think the track is sounding good. Reverb on the vocal is a little too wet to my ear - you might think about about dialing it back a little. Maybe use a very subtle warm plate or try using a delay instead?

hyperthreading - it's normal. Logic recognizes hyperthreaded cores in processors that support it.

is there any activity in the Midi monitor in the transport? if not, check in the environment "click and ports" layer to see if the physical input of the oxygen 49 is cabled to the keyboard. That connection sometimes gets broken when the computer wakes up from sleep with Logic open.

Make the glyph your audio/projects drive. I would either get the machine CTO from apple with an SSD + 1TB - I think at least one of the options is fairly reasonable now - or buy a OWC data doubler and put a drive in the opti-bay. This is a bit of a challenge - I did it on mine, though the challenge is more keeping dust off the glass outer-screen upon reassembly than anything!! Use the 1TB for samples. If you use streaming samples this will be the better option over storing samples externally, while trying to chain an interface and an audio drive from the same FW bus.

Something I miss about using Logic 8.02 in Leopard was the fact that I could "snap" windows together - i.e. I'd have say an arrange, mixer, and an environment open and I could size them and snap them together automatically, all without the normal window shadow effect. In 9.1.6 in SL I have to position them manually and there is always a shadow cast by the active window. Is there a setting I am missing somewhere? Thanks!

use at your own risk Orchestral Finalizer.cst

I am assuming they are parted out this way because the full articulation patches use more computer resources, but nowadays with modern machines this is hardly worth worrying about, unless you have an old machine. The full articulation patches use the mod wheel to switch articulations. This is fine if that sort of control works for you. It can be changed in the EXS editor to something else allowing you to use the mod wheel for dynamics as camillo mentioned. I recommend you download my orchestral template here. It will help you get a better sound out of these patches. You will want to tweak EQ and reverb settings to your liking, but the basic sound is there. The orchestral template that comes with logic is really not very good.

I was going to include my stereo bus channel, but it uses 3rd party (waves) stuff - I wanted to keep it all logic only, so that anyone could use it. I did included VSL presets to demonstrate how the library menus are organized, but it's not a requirement that you have VSL SE to use the template. The EQ's just happen to be optimized for it, but they honestly work on other orchestral libs, which I also use.

Hey Everybody, While composer's templates are very personal and specific to one's workflow, there still seems to be a real dearth of good orchestra templates out there. I decided to modify my Orchestral template to create a universal version that can be used with Logic (no other software required) and Vienna Special Edition Standard (if you own it). I think a lot of composers at all levels struggle with templates and finding a way to have what they need at their fingertips without bogging down their workflow with excessive tracks at the same time. I know because it's been an ongoing battle for me as well. This template has been my working solution for a few months now. The things that are important to me are: - all elements of the orchestra that I use are available within 1 click and the patches get the most out of the samples with minimal keyswitching - the layout is as close to a conductor's score as will fit my workflow - the whole arrangement more or less fits on the screen without having to scroll, at a non-microscopic zoom level - my general preferences, levels and reverb settings are mostly dialed in ahead of time so I don't have set them each project - good integration with hybrid scoring elements - some basic mixing elements and mixdown frameworks are in place I wanted stay within Logic's natural workflow, so I used the Library to it's fullest potential, organized my audio in folders, implemented a sound track naming system, and chose to skip convoluted environment workarounds (though there's nothing wrong with doing that stuff if it suits you.) So I am pleased to present to you the Universal Orchestral Template v1.0. I am Vienna user, so the patches I included all use that Library, but the basic Library framework for calling up those patches can be used to organize your own if you don't own VSL SE. Included in the .zip file are: - Universal Orchestral Template 1.0 logic project - SD Reverb Settings (uses Logic's own IR's, but you should definitely get and use the many other free ones available on this site) - channel strip settings for the Library (.cst) - Instrument settings for VSL (aupreset) - readme guide to the template (READ FIRST!) I also recommend doing a couple of things if using VSL that will speed load times up considerably. 1) load up every possible articulation that you think you'll need into 1 single metaframe of VE or VE pro. 2) save it 3) load this in morning when you turn on your computer. then close it down. All of that stuff is now cached and will load almost instantly inside logic. 4) (this is not specific to VSL) assign a key command to "toggle library" - I use the " \ " as it is easy find on the keyboard in the heat of the moment. I included a guide for beginners, but it's my hope that all levels of user can benefit from this. You can also contact me from there or send me a message if you have any questions. Have a blast! NP Universal Orch Template 1.0.zip

Bruce, I want to express my sympathy that you have lost your "instrument" (hopefully you'll get it back someday!) In the meantime, you have the opportunity to get better at engineering. The reality is that there are no absolute "right" ways to go about mixing, as many different techniques can yield good results. But it's definitely one of those "know the rules" situations or at least be well versed in basic concepts, and on how your signal processors work. you can EQ to your heart's content if you like the result. There are also a zillion ways to midi orchestrate - traditional rules often apply, but not always. Personally, I like to mix as I go, and apply the final touches at the end. Of course you can reduce the mixing time by using templates, but not everyone likes to be restricted in that way. in the end is really is your call, but going back to your original conundrum it still seems to me like the mix is the problem, and without dealing with that first, it's pointless to talk about mastering/finalizing etc..

So far the mix itself has been largely overlooked aside from camillo's mentioning of it. If you're using a ton of virtual instruments you've probably got a bunch of stereo tracks vying for headroom in the mix. Add just a little too much reverb to that and that's even more headroom lost. I don't know exactly what instruments you're using, but almost all sampled instruments need to be EQ'd sometimes to the extreme to keep them from eating up valuable headroom. For example, almost all Vienna Instruments samples have to get cut like crazy around 2250 to get rid of loud, nasty, harshness in the samples. A couple years ago a partner and I produced a rock/alternative album that our ME (Jay Frigoletto) was kind enough to tell us needed more work in the mix before he could do it justice at the mastering stage. The only live instruments were the vocals and an acoustic guitar. Don't be afraid to experiment with EQ, and while you're at it try some parallel compression on the drums and vocals... save multiple versions of the project so you can go back if you do something you hate and have some different reference points.

I also have this issue with my 2.93 iMac and metric halo ULN2. From what I can tell from reading others' post in various forums it is an issue with the f/w shield carrying ground noise all the way through the signal path from iMac f/w port -> f/w cable -> interface -> monitors. I tend to get the noise the worst when I'm using a bunch of Vienna Ensemble instances, and it sounds like a high pitched whine. Goes away when the plugins are removed. From what i've read there are two solutions: 1) Ebtech HumX ground filter 2) a certain brand of f/w cable (I am searching again for the post where I read this - i should have bookmarked it!) I doubt it has anything to do with drivers - im on a ULN2 and the o/p is on a firestudio. Turning the level pot on my monitors (HS80m) up and down will minimize the noise and the noise is only present on one side (started on the right and went to the left after unplugging and replugging some cables) What i'm not sure about is if there is a fix from apple for this problem i.e. it's a bad f/w port, or if ALL 11,x iMacs have this problem and it's an inherent design flaw. would definitely appreciate others' sharing their experiences or solutions..

that may be where the problem is, but it could just be that audio from the fantom is not routed anywhere, perhaps not even plugged into anything. He mentioned that he could hear audio from the Fantom's headphone jack, so it sounds like to me that he needs to make an aux channel in Logic and set the input into which the Fantom is cabled on his interface.