Keyboard maestro shortcut: opening plugins in Logic?

[David Robisco]

Hi guys, been a couple days trying to work this out.
I found this video of this guy online but I cant figure out how he made it and if I need some programing knowledge to do that.

I also run plugsearch in my system. Do I need stream desk to run this shortcut? Is it posible to do it just with KM? Thanks guys!

[des99]

I don't run PlugSearch but it's just a sequence of keypresses to load a specific plugin isn't it? You'd just create a KM macro to send the required key presses...

You can trigger the KM macro however you like - hot key, in receipt of a MIDI button press - there are many ways to trigger a macro - nothing to do with the Stream Deck, which is just a bunch of buttons.

[David Robisco]

13 minutes ago, des99 said:

I don't run PlugSearch but it's just a sequence of keypresses to load a specific plugin isn't it? You'd just create a KM macro to send the required key presses...

You can trigger the KM macro however you like - hot key, in receipt of a MIDI button press - there are many ways to trigger a macro - nothing to do with the Stream Deck, which is just a bunch of buttons.

Yeah but I mean, there is now specific command in logic to load one plugin. With what I learned already, there would be two ways of making it and neither of them would work perfectly:

1. Using the “move and click” action telling my system to click on the “Audio FX” gap. Problem is this spot would change depending on the number of plugins I already have on that track, so it needs to recognise them and click in the next available gap of the chain (just like in that video)

2. Loading an image somewhere in the main view in logic and using it as reference for clicking in the gap, but same problem, its a variable thing.

So thats the point, is there any “more solid” way to do it?

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by David Robisco

[des99]

I don't use Plug Search, so I'm not too familiar with how that works. Do you have to move the mouse to where you want to insert a plugin, and then send key commands?

I don't like the Plug Search solution, and as you are seeing, loading plugins in variable positions on variable channels via key commands only is not a trivial problem. Even Logic doesn't let you do this (my #1 feature request). The key commands only let you open/close a plugin window, not insert a new plugin.

All he is doing in the video you showed, is sending key presses to Plug Search. If you look, he has already placed his mouse on the insert position where he wants to load a plugin, and hits a key on the Stream Deck to trigger the macro that plays key presses to call up Plug Seach, enters a sequence of letters that will select the desired plugin, and press enter. Nothing more complicated than that.

If you want KM to automatically determine free plugin slots on the selected track, and always add the plugin to the next free one, given the screen layout changes as you add plugins, that would require some work as that's a bit more advanced macro programming - even Plug Search doesn't do that - and of course, it's restrictive always adding on to the end, as there are many times where you need to choose where a plugin goes in the chain.

What is your problem space? What *exactly* are you trying to do? Is using the mouse to choose the plugin slot you want to load something you want to avoid? (I agree that this is a non-optimal workflow in general, which is why my own solution to this is different.)

If you do want to always add on to the end, you need to restrict your search space to, say, the left most channel strip in the inspector (so there's always a hard location), and restrict image searches to just that area in that channel strip that can house audio inserts (bearing in mind that it grows and shrinks).

I'd first look for a screen image when there are no plugins loaded (the "Audio FX") slot, and use that for the insert location if found, and if not, look for the image that's a little empty "half-insert" indicating the next position, and use that location to move the mouse and then call up PlugSearch. That'll probably get you started...

Edited May 10, 2022 by des99

[David Robisco]

Quote

17 minutes ago, des99 said:

Even Logic doesn't let you do this (my #1 feature request).

100% agree. Can’t believe they didnt add this function yet.

 

Quote

19 minutes ago, des99 said:

What is your problem space? What *exactly* are you trying to do? Is using the mouse to choose the plugin slot you want to load something you want to avoid? (I agree that this is a non-optimal workflow in general, which is why my own solution to this is different.)

 

Yup, not a solid way to do it. Curious about your solution, whats your method? 

[des99]

My preferred solution is outside the scope of this topic and would just derail the thread.

Did you try my suggestions? Plus, depending on the problem space (which I don't know the exact details of), you could choose an insert slot manually by the key trigger - for example, say, your macro could be triggered with command-1 for insert slot 1, command-2 for insert slot 2 etc, and maybe command-0 for "next free insert". There are all kinds of ways of thinking about what you want to happen and designing your own control system to suit your needs.

All macro UI programming is to some degree less than ideal (less "solid") than a "properly implemented" solution (ie Logic implementing this directly) but we resort to macros when there simply isn't any other practical way of achieving something. It's possible to program stuff that is reasonably solid as long as you can lock down some variables, and the more you implement this stuff, the more you get better at it.

Edited May 10, 2022 by des99

[David Robisco]

11 minutes ago, des99 said:

My preferred solution is outside the scope of this topic and would just derail the thread.

Did you try my suggestions? Plus, depending on the problem space (which I don't know), you could choose an insert slot manually by the key trigger - for example, say, your macro could be triggered with command-1 for insert slot 1, command-2 for insert slot 2 etc, and maybe command-0 for "next free insert". There are all kinds of ways of thinking about what you want to happen and designing your own control system to suit your needs.

All macro UI programming is to some degree less than ideal (less "solid") than a "properly implemented" solution (ie Logic implementing this directly) but we resort to macros when there simply isn't any other practical way of achieving something. It's possible to program stuff that is reasonably solid as long as you can lock down some variables, and the more you implement this stuff, the more you get better at it.

Not at the studio atm! But will definetly try later. Thanks for the tips!

[David Nahmani]

On 5/10/2022 at 11:26 AM, David Robisco said:

Hi guys, been a couple days trying to work this out.
I found this video of this guy online but I cant figure out how he made it and if I need some programing knowledge to do that.

Apparently he uses PlugSearch, which was recently updated to allow you to do that. See: 

 

[noisyneil]

On 5/10/2022 at 10:26 AM, David Robisco said:

Is it posible to do it just with KM?

Hi. 👋🏼

PlugSearch now allows you to trigger plugin favourites via midi and auto-selects the first available slot. At the time I made that video, I was using my own macros to achieve that, but they're largely redundant now. There are a few things I still do in KM, like:

- Check to see if the Inspector needs to be closed for access to the channel strip.

- Create a new track if an empty instrument slot doesn't already exist (when loading an instrument.)

- Differentiate between mono and stereo instance of Waves plugins before choosing one to load.

I would definitely recommend getting a Stream Deck if budget will allow; it's made many a dull task fun for me, but be careful when teetering on the precipice of the Keyboard Maestro rabbithole; it's addictive!

On 5/10/2022 at 10:50 AM, David Robisco said:

2. Loading an image somewhere in the main view in logic and using it as reference for clicking in the gap, but same problem, its a variable thing.

It is actually possible if you're very precise and a bit crafty about your found images. They have to be pixel-precise. However, this is all moot now that PlugSearch has been updated. 

 

On 5/10/2022 at 11:06 AM, des99 said:

he has already placed his mouse on the insert position where he wants to load a plugin, and hits a key on the Stream Deck to trigger the macro that plays key presses to call up Plug Seach, enters a sequence of letters that will select the desired plugin, and press enter. Nothing more complicated than that.

The only time I load a plugin (rather than open one already loaded) is for the limiter at about 2:05. As you can see, my mouse jumps to the first available slot and PS loads it for me.

 

On 5/10/2022 at 11:06 AM, des99 said:

If you want KM to automatically determine free plugin slots on the selected track, and always add the plugin to the next free one, given the screen layout changes as you add plugins, that would require some work as that's a bit more advanced macro programming - even Plug Search doesn't do that - and of course, it's restrictive always adding on to the end, as there are many times where you need to choose where a plugin goes in the chain.

You must have tried it a while ago. PS sees this as the first available slot and will load a new plugin there. 

Linus is a really responsive developer and has been listening to feature suggestions. I'll be beta testing a new version shortly that does some fun new things.

[David Nahmani]

1 minute ago, noisyneil said:

Linus is a really responsive developer and has been listening to feature suggestions.

He's actually a member here as well and goes by the name of @speakerfood.

[speakerfood]

For anyone, feel free to contact / ask me any time. PlugSearch does insert a Plug-In on the first available insert slot with a shortcut. I'm currently beta testing the next release which will in addition let you drag and drop Plug-Ins on insert slots anywhere in Logic from the Plug-In popover window, which will pop up at the current mouse location.