Editing a user patch .plist

This is a long shot, but I was wondering if there is any sort of logic SDK available. It's been driving me absolutely crazy that my custom instrument patch presets won't save with port info. I can set them in the project and the ports will remain each time I reopen that specific project, but when I try to recall a patch I saved, the ports will all revert back to 1 and need to be reset manually. I can't even select a bunch of tracks and batch-set a port #. I have to go down the list and edit them one at a time EVERY time I use that preset. I figured out how to gain access to the instrument setting plist, and am now wondering if I can hack it somehow. Is there some sort of SDK available that will shed light on how I can DIY this?

Nope.

 

"Patch presets with port info" - could you explain what you mean by this?

make sure to submit bug report to Apple on this...

No, there is no Logic SDK available.

 

I can't even select a bunch of tracks and batch-set a port #.

Do you mean a MIDI Channel number? Is this on a software instrument patch? I'm wondering why you need that, what are you trying to do?

I think 'ports' in the context mean output busses and possibly sends. It also sounds like he's using the Channel Strip settings to load the presets. In this regard wouldn't we normally recommend using the Library to manage the channel strips?

 

OP, what happens if you use the Library (press 'y' to open and use the Save in the bottom right) to manage your patches rather than the Channel Strip Settings?

Do you mean a MIDI Channel number? Is this on a software instrument patch? I'm wondering why you need that, what are you trying to do?

Yes, this is on a software instrument patch. I'm setting up multitrack instruments for use in Vienna Ensemble Pro. I've had good results using VEP's new AU3 plugin which allows for multiport instruments (necessary since I often need more than 16 channels for one single instrument). That way, when I violin section has like 48 articulations, I can set them all up on one instance in VEP (4 ports * 16 channels = 48), and successfully route the midi data from Logic. It works well enough and substantially cleans up my templates. I save these instruments as a summing stack so I can recall all the settings like a preset. That said, when I try to save these instrument patches on the Logic side, the port #s are all reset to 1 when, as in the example given, they'd be set anywhere from 1 - 4. This just means when I drop the instrument patch into a project, I need to reset all the port numbers which is annoying and time consuming.

 

I think 'ports' in the context mean output busses and possibly sends.

Nope, I'm talking about midi ports. There are 16 ports each with 16 channels. Output busses and sends save perfectly fine (and yes I do use the Save button in the Library).

http://bryanteoh.com/logic.example.jpg

the AU3 midi port field is a new addition, Apple says its still beta, and this would be one area where apparently its not implemented. Makes sure to submit a bug report to Apple.

Yes, this is on a software instrument patch. I'm setting up multitrack instruments for use in Vienna Ensemble Pro. I've had good results using VEP's new AU3 plugin which allows for multiport instruments (necessary since I often need more than 16 channels for one single instrument). That way, when I violin section has like 48 articulations, I can set them all up on one instance in VEP (4 ports * 16 channels = 48), and successfully route the midi data from Logic.

Ok thanks oh wow I didn't even know this was possible. So the Port parameter I see in the Track inspector on your screenshot appears only once you insert VEP?

Only the AU3 version of vep plugin will make it appear. Probably any AU3 would make it appear but that’s the only AU3 plugin that I have and I’m not sure there are any others yet on OSX. On iOS it’s common.

Great thanks Dewdman.

just tested it real quick and I can confirm the patch save (or load) is not handling the port attribute.

 

FYI Here is what the track attribute pane looks like when VePro.AU3 is loaded on that track:

 

 

the values on the drop down in this case are from 1-48, and from what I can tell the plugin itself determines what that range will be, since in VePro.au3 you can decrease the total number of ports allowed and that seems to reduce the size of the list.

 

 

As far as the patch file: If you right click on a patch file you can Show Package Contents, and inside there is a data.plist file. Inspecting it I see the following

 

 

the key called Channel_receiveChannel is probably the midi channel for each track of the patch. There is nothing in there related to "port" that I can see. In the above case I had saved that patch with that channel as port 2 channel 6 (note the value is indexed starting at zero, so a value of 5 means midi channel 6).

 

So bottom line, Apple has not implemented anything in the patch saving or loading process that i can see related to this particular track attribute.

 

By the way, VSL is still categorizing the AU3 plugin as "beta" and they have stated that Apple themselves say it is not fully operational yet. So it is what it is. I was hoping they would have finalized that with 10.5, but apparently they did not. AU3 works pretty darn well in many cases, but its good to know that patch saving is not supported yet.

yeah, it's beta, but seems to work pretty well. The worst is if you stop playback using the spacebar instead of '0' (or actually hitting the stop button), sometimes some instrument voices will get stuck in VEP so you have to turn the audio engine of and on again in your slave, but the expanded capabilities made up for it in my opinion. I also like that routing CC messages seems to be more stable than going the typical AUX track route.

I don't think that the channel_receiveChannel is the port number. Before hitting these forums, I'd tried changing that number in the .plist manually and saving, but it didn't seem to have any effect on how Logic read the ports despite the value still being there when I reopened the .plist later. I'll submit a bug report to Apple about this, but I won't hold my breath. It seems like logic is very much an aferthought these days.

No it’s not the port number I wasn’t trying to say that. That is the midi channel. Midi port is not represented in the plist right now as far as I can see

No it’s not the port number I wasn’t trying to say that. That is the midi channel. Midi port is not represented in the plist right now as far as I can see

Ah, thank you! That's what I thought. If there was an SDK available I was going to try to add my own, but I'll sit tight and hope that apple decides to fix this (I've submitted a bug report). Until then, I might see if there's a way to write a script to reset the port numbers so I don't have to waste so much time doing it by hand.

did you ever figure out a way to set the port with a script? I assume you meant AppleScript or Keyboard Maestro or something of this nature?