Creating similar signature / tempo changes in a row

Hi!

 

I write a lot of soundtrack style musical vignettes for theatre plays. I often like to set up an orchestra and then create all the vignettes in the same project file. I create markers and name them, and I consider them as individual pieces of music inside the same project.

 

Since I don't always come up with the ideas chronologically, I just create markers for each instance that I'm planning a vignette for, and leave enough space between them.

 

I would like to be able to create signature and tempo changes to the start of each vignette (marker). But because Logic handles new signatures and tempos only as "changes", I can't add the same signature or tempo twice in a row.

 

Say I first get an idea for the fifth vignette. It's a regular four-by-four. Well, if the whole project is in four-by-four, I can't add a new signature for the fifth vignette. So far so good, I guess.

 

But after I have written that piece, I get an idea for the second vignette — and that's in three-by-four.

 

Now I create a signature change for that marker / vignette. But it, of course, messes up the fifth vignette — I have to go there and create a new signature change to four-by-four. I also have to check that the fifth piece starts at the beginning of the measure, because Logic has probably moved it.

 

Then I get an idea for the third vignette. That is also in three-by-four. I create a new signature change, and so the signature for the fifth vignette disappears — AND that probably messes up the beginning of the measure again.

 

Then I get an idea for the fourth vignette. It happens to be in four-by-four. Again the same thing. And so on and so on.

 

If only I could make a kind of permanent rule that "this marker starts here, at this point we have the first full measure and it has this signature", regardless of the signatures of the previous pieces, it would make my method a whole lot easier.

 

The same thing with tempo and key changes.

 

I guess this has something to do with how Logic sees the progression of everything, and it has to count the measures somehow... But even then, isn't this is a doable thing? The developers just haven't done it that way?

 

In the automation of a track, I can easily set new points to the volume curve. I can make a hundred of them and they can all be the same. That way, if something is added in-between and I want the volume to be lower for that, it won't mess up the volume values for the rest of the track.

 

I would just like to have the same thing for tempos, keys and signatures. But I'm guessing it's not possible? Or does somebody know a way? Or a decent workaround?

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

The behavior you've described is indeed the way Logic works, and there's no workaround really. That's the reason most people use a different Logic project file to compose each individual cue rather than attempt to compose all your cues inside a single Logic project file.

 

Still if you want to compose multiple cues inside a single project file then you should always program all tempo/time signature changes from left to right as, as you have noticed, inserting a new tempo or time signature change does affect everything happening to the right of the new event.

The behavior you've described is indeed the way Logic works, and there's no workaround really. That's the reason most people use a different Logic project file to compose each individual cue rather than attempt to compose all your cues inside a single Logic project file.

 

Still if you want to compose multiple cues inside a single project file then you should always program all tempo/time signature changes from left to right as, as you have noticed, inserting a new tempo or time signature change does affect everything happening to the right of the new event.

 

 

Alright, thanks for your answer. I guess I didn't really have any hopes for a well-hidden option that would help me...

 

I actually just got an idea for a KIND OF workaround: I could start every marker area with a signature so odd that I would never use it, and then immediately after that put in the correct signature. Then, if I made any changes prior to that marker, I could "straighten up" the measures simply by adjusting that odd signature. But I'm not sure if that's going to make things that much easier.

 

When I'm working on a soundtrack that uses 10-20 different instruments and sounds, and has 20-50 cues with several repeating themes, I find it much easier to have them all in the same project. I can copy&paste parts of a cue to another place, compare the cues and so on.

 

Maybe I should try to come up with another kind of a method. But since I don't really want to change to another DAW or anything, I can't really see what else I could try. This one project file is handy in many ways: for example, if I decide to use another piano sound or change its presence in any way, I only need to change it once. Or if I want to introduce a new instrument to the soundtrack, it's immediately ready to be used in other cues as well.

 

I wonder, if the developers could be able to create some kind of a "Section Function" or something... Well, I'm off to write a feature request...

You wouldn't be the first one requesting that ability to start a new timeline, whether in real time, musical grid, with its new tempo/time signature etc.. at any specific location you want in a project file, but now to tell whether or not the Logic team has any interest in implementing that feature is impossible. I wouldn't get your hopes up, but it doesn't hurt to ask of course.

Possibly another workaround could be to put at the end of each marker area put the ‘never used’ time and key signatures.

There is an unassigned key command called "Create Time Signature Change".

 

It will create a time signature at the location of the playhead without altering any other previous or later time signatures that occur.

It works in any of the editors including the score editor as well.

You still cannot create repetitive time signatures - but at least this may help you address those that aren't the same changing the rest of the piece.