Muting multiple tracks with 1 click

Hello,

Here's what i want to do;

I'm looking to be able to press a key on the keyboard, midi controller etc... and that key will trigger logic to mute certain selected tracks which i will pre-programme. Ideally, i would be able to programme different keys/triggers to control different selections of channels to mute. This will act similar to a key command but wil control muting multiple channels. It would presumably be done in the Environment.

Example, pressing letter 'k' on the keyboard will mute channels 1,2 and 5 but pressing letter 'j' on the keyboard will mute channels 3,6 and 7.

Here's the problem;

I've got no idea how to do this and could really do with some advice. I know of touch tracks and other nuances within Logic but do'nt know which way to proceed. It was my understanding that touch tracks deal with regions and not whole tracks so it would be great to know how to solve this puzzle.

Thanks

Cool idea. But just to be clear, you said first that you want to mute tracks, and afterwards you said you want to mute specific MIDI channels. I know that MIDI channels can be the same as tracks, but I just want to be sure. If you could give a much more specific example, that would also help. F'rinstance, what are the synths/plugs that you want to mute?

Also, would it suffice for you to simply have those notes stop playing their part (meaning that if any notes have a long release or ringout that they are allowed to ring out but not play any more notes after you hit the key command) or are you more interested in having them hard-mute (like when you hit a mute button on the mixer or on a console)?

Hey Ski,

Thanks for getting involved!

Here's a more detailed example of what i'm looking to do;

In Logic arrange window, let's say i have 32 tracks.

1-16 Kontakt2

17-21 EXS24 instruments

22 External MIdi instrument

23 EastWest Play

24-32 Stylus RMX

I've picked the above because as it stands, i'm wanting to mute the actual channels - the blue 'm' on the strip. I know that with the single instruments, this is fine to do but with multis such as Kontakt and Stylus, when i press the 'm' button, all 16/8 channels are muted and not single tracks which i specify and the only way round it is pressing the red 'm' button within Kontakt.

Anyway, i'd like to assign a midi controller button/ key letter on the keyboard to mute the individual channels for example on 2,5,17 and 25 with a press on the button. Then proceed to assign further buttons to control different colletive mutings.

Ideally, i'd like the elements to be muted as quickly as possible - i know we'd only be talking fractions of a difference but what's more important is that the effect of this would be stable and long notes that would be held whilst the muting occurs do not continuously hold and never release.

Otherwise, i'd guess this could be a button assignment in the environment but i'm in your hands now Ski as i've got no idea how it works 'under the bonnet'

Thanks I

I know this isn't exactly what you're looking to do, but have you considered using groups to mute/un-mute specific tracks? You would be able to use a key command, but you could mute with one click....

just an idea.

Thanks for providing the details.

This is entirely do-able, but would take a fair amount of time to conceive and execute (and make look good too).

I could get you started on how to make a programmable switch matrix in the environment so that you can create "mute groups" that will mute any channel or instrument in any combination, and have multiple "mute groups", all remote-controllable by (theoretically) the capslock keyboard, (fairly realistically) by keys on your keyboard, or best of all (and quite realistically), programmable switches (if you have them) on your keyboard controller. You would not be able to use key commands to switch the groups. Here's what it looks like ATM...

http://www.score2picture.com/logicpix/mgp.jpg

You can see that I've made three "Mute Group" buttons. I have #1 progammed to mute channels 2 and 4. Group #2 mutes 1 and 3. Finally, Group #3 mutes channels 1 - 4. I tried this out briefly. They're all remote-controllable. It works just fine.

If this is of interest, I'll flesh this out some more in my spare time (no committment, no guarantees). Lemme know.

I know this isn't exactly what you're looking to do, but have you considered using groups to mute/un-mute specific tracks? You would be able to use a key command, but you could mute with one click....

 

just an idea.

It's a good idea too! It was what I was going to suggest at first, but as it turns out you can't control the mute groups from key commands. And you can't use external MIDI data (like notes, buttons, etc.) to cause even a bunch of grouped faders to all mute/unmute.

Thanks for providing the details.

 

This is entirely do-able, but would take a fair amount of time to conceive and execute (and make look good too).

 

I could get you started on how to make a programmable switch matrix in the environment so that you can create "mute groups" that will mute any channel or instrument in any combination, and have multiple "mute groups", all remote-controllable by (theoretically) the capslock keyboard, (fairly realistically) by keys on your keyboard, or best of all (and quite realistically), programmable switches (if you have them) on your keyboard controller. You would not be able to use key commands to switch the groups. Here's what it looks like ATM...

 

You can see that I've made three "Mute Group" buttons. I have #1 progammed to mute channels 2 and 4. Group #2 mutes 1 and 3. Finally, Group #3 mutes channels 1 - 4. I tried this out briefly. They're all remote-controllable. It works just fine.

 

If this is of interest, I'll flesh this out some more in my spare time (no committment, no guarantees). Lemme know.

Hi Ski,

Thanks so much for that - it looks great and totaly what i was looking for.

It seems like it's exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

I'd really appreciate it if you could delve more into it if you can. I'd be very interested to see if there are any tempremental issues say with muting something mid-stream when a note is being played or how long the delay is when actually triggering the multiple mute button.

I'd say at the moment i'm more concearned about making all work in the environment and it looks like what you've figured out is bar far the most intuative way of doing it.

It really would be great if you could develop it if you think it could do with that and i'd be really keen to see what you come up with.

Thanks Ski!

Hi Paul,

I'll spare you the technical details, but unfortunately I ran into a huge problem with my original scheme based on what you saw in the screenshot in my previous post. So...

I've totally re-worked this thing and now it works pretty much perfectly. Mute groups can be activated (toggled, just like regular mute butttons) via key presses on a keyboard, or, the capslock keyboard (this being as close to key commands as you can get).

At this stage I have to say that it would be next to impossible to walk you through how to customize this yourself. So I created a menu system where you can assign an audio instrument (or whatever) to any mute group by name. Here's a glimpse into the complication of this thing:

http://www.score2picture.com/logicpix/wip2.jpg

What that mess represents are 8 mute groups, each with (currently) 5 assignable destinations. Each box in those colored group of boxes is a menu, so it's easy to select the channels/instruments/whatever that any particular mute group would mute/unmute. These 5 destinations could be expanded to a virtually unlimited number of destinations, but the programming gets exponentially more intense with each added destination.

And it all pretties up real nice and stuff (labeling of controls not yet customized):

http://www.score2picture.com/logicpix/wip1.jpg

So stay tuned. As I have time I'll chip away at this some more, but again, I can't make any guarantees about how far I'll get with this. It's a cool idea, and it definitely gave my brain a bit of a workout!

Oh yes, one other thing... what this does is hard-mute the channels/instruments/whatever. To make a setup where sustained notes that were muted mid-note wouldn't hang would take considerable development time. So while the above looks complicated, it's actually the simplest approach --- simply muting groups of channels just as if you clicked the mute button on a bunch of channels/instruments simultaneously. Kinda like doing mutes on a board.

OK, gotta run.

Thanks man! I'm starting to see why the Brecker environment took on the overall "IC chip" look that it has. Many operations have to be repeated (even if one uses 'alias objects') and to keep the cabling visible you have to position objects a certain way. Overall I'd say it's 95% wanting to stay organized and 5% aesthetics.

I think it'll be cool once it's done (time permitting). Let's see... right now here's the "feature set" for this thing:

1) 16 of the 18 CAPSLOCK keyboard keys provide mute/unmute for 16 mute groups with assignable destinations. Each key has toggle action, so one press on a given key mutes a group, the next press on that same key unmutes it. The remaining two CAPSLOCK keys are currently "reserved"...

2) The toggle action of the keys can be overridden globally so that key presses act as momentary switches.

3) Keys from a keyboard controller can be used in place of the CAPSLOCK keyboard. All of the above "actions" apply.

4) An unlimited number of destinations can be created for each mute group (though each added destination per group greatly increases the complexity)

5) All mutes are recordable as track automation

6) Labels for each destination (those colored flip menus) can be custom defined for each song. For example, if instead of "Audio 1" you want it to say "Kick", it requires just changing the menu text in one environment object. "Kick" will automatically replace "Audio 1" in all other similar menu objects.

Let's see... what else...

7) Mute speed appears to be the same as manually clicking on a mute button on any audio object. During a brief test I used Mute Group 1 to mute audio tracks 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously. The automation data recorded on those tracks was identical, meaning that there's no "skewing" or "cascading" of the timing of the recorded data even though multiple objects are being affected simultaneously.

8 ) Master "Clear All Mutes" button

9) Master "Toggle All Mutes" button

I guess I've been a busy boy with this thing... Anyway, we'll see how it goes...

My word Ski - you sure do know your enviroment programming.

Can't wait to see what else you can do with this.

It's great that the combined muting works the same way as the single muting.

Would be great to see you develop this more.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time

My word Ski - you sure do know your enviroment programming.

 

He sure does.

-

And, FWIW, I reckon we ought to have a whole sticky or forum subsection

where cool, useful Environment patches like this reside for the permanent

edification of newcomers and experts alike.

-

A bit like the Channel Strips subgroup, but devoted to the art of Environment

workarounds.

-

What say ye, David N ?

-

C

My word Ski - you sure do know your enviroment programming.

 

 

He sure does.

-

And, FWIW, I reckon we ought to have a whole sticky or forum subsection

where cool, useful Environment patches like this reside for the permanent

edification of newcomers and experts alike.

-

A bit like the Channel Strips subgroup, but devoted to the art of Environment

workarounds.

-

What say ye, David N ?

 

-

C

PH, look again, we've had a section like this for the past 2 years! It's called.... "Logic & MainStage Templates and Environments". I suppose Ski will upload his template there once it's done, if he wants to share it with the community.

 

PH, look again, we've had a section like this for the past 2 years! It's called.... "Logic & MainStage Templates and Environments"

 

Whoops !

I rarely scroll down that far ..................

Ta !

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C

PH, you so need to get a bigger monitor...

http://www.score2picture.com/logicpix/phcomp.jpg

PH, you so need to get a bigger monitor...

 

Yeah. I must move on to something more like this:

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C

Just scrolling thru this thread gave me a headache.

I assume you're mixing ITB.

Why don't you just bus things and mute the busses? I know you don't get all the pretty colors and cables and such, but really...

I know a guy who sets this kind of stuff up when he's mixing, albeit with the mute groups on an SSL 4k.

I always think that, by the time he's got it all working, he could have muted and unmuted every channel on the console individually about a hundred times.

YMMV, I guess.

PH, you so need to get a bigger monitor...

 

 

Yeah. I must move on to something more like this:

 

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C

Wow...

Imagine porn on that...

Just scrolling thru this thread gave me a headache.

Sorry. This thread isn't for you then. Please visit any one of our 10,000 other threads, many of which are guaranteed to be headache-free.

Why don't you just bus things and mute the busses?

Because you can't mute busses or any other audio object using key commands -- and that's what this scheme gives you: the equivalent of key commands that are assignable to mute/unmute anything. Even busses (they're not off the table as an option). You can do DJ/remix-style muting with keys on the computer keyboard (or optionally, keyboard keys). Think of it. Kill selected drums with "A". Manually gate a drone synth with "D". Kill just the kick with "K". No selecting tracks, no clicking on the GUI. And the ability to write these mutes directly into automation...

I know you don't get all the pretty colors and cables and such, but really...

The point of the colors is to stay organized, not to make an impression (frankly, I think it's pretty ugly right now, even the organizational colors).

YMMV, I guess.

Please visit any one of our 10,000 other threads, many of which are guaranteed to be...

Just scrolling thru this thread gave me a headache.

 

Sorry. This thread isn't for you then. Please visit any one of our 10,000 other threads, many of which are guaranteed to be headache-free.

 

Why don't you just bus things and mute the busses?

 

Because you can't mute busses or any other audio object using key commands -- and that's what this scheme gives you: the equivalent of key commands that are assignable to mute/unmute anything. Even busses (they're not off the table as an option). You can do DJ/remix-style muting with keys on the computer keyboard (or optionally, keyboard keys). Think of it. Kill selected drums with "A". Manually gate a drone synth with "D". Kill just the kick with "K". No selecting tracks, no clicking on the GUI. And the ability to write these mutes directly into automation...

 

I know you don't get all the pretty colors and cables and such, but really...

 

The point of the colors is to stay organized, not to make an impression (frankly, I think it's pretty ugly right now, even the organizational colors).

 

YMMV, I guess.

 

Please visit any one of our 10,000 other threads, many of which are guaranteed to be...

OK, I get it. Expensive control surface functionality from your computer's keyboard, makes sense.

Now if you all will excuse me, I have lots of reading to do.

marcel72,

I'm glad you "see the light" on this thing. I think it'll be cool.

8)

marcel72,

 

I'm glad you "see the light" on this thing. I think it'll be cool.

 

8)

Will this work in 7, o' esteemed bing-bang-bong, flash, nuts-and bolts person ...... ?

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C

CRASH!

BANG!

...rummage, rummage, rummage...

...wave hands through the air to clear the dust...

Yes, it will run on L7.

I'm programming this on L7.1.1. Before I release a 'beta' I'll also port it over to L8, retaining the L7 version of course.

CRASH!

BANG!

 

...rummage, rummage, rummage...

 

...wave hands through the air to clear the dust...

 

Here is a rare shot of Ski, with female assistant engineer,

at work on one of his Logic Environment projects .......

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C

======================

OK Guys 'n' Gals, here it is...

Sooner than I expected

(I found some shortcuts)

SKIz MUTEGROOPz

...keyboard activated mute groups...

======================

Ski how did you get to know so much about programming the Logic environment.

It's a beast, and I wanna tame it !

Ski how did you get to know so much about programming the Logic environment.

Lots of reading, experimenting, trying things out, that's what it takes. The environment is all about MIDI processing, basically, and I've been into the nuts and bolts of MIDI since day 1. I also have a programming background (self-taught) so the two kind of come together. Been programming in the environment for many years, but in the last two years I got into it more than ever before. If you understand MIDI (even just some basics) and a little bit about computer logic, you can program things in the environment.

paulmatthewcello,

Wondering how that's working out for you. Let us know!

Yeah, Baby! "Reverse Engineering" is so yesterday. At ski's workshop. . .

http://www.logicprohelp.com/training.php

. . . you can. . .

Learn how to "autopsy" any patch to understand how it's made

. . . with that most venerable of musical coroners, Ski.

(Everyone in the L.A. area had darned better attend! This looks great!)