External Instrument plugin - what's the point?

[shotgal]

I'm new to LPX but not to DAW software, so still working through some things -

 

I've been able to setup and record single channel and simultaneous multi-channel MIDI and playback to the desired external MIDI channels no problem without ever using "External Instrument plugin'" - so I'm not sure what the point of it is?

 

At the same time, I was wondering if I'm doing this right - or if there is another approach/shortcut -

I want to use my external keyboard sounds through a guitar amp effect - but record/edit the performance via MIDI.

What I did -

New Track with MIDI CH 1 (external) destination - record the notes

New Guitar/Bass* track with Audio IN from external keyboard/Interface -

* New Track may alternatively/also be an Audio Track but then requires adding the FX later

 

Playback the recorded MIDI track from the external keyboard while recording it's audio to the new Audio Track, monitored/played back through the Amp FX.

Mute the MIDI track playback to hear the Audio through Guitar Amp FX only

 

The resultant audio track is the original clean sound from the external keyboard audio, but being on a Guitar track, it's routed through the Guitar Amp FX. You can freely change the guitar sound while its playing to sample various FX.

 

Extra question - in this configuration - once the audio is set to be a Guitar Amp FX channel - can the FX be bypassed to hear only the original audio? I found Legacy/Garageband/NoEffects - but that seems to be a long way to go for what should be a simple Bypass button....

[des99]

The point is you can combine two things into one thing - a MIDI track, set to a MIDI destination of your synth, and an audio track, taking the synth's audio input back into Logic to bring it into the mix and add plugins.

 

The External instrument plugin does the job of both - now you have a MIDI track (record and edit MIDI), which plays back to your hardware synth, and the synth's audio comes back into Logic and you can mixed, have plugins added, all with only one track/channel strip needed, instead of two.

 

It's a convenience - all of it's functions can be achieved in other ways (as is often the case in Logic) but for new, and non-technical people, it's an easy, good way to using an external hardware instrument with Logic.

[shotgal]

So I guess External Instrument does the same thing I was saying I did - but in one step, instead of manually in two tracks.

 

I've heard people say things about Audio and MIDI in one track before in LPX and never quite understood it.

 

So if you edit the MIDI notes does the audio track somehow magically change too?

Or - if you edit the audio track - the MIDI changes?

If you disconnect the external synth is the audio track still there?

Does the track then have a track folder showing one MIDI track and one Audio track inside?

 

See I'm still confused. I'm going to have to try this out and see what's what...

 

The result I personally need is an editable MIDI pass, until it's finished - then one pass of audio to record it - and never use the MIDI data again (unless changing way down the road into something different). This way it's never locked into the number of voices available in the external synth among other things that tie the playback to dependency on external hardware.

[des99]

So if you edit the MIDI notes does the audio track somehow magically change too?

Or - if you edit the audio track - the MIDI changes?

If you disconnect the external synth is the audio track still there?

Does the track then have a track folder showing one MIDI track and one Audio track inside?

 

It works exactly like a software instrument - it's a MIDI track, with the instrument producing audio into the mixer.

 

If you remove the instrument, you'll get no audio.

 

To "print" the synth audio, you can either freeze, bounce or bounce-in-place or bus-record.

[David Nahmani]

The point is you can combine two things into one thing - a MIDI track (...) and an audio track[./quote]

For the sake of precision, I would say that it combines a MIDI track with an audio channel strip.

 

So if you edit the MIDI notes does the audio track somehow magically change too?

Or - if you edit the audio track - the MIDI changes?

The MIDI track is always a MIDI track, containing MIDI regions. The Audio channel strip is always an audio channel strip, with the External Instrument plug-ins routing the MIDI from the track out to a MIDI OUT port, and from an Audio IN port back to the Audio channel strip.

[Fleabag]

Extra question - in this configuration - once the audio is set to be a Guitar Amp FX channel - can the FX be bypassed to hear only the original audio? I found Legacy/Garageband/NoEffects - but that seems to be a long way to go for what should be a simple Bypass button....

 

When you record audio onto an audio track in Logic, the original audio is what is recorded, even if you use plugin FX on that track. The plugin FX get applied live every time you either play the track or enable monitoring of the audio input(s) routed to that track . You can click the bypass button on each and every one of the FX on a given track to hear the original audio at any time (you can even automate it if you want to say turn off the reverb on a guitar for a couple of bars), and you can of course change (and automate) the FX settings until they are right for you. eg you can turn down the amount of distortion on a fuzz box applied on a guitar track or change it for a completely different plugin, with no need to re-record the original guitar.

 

If on the other hand you plug a guitar into an external FX pedal and then into Logic, you would have no control in Logic over hearing the original uneffected signal. Logic records precisely what it sees at the audio interface input.

 

The same bypass options apply if you route your vanilla audio from a track to be effected elsewhere (eg using a bus or a send), you can bypass the FX wherever they are applied or turn off a send temporarily. It is common to set up a mixer channel for something like vocal reverb, so that several vocal take tracks can all be sent to the reverb channel to be given the same reverb treatment without having to insert an identical reverb on every track. You can then bypass the reverb on its channel (or mute the channel) to hear the complete vocal mix dry, for example.

 

Fleabag

[shotgal]

To "print" the synth audio, you can either freeze, bounce or bounce-in-place or bus-record.

When you record audio onto an audio track in Logic, the original audio is what is recorded, even if you use plugin FX on that track

 

Thanks - Yes, I've been playing with it now and seen this - if you want the actual FX in the audio you need to use one of the above mentioned "print" approaches.

 

This of course would be useful moving finished tracks intact to a different DAW, (or to alleviate processor loads). So, to future proof recordings it's probably best to have one printed audio track per each MIDI track.- and two versions of every audio track - one dry/original and one printed with FX. So when all the hardware and software is gone in 50 years - it still has a chance of working when Commodore re-emerges into interstellar domination of all technology.

[des99]

This of course would be useful moving finished tracks intact to a different DAW, (or to alleviate processor loads). So, to future proof recordings it's probably best to have one printed audio track per each MIDI track.- and two versions of every audio track - one dry/original and one printed with FX. So when all the hardware and software is gone in 50 years - it still has a chance of working when Commodore re-emerges into interstellar domination of all technology.

 

Yeah, that is best practice for future-proofing once you've finished a project - retain an unprocessed raw audio track without plugins, and the final processed audio track with plugins you used in the project - this means you can always use that audio whatever the state of DAWs/plugins in the future...

 

Also retain any MIDI files separately from the project file, and you can export other data in various ways as necessary.

[blinkofani]

And you can use the Midi FX with the external plugin, something you can't use if you monitor through an aux or audio track. Useful if your hardware synth doesn't have an arp, for example.

 

KA