Trigger Software Instruments WITHOUT being Record Enabled

[SRF_Audio]

This is probably most applicable if you are using Logic for live performance, but it could also be used for a variety of other applications, especially for you composers out there. (Also: teaching music lessons, "always on" piano during songwriting, etc.)

 

We've all been there...you're working on a piece, and you just need to quickly figure out a chord or melody....but the piano's not record enabled! So then, you go to the correct screen set, find the piano patch...oh wait, I didn't create it yet..create piano..record enable the piano....*sigh*

 

Well, there's potentially a better way.

 

In this example, I want to make an "always on" ESX24 piano patch that I can use as a reference tool, or to play live (i.e. I'm not going to record with it), and save it in my songwriting template.

 

1) Open a new project (or your template that you want to edit) and create the software instrument track with the ESX24, and go to a piano patch.

 

2) Hit the number "2" for Screenset 2 (or whatever screenset you prefer), and open 2 instances of the MIDI environment (Command+0 twice).

 

3) Arrange the two windows where they are both visible. In the first Environment window, go to the "Clicks and Ports" layer. In the second, go to the "Mixer Layer", like so:

 

4) On the "Clicks and Ports" window, grab a second cable origin trom the "Input View" Monitor Object, and drag it to the second "Mixer layer" window, so that it's destination is the ESX24 Channel Strip object.

 

Now you have an "Always On" piano that you can use however you see fit.

 

Additional Protips:

A) Map an exclusive "Mute" hardware button to the ESX24 to quickly toggle the piano on/off

B) If you have multiple MIDI controllers, and you only want one of those to control the piano, then in Step 4 above, instead of dragging from the "Input View", start from the specific port on the "Physical Input" Object, and connect that with the ESX24.

 

Warning:

Due to this environment cabling, this one track will not record any MIDI data, since it is being not going to the sequencer input, even when the track is Record Enabled.

 

Solution:

If you want to have your cake and eat it too:

 

A) On the Mixer Layer, create a Transformer Object. Cable the Output of the ESX24 Channel Strip to the Input of the Transformer. Then, drag the Output of the Transformer over to the Sequencer Input Object on the Clicks and Ports layer.

B) Double Click the Tranformer Object. Select "Status=Note", and then check the "Filter Duplicate Events" box, like so:

 

Now it's also recordable. 8)