How to change "freeze mode" quickly on multiples tracks?

[Studio ML]

I don't know why, but, when I begin to mix a song, some tracks are in "Source only" mode and others are in "Pre fader" mode...

 

Changing them one by one in the track inspector is long... I'm searching a quick way to put all the tracks in "Pre fader" freeze mode.

 

Somebody know how to do that?

[David Nahmani]

Because there's no "true" way to select multiple track (look at the highlighted track number to know which single track is "truly" selected), the Track inspector can display the parameters for only one track at a time. In other words, what you're asking is not possible.

[anp27]

Somebody know how to do that?

 

You can't. The only way to save time doing this repeatedly is to save those settings in a template and go from there. Just set it up once and you're good. Also if you duplicate a track with the 'Source Only' settings, Logic will remember to use 'Source Only' on the duplicated track too. So, not too bad.

[Studio ML]

I always start with the same tracks with the sames settings on "Pre fader"... I don't know why, but at the end, some tracks are shifted to "Source only" by Logic...

[Studio ML]

There seams to be no way to set up a key command... !!! I feel stupid to change 30 tracks one by one... I feel like I'm using ProTools...

[David Nahmani]

I feel stupid to change 30 tracks one by one... I feel like I'm using ProTools...

don't feel stupid. There are many menial tasks like that involved with setting up, cleaning up, backing up, organizing, etc... I view these as an opportunity for relaxing and almost some kind of quick meditation, where you focus your mind on one simple repetitive tasks, freeing it of other thoughts for a minute or two. Unless I'm stressed out by a deadline, I find this rather relaxing. Not saying there shouldn't be a feature to let you do this in one go obviously, but just saying there will always be workflow improvement features missing, so might as well embrace the work.

[seafood]

this has been bugging me for months and i finally found a way to make a keyboard shortcut to automate the monotony of changing the freeze to 'pre fader' on (occasionally) a couple hundred tracks, without the labour-intensive mouse clicking that logic forces you into.

it looks like a lot of steps, but overall it's a massive timesaver once it's set up - i'm just listing absolutely everything because i hate it when tutorials are vague. it was well tedious to figure out some of it, and i did at times shout into my mac's screen, so i hope by being this thorough it'll forgo that stress for anyone else.

you can also treat this as a guide for making mouse-based keyboard macros to do other things in whatever application(s) - you if really need them - as recording mouse movement is an absolute last resort for this kind of automation because it can get messy, but unfortunately for freeze mode there isn't an alternative that i've found. for creating other ease-of-life macros that do things such as chaining multiple events into a shortcut i really (really) recommend getting into the apple scripts and the script editor app, which is a lot more involved but loads more precise and universal.

anyway, all this macro (or 'workflow') does is first change the selected track's freeze mode to 'pre fader' in inspector, and then taps the arrow key down so it's ready to repeat for the following track if needed.

• open the application 'automator' (applications folder) 
• select 'new document'
• select 'quick action'
• change 'workflow receives current' to 'no input'
• for the 'application' (next to 'workflow receives..') select 'other..', then find logic in the apps folder (might not be totally necessary as this is probably to do with the previous input setting that isn't being used)
• prepare logic by having a frozen track in the arrange view selected that you want to record changing from 'source only' to 'pre fader'
• position automator in front of full-screened logic, click the 'record' icon at the top right of the automator window, automator will then become a small dialog box with just a stop button - and from now on ALL mouse and keyboard actions will be added into the macro you're recording
• it's important that the very first click you make is inside logic and MUST be on 'freeze mode:' in inspector (the title on the LEFTHAND SIDE of the dropdown for selecting the freeze mode - this is just to focus the window and script on logic - selecting elsewhere in logic seems to add the project filename into the script which might cause compatibility problems with other sessions)
• (now you can begin recording proper however you want the script to act - for me i chose to) press and hold on the dropdown and change freeze mode from 'source only' to 'pre fader'
• then press down arrow key on keyboard
• press the stop button on the floaty automator window, your macro is recorded
• automator should show the steps you recorded under "watch me do", i've added a screenshot of what mine looks like. you can rearrange steps by dragging or get rid of accidental clicks or keys by selecting and pressing the delete button on the keyboard. i reduced timeout to 0 for each step (no idea, shrug emoji) and set playback speed to 10x
• you can now test your macro by pressing the 'run' button top right of automator (if it doesn't work but looks like my screenshot then DO NOT BE SAD, it may be a permissions issue that i go into how to fix at the end of this)
• save the '.workflow' file as something memorable as you'll need to find it again
• close automator

now open system preferences -> keyboard -> shortcuts, and select 'services' on the left hand side, scroll to the bottom and under 'general' you should see the title of the macro you made. select it and 'add shortcut' should appear, click it to assign a keyboard shortcut - note that this doesn't give you free reign to set it to whatever want, as some key combos are reserved in osx (for example you can't assign to just an F1/F2.. etc key without a modifier like 'alt' or 'cmd' - also be mindful that logic isn't already using the same shortcut - basically if it doesn't work but it ran fine pressing 'run' in automator just try another shortcut). for me, just so i wasn't triggering mouse movement by accident and not encroaching on any of logic's shortcuts, i made mine a convoluted three buttons combo with [ alt+cmd+`]

the last step is to open 'security and privacy' in system prefs, select 'privacy' at the top, 'accessibility' on the left and then pressing the '+' under the applications list add the applications 'automator', 'script editor', 'applescript utility' and (i don't know why, but also) 'logic pro x' to the 'allow the apps below to control your computer' section. the first two are in the applications and applications/utilities folder. for 'applescript utility', however, you need to navigate in finder to '(your hard drive name)/system/library/coreservices', then drag 'applescript utility.app' onto the window with the other apps.

if you're not familiar with these slightly deeper system prefs, you need to press the padlock button left and input your password to make changes to this area (and then lock it again when you're done for a warm safe feeling). some of these applications may already be present in this box, if so just make sure they're ticked - as osx may have asked you if you wanted to allow permissions already for some of these apps when testing the scripts, if you instinctively pressed 'deny' at any point then don't worry just remedy it here.

i'm pretty sure that was it, i'll add a screenshot of what the keyboard settings looked like when i set them up as well.

btw i did this on osx mojave - i doubt it, but it's possible apple may have added extra permissions settings and hoops to jump through in later versions of osx, if you do encounter any errors just google them.

Edited October 16, 2022 by seafood
more typos

[Leander Lyons]

Thank you Seafood, it works a charm !