Basic Logic Question

[dburns]

Just got Logic Pro 9 recently, mainly working with loops right now just to familiarize myself with the basics...I'm coming along OK, but...whenever I click "Play from Selection" in the transport bar, or the key command "Shift-Enter", the track plays from the beginning instead of the area where it should.

The Arrange Area is selected, it has key focus, I made sure of that multiple times but neither method is working...so what am I missing to make "Play from Selection" work?

[ScatMan]

"Play from selection" starts from the beginning of the region selected. It doesn't matter where you place the playhead, it always starts at the beginning.

If you want to start/stop playback wherever you place the playhead, you could create a key command:

Opt-K will open the key command menu. Expand "Global Commands" and click "Stop or Play from Last Position". Click "Learn by Key Label" and select whatever key you want to use. (I use F1 because it's next to the Esc key which is the edit tool selection key).

You can now place the playhead wherever you want. When you press the key you've chosen, play starts there. When you press the key again, it stops..and when you press again, it starts where you've placed the playhead.

[woodman]

So you're saying when you hit Shift-Enter with a region selected, it starts playing at Bar 1 Beat 1? I'm pretty green in Logic too (less than a year) so I feel your pain when stuff like that happens... my first paranoid reaction would be to hit Option-K and track down the keyboard command in the directory to make sure it hasn't gotten altered inadvertently. If it looks kosher there (IOW, says Shift-Enter is Play From Selection), I might try resetting it just for drill. Beyond that, I'm stumped. But there are many more experienced Logical types around, like Scatman, Geoff and Getbent who might can be of more help. Good luck!

[You are hitting the Enter on the numerical keypad and not Return, right? ... Also, the thought just occurred: are you using a standard full-featured keyboard, or one of those new-fangled abridged keyboards?]

[Geoff738]

Originally Posted by ScatMan

"Play from selection" starts from the beginning of the region selected. It doesn't matter where you place the playhead, it always starts at the beginning.

If you want to start/stop playback wherever you place the playhead, you could create a key command:

Opt-K will open the key command menu. Expand "Global Commands" and click "Start or Stop from Last Position". Click "Learn by Key Label" and select whatever key you want to use. (I use F1 because it's next to the Esc key which is the edit tool selection key).

You can now place the playhead wherever you want. When you press the key you've chosen, play starts there. When you press the key again, it stops..and when you press again, it starts where you've placed the playhead.

Yeah, this a well known bug / flaw / irritant - whatever you want to call it. There are a bunch of workarounds. If you've stopped play (I think pause works too and I think maybe if you've dragged the playhead to that position as well) fast-forwarding a measure and back will "set" the playhead. After you do that, play from selection will take you back to that point. There's a bunch of ways to "set" that point. (Edit to add: Actually, I think moving a playhead will do it too, without needing to do the shift forward and back dance). Unfortunately, just stopping playback isn't one of them.

Hope that made sense.

Cheers,
Geoff

[dburns]

Ok thanks guys...I'll work on creating key command through Opt-K.

For some reason, it's working on the transport bar now, so I'm just using the mouse for the time being.

One more quick noob question...I thought I could edit regions (green midi loops) from the start point, but having problems doing so. I've already edited one from the end point (bottom right corner>left) but now I want to do the opposite. What am I missing?

[ScatMan]

What are you editing? Length of region, loop, or data?

You can click and drag the bottom right to lengthen or shorten end of region, top right to loop (or open inspector and check the loop box), or bottom left to lengthen the beginning of region.

To edit MIDI data, open the piano roll. There you can add, delete, change velocity or move notes around using a mouse/keyboard or MIDI controller.

[dburns]

I'm editing an Apple loop. It's a 2 bar bass line and I just want to use the last 4 notes of the phrase.

Thought I could just option/drag the region (because I still want to keep and use the whole original loop region in the track), zoom in on the copied region, then resize it from the start point, left to right.

I already did it with another Apple loop region, but that was moving from right to left, from the end point...but it's just not working from the starting point of the loop/region. Don't get it.

[dburns]

Ok, piano roll. Got it how I want now.

Thanks again ScatMan.

[ScatMan]

I might be misunderstanding what you're trying to do, but..

You can double-click the copied MIDI region and the piano roll will open. There you can delete all but the last four notes.

Then (in the piano roll) place your mouse at the beginning (top left) where the bar indicator is. The pointer will become a resize indicator. Click-hold and drag left to right to shorten the region.

[edit] Oops, just noticed that you posted that you got it worked out while I was typing.

[Geoff738]

Originally Posted by dburns

Ok, piano roll. Got it how I want now.

Thanks again ScatMan.

You should be able to do what you wanted right in the arrange window though - you can resize a region from both the beginning and end. My mouse can be a bit flakey sometimes, or Logic wants me hold it down for a bit longer.

Cheers,
Geoff

[woodman]

On the subject of the piano roll — when I shorten a region from the right in the Arrange window, the section I've eliminated in the region remains in the piano roll as grayed-out notes, which clutter up the window. A minor nuisance that can be handled by deleting the grayed-out notes, but a time-sucker ... I've started deleting those notes before placing new ones over them, but is there a way to keep them from appearing at all once the region has been edited?

[dburns]

Originally Posted by Geoff738

You should be able to do what you wanted right in the arrange window though - you can resize a region from both the beginning and end. My mouse can be a bit flakey sometimes, or Logic wants me hold it down for a bit longer.

Cheers,
Geoff

I thought that too, maybe I wasn't using the mouse properly, but it worked the other way (right to left) no problem.

When I click on the bottom left to resize the green loop, the resizing arrow is only pointing to the left, instead of both ways. I'll keep at it, and I accomplished what I wanted to do with piano roll...still just trying to get my head around all of this.

I just bought an Apple Pro Training Series textbook and eveything, (David Nahmani). Getting into it today, looks like it should help...thanks again guys.

[ScatMan]

Originally Posted by woodman

I've started deleting those notes before placing new ones over them, but is there a way to keep them from appearing at all once the region has been edited?

Haven't figured that one out woodman.

Originally Posted by dburns

I thought that too, maybe I wasn't using the mouse properly, but it worked the other way (right to left) no problem.

When I click on the bottom left to resize the green loop, the resizing arrow is only pointing to the left, instead of both ways..

From the Logic manual:

You can move the left corner beyond the first event in a MIDI region. This action hides events from the beginning of the MIDI region, but these hidden events will continue to play back.

If you actually want to remove the information from the start of a MIDI region, you need to cut it and mute or delete the new start segment (new MIDI region).

The hide facility is useful in situations in which you might want to trigger MIDI controller events (such as sustain) before the musical phrase begins, but do not want to use a MIDI region that doesn’t fit into the current Arrange area grid (based on bars), as this would make arrangement far more complicated.

[ScatMan]

Originally Posted by woodman

On the subject of the piano roll — when I shorten a region from the right in the Arrange window, the section I've eliminated in the region remains in the piano roll as grayed-out notes, which clutter up the window. A minor nuisance that can be handled by deleting the grayed-out notes, but a time-sucker ... I've started deleting those notes before placing new ones over them, but is there a way to keep them from appearing at all once the region has been edited?

I thought of another way..instead of shortening the region, you could use the marquee tool to highlight and then cut the end of the region.

This will delete the MIDI data and shorten the region at the same time. When you place new notes, the region will lengthen accordingly.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by ScatMan

I thought of another way..instead of shortening the region, you could use the marquee tool to highlight and then cut the end of the region.

This will delete the MIDI data and shorten the region at the same time. When you place new notes, the region will lengthen accordingly.

10-4. You just keep thinkin', Butch!

[dburns]

Thanks for all the help guys...another question though.

I automated a midi region for a fade out on a track yesterday. Now today that track (a green midi region) is automatically muting at certain points. I'm pretty certain I did it when I copied one of the regions (option drag), I either erased or copied the automation data, or vice versa....my question is how do I fix it.

I'm reading manuals/textbooks, searching online , trying to figure out as much as I can on my own, but I need help with this one.

[dburns]

OK, so I clicked A to bring up the automation for the track, and it appears to be just how I had it...but, there is a really thin green line that is indicating where the volume drops out and the track becomes muted.

Going to look this up now, just figure I give a little more info.

[ScatMan]

Originally Posted by dburns

OK, so I clicked A to bring up the automation for the track, and it appears to be just how I had it...but, there is a really thin green line that is indicating where the volume drops out and the track becomes muted.

Going to look this up now, just figure I give a little more info.

Mute is a blue line and it is either on or off. If you're seeing some tapering off of the line, it's not mute (volume is a yellow line, green is pan).

You can go to preferences-->>Automation and set "Move Automation With Regions" to never, always or ask.

[dburns]

Thanks Scat. Now I know.

I made it way more complicated, but got it done. Was in a rush to bounce the track to my iTunes so I could listen to it in the car, had a little ride to take and I like listen to works in progress while I drive. Appreciate it again.

[ScatMan]

Glad it worked out.

I'm curious..what happened to the region where it was muted?