michael.lee

I have a Logic X (10.0.7) project with volume track automation. I need to export as a Standard MIDI File with the volume automation info included. I've gotten as far as converting the automation data to MIDI Draw data, but that doesn't seem to be exporting with the SMF. It seems like what I need is a way to go from Logic's automation data to discrete instances of CC 07 data to simulate the curve of the automation data. Any way to do this? Am I on the right track?

Sorry - that's really frustrating. I teach a music tech class, and something like this happens to someone almost every semester. I have the same policy your teacher has - no excuses for technical failure (just like in real life). For some students, I think the most important thing they learn is how to use a work process that includes frequent saves, and backups to external drives. But man, what an awful way to learn it. Sorry again.

I user superduper, which will do a flawless, fantastic job for you. It will perfectly clone your drive onto a new drive, which will then be bootable. Love it.

same issue, only happens in 10.5, not 10.4

don't dismiss them for pop stuff too quickly - I run them dry out of the virtual instrument, add some chorus or ensemble, a little hi-mid EQ bump, and they'll scream at you in a very usable way. You have to treat it like you would a real instrument, and plopping a trumpet in front a mic and hitting "record" is rarely the entire process for getting good pop horns.

I'm sold on the Wallander Instruments for trumpet and trombone, in any style. I've been using them for motown, big band, orchestral. They're very playable, the physical modeling means the breath control can be realistically modified during a held note, it just works. Try the demo, but ignore the nasty preset reverb, if you can. (It can be run dry in the licensed version) http://www.wallanderinstruments.com/

give us some details on your system.

DOH!

Nothing new to add, just a "me too". I have L8 on 10.5 on an imac for personal projects, but the studio is still on tiger, still running L7.

if you're making a habit of entering things manually with the mouse, it might pay off to learn the key commands for "transpose event +1 / -1". Dragging to exactly the right spot is often more difficult than just getting in the ballpark and then bumping it into the right place with key commands.

Last year I had a composition student write an entire passage in 15/8 meter. After looking over the piece, I said, "You know, you could write this whole passage in 6/8, and just have one 5/8 bar at the end. It's closer to the actual phrasing of the lines, and your musicians will read it much better." His response was, "Yeah, but I don't really like the musicians that much." That, my friends, is a true composer right there!

The short answer is no. The long answer is, yes, kind of, but it's almost never a very satisfying result. The method involves splitting the stereo track in two above a certain frequency, flipping the waveform of one side, and then merging it back together. It will remove any material that is uniform in both channels of the stereo mix, which is the normal position for vocals. Unfortunately, it leaves all kind of trash in it's wake - phase issues, awkward reverb tails (when the reverb is a stereo image of a mono vocal source, which is usually the case), and missing instruments in the middle. Stamp it with a big "AVOID" and just move along.

I know you addressed Dave, but I have some spare time, so I'll tackle some of this for you. I've included an image from the "save as" dialog that pops up. If you click the "advanced" tab, you actually have quite a bit of control over what gets saved into the project folder along with the song file. http://logicprohelp.com/files/picture_1_575.png By default, it only includes the audio files that you've recorded, but you can choose to include the samples, ultrabeat samples, reverb impulses, and movie files. If you do, it will create copies of all of these things, and save them in the project folder. This is a bit confusing - in L7, the project manager and the project folder weren't strictly related. The project manager created a database of where different resources were located, so that the software could locate them more quickly (sampler files, etc.). This wasn't saved anywhere in the project folder, however. The project folder in L7 was fairly similar to how it functions in L8, except that you have a few different options for saving what goes in there, and L8 makes it a default method instead of an option. Yes, by default Logic tries to save to the folder User>Music>Logic. If that's not your plan, then just choose a new location when you hit "save as". I keep all of my project folders on an external HD, which means all of my audio is being recorded to that drive. All of my samples are on a different external FW drive. All I did was create an alias to that drive, and place it in Macintosh HD> Library> Application Support> Logic> Sampler Instruments. When Logic goes looking for samples, it follows that alias, and locates my external samples. By default, Logic only includes audio files in the project folder. It will only makes copies of things like samples, reverb impulses, etc., if you check the options telling it do so when you are in the "save as" dialog. When you begin a new project, start by saving it to your 500GB audio drive. This will create a new folder, and inside that folder will be a Logic file, and an Audio Files folder that will be your default audio recording path. Leave your samples on the external drive - if they worked in L7 from that location, they'll work in L8. Unless you tell it to do so, L8 will not create copies of these samples inside your project folder. For backups, I would suggest using Super Duper, which will allow you to schedule regular backups of your audio drive to the backup drive. include assets

(sorry if someone else said this, I didn't read all the comments) The manual is designed as a reference, not as a tutorial. It works very well if you are going in to look for a solution to something, but not so much if you're sitting down for a straight read-through. One of the best ways to use the manual is in conjunction with this forum. Run into a problem, pop in here to post about it, and most likely one of us can give you the technical term for the thing you're looking at. You can then take that term to the PDF manual, search for it, and learn something new about how Logic works. I think the biggest struggle for people just launching into the program is not knowing what they're actually searching for when they go to rtfm!

Oh man, you're the guy I hate!