Nunstummy

Found the source! New OWC Thunderbolt dock mini-display to hdmi adds noise. Easy to prove, impossible to fix. If I plug my 4K monitor directly into my MacBook M1 Max hdmi port - no noise. Through the OWC hub….crackle, crackle, crackle….. Dang! Are there ANY Thunderbolt docks that don’t have issues? Not really. https://www.facebook.com/639661299/posts/pfbid0sHNLJjNbwLHZX9ySjS1jS5fR5cx8RC6TyrNoTSrJDbjg8gSBc3jgsj6niARkhnNbl/?

I know, I know...the obvious next step is to replace the 4K monitor. I'm just unsure.

I'm only recently getting a persistent crackling noise on audio recordings in Logic. Same gear as before, it's been clean for the last few years. Trying hard to identify what it might be. Gear: MacBook M1 Max, Apollo x4, UAD SD-1 Dynamic Mic - via Thunderbolt/USBc on 1 side Other Stuff: Asus 4K 28" Monitor, OWC Thunderbolt hub, Launchkey 61 MK3, Launchpad Pro - via the OWC Thunderbolt/USBc on the other side. When I unplug the OWC hub - with all the "other stuff" I don't hear the crackle. Can anybody tell the source, just by listening to the attached audio file? Apollo-Noise.mp3

Yes. I made a video on that idea. Turn any OLD Keyboard into a Modern Midi Controller | EasyControl 9

Yes. He owns an older Arturia 88 midi controller with fully weighted square-cut piano style keys. He says it’s too big and heavy for gigs AND he can’t play synth or organ on those piano-style keys. Picky, picky, picky…..I say, take the 88 and maybe a 49/61 light midi controller with plastic synth-style keys - use MainStage with 2 midi controllers, right?

73/76 keyboards are rare. My friend wants one for live use with MainStage. There are 73/76/88 “Stage Pianos” with excellent keybeds, action and feel. But some have no midi controller capabilities beyond the basic keyboard notes, mod & pitch wheel and damper/sustain. My friend has a Roland V-Combo VR730 at the moment. Great internal sounds, but he primarily uses MainStage. Surprisingly, none of the surface sliders, faders or switches are mappable. There’s no config option to sent midi data out the midi ports for the surface controls. He just found out, even the expression pedal, can’t send midi. Crazy! I have an old Roland A33 with 76 keys and it’s not bad. At least the buttons, few faders and switches are midi mappable. Does anybody know of a newer Live Performance Keyboard, that can also function as a midi controller?

I use Logic Loop Browser and ADSR Sample Manager for managing loops and samples. Works good! But although I've tried to keep all my midi files in a standard folder structure, they seem to be spread throughout my local SSD. Can anybody recommend a midi file manager that scans all folder and sub-directories for midi files? Maybe has a preview?

I Just did my own comparison of Logic's Vintage VCA versus the Softube VCA compressor and found it easier to use the Softube's VCA. As some reviewers had suggested, the presets are more subtle and it just sounds better to me. You can probably get the same results with Logic's Vintage VCA by tweaking - but I didn't find the Logic presets useful. I worked with a basic kick and snare beat to start. I'll try it on bass and some other instruments later - although like many of us, I have custom Logic compressor settings I've grown used to for most instruments. I have a slew of UAD plugins and use classic 1176 and LA2A style compressors for vocals, acoustic guitar and typical acoustic sources. Adopting task specific compressors like the Softube VCA, say for drums, is a new strategy. Not sure using 4 or 5 different compressors is a road I want to travel.

Softube offers their VCA Compressor free during March, but I’m wondering if it does anything more than the standard Logic compressor? Reviews suggest the presets from Softube are great and subtle on drums and typical instruments using compression.

So, the daisy chain idea is not the limitation, it’s the Apollo x4! Gotcha! There are 16 channel pre-amp audio interfaces with ADAT, but connected to the x4, I suppose it would only recognize the first 8…. oh, well.

I have an Apollo x4 Thunderbolt and an old MOTU 8 pre [firewire] connected via ADAT for a total of 12 inputs. In this way the firewire doesn’t matter, I’m just using the MOTU pre-amps via ADAT. Can I daisy chain another MOTU 8 pre for 20 inputs in total? What would the cabling look like? Can I avoid creating an Aggregate Device for the Apollo x4 to recognize all 16 ADAT inputs from 2 devices?

Kind of... I did find a website with Logic Chord Trigger presets for a few dozen popular songs. I'm sure this guy just played the chords on his midi controller, or used a mouse to pick out the notes within Chord Trigger itself. What I was looking for - just out of interest - is a more direct way to create the chord trigger definitions from midi. I haven't found anything yet. I did find a program/utility that converts midi to a Scaler 2 chord set. https://github.com/joanroig/midi-to-scaler-chord-sets Like you said, typical Logic users have a music background and at least some music theory. I try not to be critical, but there's a lot of non-musicians using FL Studio, where this notion of creating songs with no knowledge of how to play an instrument is necessary. It seems crazy to me, but a lot of the marketing of FL Studio, and devices like the MPC line, promote the "you don't need to know anything about music" to write and record hit songs.

Thanks - UA Plugin Cleaner seems to work!

Just catching up on this topic. I recently upgraded the UA software to V11 to get the latest Hemisphere plugin that works with Apollo Hardware. It was released Nov 7, 2023. Like usual, it automatically installed all 100+ UA plugins, even the ones unauthorized. Then - yet again - I had to open Logic Plugin Manager and manually de-select all the plugins I don't own. How frustrating! Is there any better method?

I'm blown away by the breadth and enthusiasm of the Ripchord community, offering free chord sets so non-musicians can play popular chord progressions with 1 finger! Or, load extensive chord progressions into an MPC or Maschine pad device. It makes total sense for producers that don't know how to play an instrument. It's a real contrast and eye-opener for somebody with formal training on piano and music theory. It's all relatively new to me, but that community has been growing for a couple years. Of course it's popular.... it's easy and free https://trackbout.com/ripchord Hey, doesn't Ripchord look familiar? Similarly, you can find free or for sale chord sets to import into Scaler 2. So... I'm thinking... Logic Chord Trigger is kind of the same thing. Why are there such a limited selection of chord sets? Why hasn't this taken off like Ripchord or Scaler 2? Curious if anybody has hear of, or found a utility that creates Logic chord sets for Chord Trigger?