Getting Stuff In There

Audio vs. MIDI

Everything in your Logic project is either audio or MIDI. Get this straight now and a whole class of confusion disappears.

Audio is a recording. A microphone picked something up, or you plugged in a guitar, or Logic rendered a virtual instrument to a file. It’s a photograph. You can crop it, filter it, apply effects, but you can’t go back and change which notes were played.

MIDI is instructions. When you press keys on a controller, Logic records which keys, how hard, and when. No sound gets recorded. Those keystrokes route to whatever instrument you assign, and if you swap the instrument, the same performance sounds completely different. MIDI is the recipe, not the meal.

This distinction affects everything that follows. When you create a track, you’re choosing which world you’re in. When you record, the rules are different for each. When you edit, the tools behave differently. The two systems meet at the channel strip — both audio and MIDI tracks have one — but until they reach that point, they live by different rules.

Creating Tracks

Click the + button or go to Track > New Tracks. Logic asks what kind of track you want.

Software Instrument is the one you’ll use most. It records MIDI and hosts a virtual instrument inside Logic. Press a key, the software makes sound. No external hardware required.

Audio records sound from a microphone or line input. We cover audio recording in the next chapter.

External MIDI sends MIDI data out through a cable to a hardware synthesizer. The hardware makes the sound. You need to route that audio back into Logic through an audio input to actually capture it. If you don’t own hardware synths, you won’t use this. And if you accidentally create an External MIDI track when you meant Software Instrument, you’ll play your keyboard, see activity on screen, and hear nothing. That exact mistake comes up in every beginner class.

Drummer creates a track with Logic’s AI drummer instrument. We cover Drummer in its own chapter later.

When creating multiple tracks at once — say, ten audio tracks for a multi-mic drum recording — Logic will assign ascending input numbers automatically. Input 1 for the first, Input 2 for the second, and so on. You can always change them after.

One thing worth noticing in the new track dialog: the checkbox for Open Library. Leave it unchecked. More on why in a moment.

Loading Instruments: Skip the Library

The Library is a panel on the left side of the screen that lets you browse patches. A patch is a complete channel strip preset — an instrument plus effects, sends, and routing, all bundled together. You pick “Warm Electric Piano” and you get a piano instrument, an EQ, some effects you didn’t ask for, and a bunch of complexity you didn’t sign up for.

None of it is wrong. But none of it was your choice.

When the Library Is Actually Useful

The Library earns its keep once you understand channel strips. There’s a disclosure triangle on the left side of the Library panel. Click it to expand the hierarchy, and you can point it at a specific slot on your channel strip — the instrument, an effects slot, whatever. Once you’ve pointed it at a slot, flipping through the Library auditions presets for just that slot, without opening the plugin interface.

This is genuinely faster than opening each plugin and scrolling through its preset menu. But it requires knowing which slot you’re targeting, which requires understanding the channel strip, which comes later. For now, load directly from the instrument slot.

Patches vs. Presets

These two terms cause confusion because they sound interchangeable. They are not.

A patch is a complete channel strip setting. Instrument plus effects plus sends plus routing. Loading a patch from the Library replaces the entire strip.

A preset is a setting for one plugin. Open the Sampler, choose “Acoustic Bass” from its preset menu, and you’ve loaded a preset. Only that plugin changes.

The practical consequence: loading a patch can wipe out effects and routing you’ve already configured. Loading a preset only affects the one plugin you’re working with.

The Sound Library

Logic ships with a massive library of additional content — instruments, loops, samples, sound effects. For the price of the application, you get roughly 80 GB of material if you download everything. Go to Logic Pro > Sound Library > Download All Available Sounds and let it run in the background.

If you’re tight on disk space, open the Sound Library Manager and install selectively. Start with a piano, some drums, a few orchestral sounds. You can always add more later.

Apple Loops

Apple Loops are royalty-free, tempo-matched, key-matched loops that ship with Logic and expand as you install Sound Library content. Open the Loop Browser and you’ll find thousands, organized by instrument, genre, and mood.

Two colors to know:

• Blue loops are audio. Pre-recorded performances that conform to your project tempo and key automatically. You can’t change the individual notes.
• Green loops are MIDI. Software instrument patterns with editable notes. Drag one in and you can swap the instrument. A “Synth Bass” green loop becomes an acoustic bass if you change the instrument. Same notes, entirely different sound.

Drag a loop from the browser into the Tracks area. Logic creates the appropriate track type automatically. Loops are useful for sketching arrangements and for learning how other people build beats and grooves. There’s no shame in starting with them.

Importing Audio and MIDI Files

Audio Files

Several methods, all equivalent:

• Drag and drop from Finder directly into the Tracks area
• File > Import > Audio File
• Use the File Browser (below)

When you import, Logic asks whether to copy the file into your project folder or reference it in its original location. Copy it. Always. If you reference a file on your desktop and later move that file, the project breaks. Copying makes the project self-contained.

Importing from Other Sessions

You can import tracks, channel strip settings, and content from other Logic projects. Go to File > Import and choose the project you want to pull from. Logic shows you everything in that project — tracks, instruments, effects chains — and you pick what to bring in.

This is useful when you’ve built a great bass sound in one song and want it in another, or when you need to grab a recording from an older session. It brings in the complete track, including the channel strip configuration.

MIDI Files

Drag a .mid file into the Tracks area. Logic creates a track for each MIDI channel in the file and assigns default instruments. Those defaults are rarely what you want, so reassign them to something useful.

The File Browser

The File Browser is built into Logic — a panel that lets you navigate your file system without leaving the application. You can preview audio files before importing them, which is faster than switching back and forth to Finder. It also lets you navigate into other Logic projects and preview their content.

Not everyone uses it. Dragging from Finder works fine. But if you keep your samples and recordings organized in a known location, the File Browser saves the trip to the desktop.

New Track with Same Instrument

One more thing worth knowing early: if you have a Software Instrument track selected and you want another track using the same instrument and channel strip, go to Track > New Track with Same Instrument. Logic creates a new track that plays through the same channel strip.

This is what happens behind the scenes during certain cycle recording modes. When you record MIDI in cycle mode with “Create Tracks and Mute” enabled, Logic creates new track lanes using the same instrument. You’re not creating new instruments — you’re creating new lanes that all play through the same channel strip. Change the color on one, they all change, because they’re all the same object underneath.

What to Practice

• Create a new Software Instrument track and load an instrument directly from the instrument slot (not the Library). Try the Sampler and browse its presets. Load a piano, then swap it for a bass. The channel strip doesn’t change — just the sound.
• Open the Loop Browser (Show/Hide Loop Browser, default O) and drag in one blue loop and one green loop. Double-click the green loop to open the Piano Roll. Change a few notes. Then change the instrument on that track. Same MIDI data, different sound.
• Drag an audio file from Finder into your project. Choose “Copy” when prompted. Open the project folder in Finder and confirm the file appeared in the Audio Files subfolder.
• If you haven’t downloaded the Sound Library, start the download now. It runs in the background while you work.

Commands in This Chapter