Tips on automating the alpacas in Logic

[nowaysj]

Actions in vst synths and fx are undoable in fl, I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Not a dis of logic at all. Look at all the quality people that use logic, and all the quality music made in there.

But there are a lot of people that are just getting into production that lurk around these forums, and they're reading a lot of conflicting information as they try to decide which direction to get started on. Just pointing out that the above process is quite laborious in logic and ultimately unnecessary in flstudio.

[chewie]

I was wondering... do u keep a template of automation variations u could use for chopping somewhere. say u can bounce a basic drumtrack and then do that in that template and bounce it back ?

Nah i'm not that organised in writing templates even a basic start up template cos i find experimenting goes out the window. I like to start differently most times and see what comes up. Each to their own though.

Also, will the quatizing work for synths which dont have quantized parameters like albino or massive 1.1.3 ( i own the .4 anyways but i was wondering)

thx

I'm not sure what you mean here, i presume you want to automate an unsynced lfo maybe? It can be done but it's a right pain in the ass. You can automate other things like filter cut off and volume to create rhythmic patterns something like this:





Basically when you command click on the automation box you can "copy and convert" it to create the same automation to control another parameter.
So here i started off with a short loop controlling volume and copied it across and merged them to make it longer. Then do the command click on the automation box and selected to "copy and convert" it to massive filter 1's cutoff.
You can also select just "convert" to change it to another parameter without keeping the original one (good for experimenting with pitch for example or wavetable position etc)
Now one other thing - i chose macro 1 for the filter cut off and assigned it in massive . Reason for doing this is so you can change the range of the filter cut off alot easier rather than having to change the amount by directly changing the drawings in the automation lane (or whatever it's called).
Here's what massive looks like - a basic patch with a 2 square waves into a scream filter with macro 1 controlling the filter cutoff:





Now to further "produce" this sound i've decided to have a tape delay effect as a send with a compressor after the tape to sidechain it to the main bass. I do this so the bass is prominant when it's loud but the tape delay swoops in when it gets quieter.
I've done this by sending a send out to bus 2 with no output and in the compressor i've set up the sidechain input as bus 2:





Ive also routed the main bass and tape ( bus 1) out to a new bus to combine the sounds (which is now bus 4 called "mix") and created a send to a reverb unit to gel the sounds. A bit of saturation here or vintage warmer might also sound nice ( but i did this in a rush)
Here's the mixer so you can get your head around it:






and here's a demo of what it sounds like all together with just a C note held:

http://www.zshare.net/download/78433726e4449d18/

[Ldizzy]

Forgot to say - you can use the automation arrange window to quickly edit what you've put in by chopping up the regions and stretching them etc.
(Saves having to mess about in the automation lane)





After a bit of messing around with that it looks like this:




and sounds like this:
alpaca new auto _ beat.mp3 - 1.07MB

About that.. i keep getting back to the arrange window everytime i use a shortkey on that window (eg ctrl c/x/v)... can u lock the automation arrange window so it doesnt vanish everytime a key is pressed?

ive read about lock screenset but it doesnt seem to work.. any help?

[chewie]

I think this is where screensets would be useful. Not locking them but switching between them:
Once you have the arrange page up for automation ( not the usual one) save that as screenset 1 then have your usual for 2 or vice versa.
Having 2 screens also helps - you can get all the stuff up the whole time if you want.

[chewie]

Also just to reiterate this point as it might help:
"whilst the automation event list is up press command 1 to bring up an arrange page for automation"

[Ldizzy]

I think this is where screensets would be useful. Not locking them but switching between them:
Once you have the arrange page up for automation ( not the usual one) save that as screenset 1 then have your usual for 2 or vice versa.
Having 2 screens also helps - you can get all the stuff up the whole time if you want.

shat just helped a lot thanks.

however data keeps being erased whenever i copy paste it... ill reread ur initial post and apply it carefully..

be back soon

[chewie]

however data keeps being erased whenever i copy paste it

You have to Merge the parts into one file on the automation arrange window
If it's any consolation i had a read over that shit after a blaze and it made fuck all sense and i wrote the dam thing

[Ldizzy]

thanks chewie. with a little practice ive gotten better now!

nyways... messing around ive found something that u might know but i dont remember reading in this thread, its concerning ur second tip.

U say u can Reassign a succession of automation values to another parameter by holding the command button while selecting another parameter from the parameter list of your favourite AU.

In an analog fashion, if you hold Option + Command while ''reassigning'' your automation data to a new parameter, itll copy it and keep the original too. So now u have two parameters with exact same automation, without having to use a second instance of your favourite plugin. Pretty useful if u want to use (eg) the same speed for various lfos in a synth ...

i figured that one out thanks to your second tip and to the existence of the logic mixer view ''option+command'' command.

!

[JFK]

shat just helped a lot thanks.

I lol'd

Sorry, Im a childish bell end.

[chewie]

In an analog fashion, if you hold Option + Command while ''reassigning'' your automation data to a new parameter, itll copy it and keep the original too. So now u have two parameters with exact same automation, without having to use a second instance of your favourite plugin. Pretty useful if u want to use (eg) the same speed for various lfos in a synth ...
!

I usually just command click on the automation box and select "copy and convert" to keep the original automation and assign a new one (on the same plug in) or just "convert" if i want to change it completely.

[Ldizzy]

shat just helped a lot thanks.

I lol'd

Sorry, Im a childish bell end.

[Ldizzy]

In an analog fashion, if you hold Option + Command while ''reassigning'' your automation data to a new parameter, itll copy it and keep the original too. So now u have two parameters with exact same automation, without having to use a second instance of your favourite plugin. Pretty useful if u want to use (eg) the same speed for various lfos in a synth ...
!

I usually just command click on the automation box and select "copy and convert" to keep the original automation and assign a new one (on the same plug in) or just "convert" if i want to change it completely.

shat helped as well

[Ldizzy]

huge post comin up, still need to fix a couple thingys mehehehe

[Ldizzy]

Hail Chewie and friends,

dunnow if its already been covered but theres that thing about the Marquee tool in logic that really makes it easier. (i use version 9, is it avaliable for other versions?!?!)

Chewie, i think uve watched Olav Basosky, the dutch electronic music mogul , with his logic tutorials.

in one of his tutorials, he gives that really nifty tip about the Marquee tool (esc E in your toolbox) to make automation even easier.

I spent the afternoon experimenting with it.

Here's a little tutorial i made, based on it.

Bear with me cause i speak french and im a lazy mofo!!!!!!!

I made a really basic patch, and i put a basic percussion rythm underneath it so :

- The bassline here is generated by Massive, and is portrayed by Mr. Tureaud (inst 1)
- The percussion line comes from the Guru channel which has its own sequencer (that is why u dont see any notes drawn next to it (inst 2)

IMAGE 1

Step 1 : write a melody
So up there, u have a little example. Say u made a basic massive midrange cack bass (pity the fool). U may want to put some random automation on one of the oscillators to make it more interesting.

As i did here : ive effed around with one of the osc's amplifier, by tweaking it live with my mouse in Write mode, just to add some harmonic content at the end of the phrase. (i.e. : weird steep automation data written at the end of the phrase

Soundcloud

Step 2 : Select the Marquee tool



Here by pressing escape, then E, ive chosen the tool which is symbolized by a + sign. The Esc key shortcut will come in handy as we will have to toggle between that tool and the mouse tool.

Step 3 : Highlight with Marquee tool and create breakpoints



With automation for the parameter u want to automate being displayed (a), if u go over a certain region of ur automation data with the marquee tool and highlight it, u will be able to select a portion of the automation.

cool thing about the marquee tool : IT FOLLOWS THE EFFIN GRID.

Once uve selected a region u wish to automate, keep it like that.

NOW BE CAREFUL : press Esc, 1, to select the regular pointer tool again as shown here :



Then DOUBLE CLICK ON THE AUTOMATION LINE FOR THE PARAMETER U WANT TO AUTOMATE. If you click elsewhere, u will lose ur selection. U need to click where there is a colored line. If there is no colored line at first, u will have to create one and start over again.

Step 4 : Have fun.

If you have done what ive just explained right, an ''overshadowed'' section of the automation data, with breakpoints on each of its side shoudve appeared.

Do u think uve created two dots? Nah...

uve just created 4 dots, at a perfect vertical angle.

If you dont trust me, drag the line up or down, u will see that :



....

yes..

And that, makes me a very happy panda :



A good way to know what ur doing (since a lot of people complain about massive displaying 2decimal values instead of fractions.. (i used to complain too) is to keep massive open while u tweak ur automation. that way u know exactly what u are doing (i hope). eg :



after fiddling with it for a minute it sounded like this (sucks i know) :

Soundcloud

.. still think it sucks? me too.. u could always resample

Extra bonus step : resampling inside logic

... a lot of you already use that technique but here's a little walkthru for that too... simply because i feel it compliments the other tips of that thread pretty niceley.

Pretty simple way to resample inside ur daw without having to bounce is to always keep one of ur busses avaliable to feed an audiotrack.


in this example, the audio track (blue) is set to recieve input from bus 5. The bassline's output is also sent to bus 5, and bus 5 is set to no output, that way it doesnt play twice.

if u press play, u wont hear anything, unless audio track is Record enabled (red r next to its icon)

now press record.

uve just created an audio version of ur bass track :



if you chop it, fuck with it and stuff u could come up with fun results.

chopping on this one has been very arbitrary and i didnt think of what i was trying to do.

i also forgot to select the ''snap at zero crossing'' option so my audio parts kept clipping between one another.

Soundcloud

annoying insnt it?

that is why i crossfaded the bits, one by one :



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and ended up realizing different crossfade settings could bring a nice touch of expression to ur lines.

here's the result :

Soundcloud

im sharing this because i want all of yall to make great music for me to listen to and mix during my sets. i also do that because this community has brought me much. keep it creative.

L. (hope it hadnt been covered already)

[chewie]

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Big ups you crazy fool some nice tips there

[ogunslinger]

I hope one day I can wrap my head around logic :[

[Ldizzy]

^ Macprovideo tutorials are pretty rad tbh

ps : feeling the hats in ur signature

[mongo]

Great tips

[gimmiefilth]

hey guys i love this forum. anyway i really need help on this. i really want to add automation to my wobbles. i follow all of the instructions, but when i draw in the automation nothing happens, my basslines isn't effected at all. and i cant seem to figure it out?

[BevOh]

Is it just me or does this seem way more complicated than it is in other DAWS?