Logic Pro 7 & earlier Logic 7 + MacBook Pro = No Sound

T

troubadour

Logician
Hi. I'm trying to use Logic Pro 7 with a Macbook Pro, and I get no sound. The midi seems to be working fine. I get visual feedback that the songs are being recorded. But no sound when I try to play them.

My sound system seems to be set up correctly because I can record and listen to songs with the Garage Band editor that came with the Macbook.

Someone told me Logic 7's sound system doesn't work with Macbook Pro. Is that true? If so, is there any kind of patch or workaround to make it right?

Help! I need Logic 7 to open a ton of old files created on a PC.
 
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troubadour said:
Someone told me Logic 7's sound system doesn't work with Macbook Pro. Is that true?
Click to expand...

No, absolutely not true.

But please provide more details about your system. In particular, which Audio interface you are using and how you have set it up in Logic 7 (logic ->preferences -> Audio)

kind regards

Mark
 
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I'm using Logic Pro 7 / Version: 7.2.0 (954) with
Mac OS X / Version 10.6.2 / Processor 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

I'm inputting MIDI via a MIDI controller. It's working out-of-the-box with Garage Band and there are no playback issues. I assume it's playing back through the Mac's built-in audio interface. Logic 7.2 recognizes the controller as a GM Device (USB Axiom 61) sending to MIDI Port 1. It's connected via USB, and has no on-board sound module. When I tried to install the M-Audio software for the controller, I got the message that "Install is not necessary. There is no driver to install or uninstall. This product is supported by drivers built into Mac OS X."

Under logic ->preferences -> Audio, I see 8 tabs: General, Drivers, Display, Sample Editor, Surround MP3, Reset, and Nodes.
I'm not sure what's relevant and what's not.

Under the General tab:

Plug-in delay compensation: Audio tracks and instruments
Sample Accurate Automation: Volume, Pan, Sends
Recording File Type: AIFF
Pass Keyboard Events to Plug-ins: All

Under the Drivers tab there's a single tab titled Core Audio with a check-box indicating that it is enabled.

System Memory Requirement: 66.0 MB.
Driver: Built-In input
I/O Buffer Size: 512
Recording Delay: 0
Max. Number of Audio Tracks: 32

64 Busses: unchecked
Universal Track Mode: checked
Larger Disk Buffer: checked
24 Bit Recording: unchecked
Software Monitoring: checked
Process Buffer Range: Medium
Rewire behavior: Playback Mode (Less CPU Load)
Maximum Scrub Speed: Normal
Scrub Response: Normal
 
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Is this an Autoload song or a completely empty/fresh/blank song?
Can you upload it here (with or without it's regions)?
 
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troubadour said:
Under the Drivers tab there's a single tab titled Core Audio with a check-box indicating that it is enabled.
Click to expand...

Here are some things to check:

Click hold on the drop down menu in the field for the core audio driver and make sure yo9u have the correct audio device selected.

Also, check in the instrument parameter box in the arrange window to make sure that your midi track is set to communicate with the correct port. It's possible it is set incorrectly.

When you look at the physical input object in the clicks and ports layer of the environment, do you see a port on it specifically referencing your axiom keyboard that is connected via usb?
 
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Ginger said:
Is this an Autoload song or a completely empty/fresh/blank song?
Can you upload it here (with or without it's regions)?
Click to expand...

No songs are loaded automatically when I open my copy of Logic 7.2. Also, I was surprised to discover that there don't seem to be any folders with demo songs and environments created by Logic users. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place: Applications > Logic Pro.app

All I'm doing is opening new files and playing at random, since I have no audio feedback.
 
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Eli said:
Here are some things to check:

Click hold on the drop down menu in the field for the core audio driver and make sure yo9u have the correct audio device selected.

Also, check in the instrument parameter box in the arrange window to make sure that your midi track is set to communicate with the correct port. It's possible it is set incorrectly.

When you look at the physical input object in the clicks and ports layer of the environment, do you see a port on it specifically referencing your axiom keyboard that is connected via usb?
Click to expand...

I have two choices when I click and hold the driver menu: Built in Input, and Built-in Microphone. I've tried both, and neither one works.

I have three options for the Port parameter, and I've tried all three: Off, All, and "Port 1 (USB Axiom 61)." Notice that Logic correctly identifies my MIDI controller.

Click & Ports has 4 objects connected in series: Physical Input > Keyboard > Monitor > and Sequencer Input. As long as there is a cable running from SUM or Port 1 on the Physical Object, I get positive visual feedback from both the keyboard and the monitor. It's the same no matter whether I play my MIDI keyboard, or strum the keyboard object with my mouse, or use the keyboard object as a track instrument to play a recording. I get visual feedback, but no audio.

However, I just made an interesting discovery: I can hear the metronome in record mode !! But if I can hear the metronome, why can't I hear the recording?

Can anyone make sense of this?
 
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Another piece of the puzzle has been found, but the mystery deepens. I discovered that I can record and playback audio, if I connect a microphone via line-in. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I can hear the metronome during recording. However, still no sound when playing back recorded MIDI.

According to the MIDI window in Macbook Pro's Audio MIDI setup (AMS), my MIDI Device Name is "USB Axiom 61," and the "Connectors for: Port 1" are MIDI In: 1, and MIDI Out: 1. These parameters can not be altered. There is no option in the AMS to send the MIDI signal anywhere but back to Port 1.

I can't help wondering if Logic is trying to send the output signal back to the Axiom keyboard, as if it had an on-board sound module. It doesn't. It's just a controller. Is there some way in Logic to make sure that the signal is routed to the Mac's on-board speakers?

I tried the simplest possible configuration in the environment: Physical Input from SUM to a new instrument. I dragged the instrument to a track, checked the Program and Volume boxes, and tried all three options for the Port setting: Off, All, and "Port 1 (USB Axiom 61)." Still no sound. (The recording was made earlier with my MIDI controller, and dragged onto the new track.)

By contrast, Garage Band automatically routes the signal to the on-board speakers. According to Garage Band's Audio/MIDI setup, there are two options for Audio Output: System Setting, and Built-in Output. It works with either one. There doesn't seem to be any equivalent to this Audio Output choice in Logic 7.2. The only choices listed under the Audio > Drivers tab are Built-in Input and Built-in Microphone. The Built-in Microphone driver doesn't work. When this driver is selected, as soon as I name and save a new audio track, the Mac starts shrieking high-pitched noise, and I have to shut it down, or change drivers as fast as I can, to stop it.

By contrast the built-in mic works just fine with Garage Band.

Any ideas?
 
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Logic has three types of channel strips/tracks. You need to be recording MIDI (and more importantly) playing back on a software instrument track with a software instrument instantiated in the input slot in order to hear any MIDI audio. If you are playing your track back on an Audio track or General MIDI track (this is for hardware synths) you will not hear any audio as none is being generated.

All of the information in clicks and ports is for MIDI info getting into Logic, it has nothing to do with MIDI playback or Audio. As mentioned earlier, you must have a cable path from the physic input to the sequencer input object (perhaps named "to Recording and Thru") to get MIDI into Logic. Best not to mess with that path.

I also sent you PM - I live in Seattle and am traveling to E. WA regularly at least for a little while. It's possible we could meet with your equipment as it's portable......
 
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Doug Zangar said:
Logic has three types of channel strips/tracks. You need to be recording MIDI (and more importantly) playing back on a software instrument track with a software instrument instantiated in the input slot in order to hear any MIDI audio.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Doug. You solved the mystery. Also, thanks to all the other users who took the trouble to read my tale of woe, and offer help.

For the sake of anyone else who's stumped by this, here's the relevant paragraph on page 67 of my Getting Started With Logic user's guide:

"Audio Instrument
This Audio Object supports the use of software-based instrument plug-ins. These plug-ins include those that are built into Logic, plus third-party Audio Unit instruments. Although the Audio Instrument Object looks similar to Logic's other Audio Objects, it supports MIDI note input, which the others do not. This enables appropriate plug-ins to be played via MIDI, just like an external MIDI synthesizer, sampler or module. The corresponding Audio Instrument tracks in the Arrange window allow you to record and play back MIDI Regions."​

No mention of this 3rd type of track is made in chapter 2: Getting to Know Logic's Arrange Window. Audio and MIDI tracks and regions are described there as if they are completely separate modes with no overlap... no possibility of playing MIDI on an audio track. Because I am upgrading from a much older version of Logic (Logic audio 3.5), I had no clue about Audio Instruments and Audio Instrument tracks, so I was skimming over everything that had to do with audio tracks and their channel strips, in my search for a solution. It didn't occur to me that audio inserts might include software instruments, playable via MIDI. In Logic 3.5, inserts were all audio effects, of one kind or another.

My setup worked out-of-the-box with Garage Band, but that didn't shed any light on my problem because in Garage Band the New Project and New Track wizards always provide the right type of track for MIDI, automatically loaded with one instrument or another. In Logic 7.2, MIDI tracks load by default with piano, guitar, strings, etc., but "audio instrument" tracks are left undefined. So, when I moved my MIDI recording onto one of these tracks, there was still no sound.

Anyway, despite the long learning curve, I am very happy to be up and running with Logic again. I couldn't afford a Mac when Emagic stopped supporting PC's, and I've been stuck for years with a Windows editor that can't even "select all following," which, for me, is essential for any serious work with a matrix or score editor.

Maybe I'll even go back and do some more work on my music for the Song of Songs, although my style and interests have changed a lot since then.

But, right at the moment, I'm just jazzed to be playing with all these cool new sounds!

So, thanks again!
 
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