Logic Pro (X) Time Signature changes in 10.5

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sk0rk0

Logician
Back in the day, Logic had the most elegant, most streamlined application of time signature changes in the business. Nobody had it but Logic. They've gradually reduced the functionality so that now they're back to where all the other developers were in the 90's.

There have been two major changes in this function. First, I think, with logic X and now with 10.5.

Originally, you simply entered - at any bar in your sequence - the top number of your choice, then the bottom number and presto change-o.

With logic X, they changed this, adding a list of suggested options, starting with 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, etc. So much clunkier, less elegant. If your time signature didn't appear on their list of suggestions, you could scroll down to the bottom of the list and click "custom," which brought a drop-down menu which afforded you the ability to select the top and bottom numbers, pretty much the same procedure as in the old logic.

Now, with logic 10.5, when you try to change the signature on a bar other than 1, logic just changes the entire time signature. If you want to add a time signature change, you have to go to signature list and add it there! Which, as I say, is the way all the other, less advanced sequencer programs worked back in the 90s.

Why did this excellent function have to be changed at all?
 
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I didn’t know this had been changed. I can’t swear to this as I would usually use the score editor for time signatures, but can’t you also use the signature track as well as the list?

I’ll check tomorrow when I have Logic in front of me.
 
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First question - do you have Advanced Tools activated? It sound like you don't, so first of all, go to Logic-Prefences-Advanced Tools and switch them on.

Adding/changing time signatures in 10.5 is very straightforward. In the main window, open Global Tracks, place the Playhead wherever you want to change the time signature, then hit the + sign adjacent to "Signature" in the signature track, the dialogue that opens allow you to choose number of beats and beat grouping. Alternatively, you can assign the key command "Create Time Signature Change to a suitable key combination - might help speed things up if you are frequently adding time signatures.





kind regards

Mark
 
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Mark. thanks for your response, but that's too many steps. All you had to do previously is get the playhead where you need it, go up to the time signature readout in your control bar and change it. It also means I have to use up real estate on my arrange page with the time signature track, and I'm jealous of my real estate. So for me, that's click on the global tracks icon, open the drop down menu, click on signature track, click on the plus sign, two clicks for the key signature, another click to close the global tracks. Versus just two clicks in logic 9.
 
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The key command thing is a good call and I have set it up in logic. It's still one of the great things about logic, the number of approaches to a single problem the emagic lads built into the program.

Thanks for your help.
 
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sk0rk0 said:
Mark. thanks for your response, but that's too many steps. All you had to do previously is get the playhead where you need it, go up to the time signature readout in your control bar and change it. It also means I have to use up real estate on my arrange page with the time signature track, and I'm jealous of my real estate. So for me, that's click on the global tracks icon, open the drop down menu, click on signature track, click on the plus sign, two clicks for the key signature, another click to close the global tracks. Versus just two clicks in logic 9.
Click to expand...

Then the thing to do is to let Apple know how you would prefer it to be : Feedback - Logic Pro – Apple

You could also have a seperate screenset where the gobal tracks area is open and permanently visible, and just switch back and forth as desired. Doing it that way would require tapping one key on your computer keyboard, not terribly inconvenient IMHO :)

kind regards

Mark
 
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BTW, just experimenting around a little more with time signatures, it seems that, once you have made one time signature change in global tracks, you can then revert to using the time signature display up in the control bar. Entering them there as you have done in L9 does in fact work in LPX, and leaves the previous time signatures (the original, and the one that does have to be entered in global tracks) unchanged.

HTH, kind regards

Mark
 
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