Logic Pro 8 Audio files from Midi Drums

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pala

Logician
I am fairly new to this.
I have a drum-pattern-midi region sitting in one track..( from Addictive Drums)...then I've customised it, like people do..
Now I would like to convert the pattern to individual audio files.
I'd like to end up with separate kick, snare and hi-hat audio tracks.
What is the most concise way of achieving this in Logic 8 ? Without resorting to multiple instances of the drum software.

I can't export it as one track as it's too messy to manipulate from then on.
I'm not sure if split/demix is right as it is all still connected to one track.

I know how to use multi-outputs.But it still leaves me with this problem.
How do I get my Midi region pattern straight to individual audio tracks.
( It would be the same question if the beat was generated by Ultrabeat).
Please help.Thanks.
 
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One slightly clunky but nevertheless effective way would be to solo the individual instruments (kick, then snare, then HH etc.) and in each case bounce to create an audio file.

kind regards

Mark
 
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I don't use Addictive Drums, but with BFD2 this is achieved by assigning outputs from the channel strips corresponding to the kit pieces (in the drum software) to whatever inputs you wish to create in Logic to receive the data.
 
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1) Demix by note pitch.
2) "Re-merge" the things that belong together but got demixed, too (such as closed and opened hats).
3) Either solo and bounce or use the "export region to audio" function (something I find the most comfortable in situations like this).

- Sascha
 
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Thanks to all of you.I did it the solo/ export way but I'm going to try all the routes for the sake of learning.Cheers.Logic has so many ways of skinning a cat.Leave the cat alone ! Cheers to all again.
 
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I also found the distinction between exporting the midi region and using the Bounce a bit confusing.Are they both the same thing when wanting to convert ONE region ?
 
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pala said:
I also found the distinction between exporting the midi region and using the Bounce a bit confusing.Are they both the same thing when wanting to convert ONE region ?
Click to expand...

No, they're different.
When using the "export region" method, all your fader and send settings (hence your master volume as well) will be ignored, only the inserts will be taken into account.
This can be good or bad, depending how you look at it.
The good thing is that you will get a full volume audio file, so you don't lose any resolution. If you wanted the same via bouncing, you'd have to solo the track and check for an ideal master output volume - which, in case you've got something else going on already, would most likely require to raise the volume for that bounce process temporarily.
The bad thing probably is that you would like to have some send effects included, that's only possible via bouncing.
Also, I wish I could export more than one region at once, that'd make some things a lot easier. Ideally this would even work for multiple selected regions on multiple tracks. But IMO it's still a rather comfortable method, especially when working with MIDI drums. I really like to do some cutting and mangling on the audio side of things. Actions such as reversing a sound, rapidly cutting it, stuttering it up, stretching it and all that simply are a lot easier to do with audio than in the MIDI realm.

Fwiw, here's a little tip in case you only want to extract a single note out of your MIDI region (this would as well work using a transformer, but IMO it's faster this way):
- Open the region in the piano roll.
- Press the note in question on the mini keyboard on the left in the piano roll.
=> All the notes on that key will be selected.
- CMD+X to cut them out.
- Duplicate your track in the arrange (don't create a new track with duplicated settings).
- Select "paste at original position".
=> Logic will now automatically create a new region containing the notes you've just cut out.

To me, this is the fastest way to, say, just extract a snare and make an audio file out of it - demix by note pitch unfortunately is way too messed up IMO (the funny thing being that it's exactly as messed up in Cubase, btw.) and transformers don't feature some "extract to selected track" function (something I wish was possible since ages already...).


- Sascha
 
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Thanks Sascha for such an in-depth and full reply.I will definitely use yr advice.
If we can just normalize a region or track...why don't we ? Or is that going to mess with the headroom for further processing later on ? I'm asking cos the glut of questions seem to be here with a lot of newbies like me.
Thanks
 
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pala said:
If we can just normalize a region or track...why don't we ?
Click to expand...

See, if you, say, trim down some virtual instruments level, this is still fine as long as you're dealing with the instrument itself, because Logics internal processing is happening at quite a high resolution (32bit float if I'm not wrong).
As soon as you bounce stuff down, your best option would be 24bit. With this, you might be losing at least some headroom (in case your MIDI regions passed through the virtual instrument are quite below 0 dB, which often is the case in a mix situation). I'm anything but Mr. Golden Ears, so for what I do, such things usually don't matter at all, but I was just trying to describe the way to maintain maximum resolution, for those of us with better ears than mine.
Normalizing, if at all, can only have a negative effect on your material (as it's coming along with certain mathematical "errors"). It doesn't change your dynamics for one bit, but it also doesn't keep them exactly the same - as said, during the process of normalizing, some rounding errors might be introduced. Normalizing only makes sense in very few situations (such as in bouncing out test mixes that you want to compare to each other).

- Sascha
 
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