Logic Pro 9 Help with effects automation/"recording" effect changes

[acehole7]

Hey everyone! I'm running Logic 9 with a Line 6 Toneport UX8 interface with 2 footswitches. I have one footswitch that I can use as an A/B switch when running POD Farm 2 standalone by clicking "MIDI learn" on the button then stomping the footswitch...but that doesn't work when running POD Farm as a plug-in within Logic. Ideally I'd like to have it set up so that 2 guitarists can play with POD Farm as a plug in and use the footswitches to change sounds and have Logic "record" that footswitch message as well, but I haven't been able to figure it out or find it in the manuals yet. I would also like to know how to automate effects changes (such as kicking on and off distortion/delay etc) either using Logic's effects or POD Farm. I'm sure the POD Farm questions are probably more appropriate in the Line 6 forums but any help in regards to the general application within Logic and how to do that stuff with Logic's effects would greatly help. Thanks!

 

[acehole7]

Just to clarify some things...

When I record guitar using POD Farm as a standalone Logic records only the dry guitar signal to that track. I am imagining either inserting a PF plugin to that channel strip and then automating (MIDI CC messages?) in order to switch between sounds and turn on/off effects within that plug-in, or to insert 2 (or more) PF plugs and automating it so that one is active and the other bypassed and then switching them to change tones. From what I've seen there's not many POD Farm users on here so I don't expect much help when talking about switching within PF...but switching inserted effects on and off applies to anything in Logic. I also haven't played with Amp Designer or Pedal Board much so if anyone has some suggestions for doing what I want with those then by all means...I'll give it a shot or maybe be able to apply those techniques to PF as well.

That's the most important thing to me right now...to be able to program tone changes and effects switching to guitar tracks after recording.

However I would also like to be able to use my footswitches to change things within plugs in Logic while playing live because right now I can only do that with one guitar while running PF standalone...can't do it with 2 guitarists (which is what most of my recording bands have).

Anyway, maybe I'm looking in the wrong places but I haven't been able to find anything in either the Logic users manual or my Apple Pro Training book on this subject. Obviously I'm not very experienced with MIDI.

 

[acehole7]

Ok, I'm getting closer...found this in the POD Farm advanced user manual...

"POD Farm 2 Plug-In does support the ability to be remotely controlled by an external MIDI controller device (such as the Line 6 FBV MkII Series Controllers, or most any 3rd party MIDI controller device). POD Farm 2 Plug-In is, of course, designed to run as an audio plug-in within your DAW host software. Therefore, you will need to configure your DAW host software to receive MIDI control data from your MIDI device's MIDI Out port. Within DAW host applications, there can be two ways to access audio plug-ins via external MIDI control; Via the DAW's own track parameter automation options, or via MIDI input into the plug-in itself. Not all audio plug-ins support the latter method, since this requires the plug-in to support MIDI input, but POD Farm 2 does support this so we've got you covered!"

Each DAW application offers these MIDI input options slightly differently. For most DAWs, this is typically accomplished by setting up a MIDI track to receive from your MIDI controller device, and setting the MIDI track Output to the audio track & Plug-In.

Somehow that last bit just doesn't seem like the way one would do this in Logic...logically 😛 but I've been wrong about that many times.

Unfortunately I'm at work on night shift right now so I can't try to figure this out by playing with it...and I have a band starting principal recording tonight pretty much as soon as I wake up after getting off work...so if anyone can help point me in the right direction so I can hopefully get this figured out fast I would love you forever hahaha.

 

[acehole7]

I believe I've found it...the Line 6 Toneport MIDI Setup guide has a section dedicated to Logic...so for posterity here's some of it. I'll try this out when I get home...again any tips or further advice are greatly appreciated.

First, here's a handy tip in Logic... The Logic Pro transport always shows you when MIDI data is being received, and specifically the MIDI Channel, command type and value. For example, watch the transport indicator and move a knob, pedal or footswitch on your KB37/UX2/UX8, and you'll see this MIDI In information displayed. In this screenshot, we just moved our Expression Pedal all the way forward, so the MIDI In indicators show that Logic last received CC 11 with a Value of 127 on MIDI Channel 1. This indicator can be very helpful to confirm Logic is receiving MIDI from your device, and specifically its MIDI command & values without always having to go back to the Line 6 MIDI Controller Settings dialog to reference this information!

For this example, we'll map the Expression Pedal of our KB37 to the Wah - Position parameter of the GearBox or POD Farm 1 or 2 Audio Units Plug-Ins. The steps are very similar for configuring MIDI control of a parameter in practically any Logic or Audio Units effects Plug-In as well.
• Create an Audio track in your Logic session, and record or insert an audio file so you'll have something to hear your Plug-In effect applied to. A nice clean guitar recording wold work nicely here.
• Click on an Effects Insert slot for this Logic Audio track and insert the GearBox or POD Farm Plug-In.
• In the Plug-In window, load a Tone preset, and click on the Wah pedal effect to make sure it is "on" and to show the Wah effect's edit settings in the edit panel (or, in POD Farm 1 Plug-In, bring up the Wah Edit Panel).
• For POD Farm 2 Plug-In - You need to first assign the Wah - Position knob parameter to one
of the POD Farm 2 Plug-In Automation Slots. Ctrl+click directly on the Wah Position knob and then click on an empty Slot to assign it, as we've done
here for Slot 1:
• Next, (before you click on anything else) go to the Logic > Preferences > Control Surfaces menu, and you want to select Learn Assignment for "Wah - Position" (or, for POD Farm 2 Plug-In, choose Learn Assignment for "Parameter 1").
• As you can see by the name of the "Learn Assignment..." menu command, Logic automatically detected the plug-in "Wah - Position" parameter since it was the last item you selected with your mouse in the previous step.
• When you select this "Learn Assignment..." menu command, it launches the Logic Controller Assignments dialog, and a message informs you that it is waiting for you to access your MIDI Controller so that it can "Learn" the MIDI command from it.
• Now move your Expression Pedal, and you should see the Controller Assignment dialog receive and "Learn" the MIDI Control message (which is configured to transmit MIDI CC 11, with a Value range of 0 - 127, as part of the MIDI Default preset we previously selected in the Line 6 Audio-MIDI Settings).
• Exit the Controller Assignments dialog and give the Expression Pedal a try. You should see the Position knob within the GearBox/POD Farm Plug-In window move in response. Press Play in Logic to hear your audio track play, and when you move the pedal, you should hear the Wah effect do its thing on your track!
• Note that you can also set your Logic Audio track to record automation for this Plug-In, Wah Position parameter, and you can use the pedal to record a Wah "performance" too. You should be able to repeat the above steps to access any mappable parameter in Logic with any of your KB37/UX2/UX8 MIDI Controllers - Mixer faders, Pan knobs, solo switch, Software Instrument knobs, other Plug-In parameters, etc. So free up your hands and start playing!

 

[Peter Ostry]

This is indeed a great forum. I didn't know that the sheer existence helps users to solve tricky problems without any discussion. Unfortunately I cannot contribute anything to the subject but keep us informed 🙂 Anyone who searches the forum for POD will find the posts and this is good.