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MIDI Plug-Ins
- Thread starter mk3
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alienimplant
Logician
There is a very good arp already built into logic, but it's buried. It's in the audio Environment window. New > Arpeggiator. Make sure it's visible in the arrange (check the icon box), then cable it to the instrument track you want it to control. Then move your chords to the arp track in the arrange window. For realistic guitar strumming, create an arp for the strum up and another fro the strum down cords and move the appropriate chords in the arrange to the applicable track. Learning the attributes of the arp can be tricky. Note that the arp is not compatible with some plugin synths (not Logic's fault). This arpeggiator still impresses the hell out of me!
alienimplant
Logician
There are also many other MIDI tools in the environment that are worth looking at like control transformers, modulators, etc. You just set them up in the same way I described the arp above (i.e. cabling them to the destination track you want them to affect).
What I have been asking for, for years now, is for MIDI plug-ins to be implemented in Logic, and for a command called "convert Environment Macro to MIDI Plug-in"-so basically, not only would Logic come with standard MIDI plug-ins, but you could create your own! This would be a really unique solution. The only application close to that would be the combination of the forthcoming Live 8 + Max.
Orren
mk3
Logician
Yes, I used that one from time to time. However, I find it very limited.
- There are only a few pattern options
- There is no way to create and add one's own custom patterns
- There is very limited control over feel (different note lengths and velocities, etc)
I still find the Environment cabling to be a tedious hold-over as well. It's fine if that is kept as an option, but I think a simple MIDI plug-in with user-definable patterns and feel parameters would be ideal.
I miss the arpeggiator on my old Novation SuperNova II...If I recall, there were somewhere on the order of 600 or more (!) presets, with various feels. One could also create custom patterns. An arp pattern could be up to 64 steps long, consisting of notes, rests (!), ties (!), glides (!), with independent control of velocity and gate time for each step. Now THAT's what I call an arpeggiator. In a minimalist frenzy inspired by the diminutive size of NYC real estate, I suddenly exiled almost all of my hardware synths.
There are third party solutions, but none seem to do the job right. I've tried HyperCyclic for a while. It creates some intriguing patterns, but the programming is rather odd, and the timing is unusable in Logic (one has to use the IAC bus to run HyperCyclic in Logic). One can record the output, and requantize, but it's just too tedious.
alienimplant
Logician
Touché! Excellent points!!
alienimplant
Logician
The sad truth is, this is my preferred method anyway. It always has been. My arps evolve so much over the course of several bars for presets to be worthwhile for me. I'm so used to doing it, I don't think about it much anymore. I build them very quickly in the matrix/piano editor using velocity, length, key, etc. For me, I think it's faster than moving through presets and having to tweak them.