Logic Pro 9 Protecting locaters from accidental change

[sunhunter9]

If I could put the question well, I'd probably be closer to solving my issue. I recorded a song with some midi and some audio tracks. In 4/4 with quarter note division. But, it's really more of a typical 12/8 groove. This didn't matter in tracking so far. The problem come up in editing, and it's at least a twofold issue. First problem is that I can't really use the piano roll grid as I normally do because some parts seem to hardly ever touch a downbeat or line on the grid. I can hear, say closed hat, has a few hits that are too far off to keep, but it isn't evident visually where I can safely move them to. Okay, I mostly got through that part and it was quite the ear training exercise. But what is giving me a headache is that, whilst trying out different meters to see if they could be used for tracking the rest of the parts and making editing faster, is that my locaters keep jumping when I don't intend to move them. I think they are linked somehow to the markers in the arrangment, but I'm not sure.
Is there a way to "protect" or "lock" the locaters or divorce them from whatever is causing them to move (maybe being linked to marker sections) in surprising ways? I realize that changing meter married to markers is perhaps a feature? How can I switch from 4/4 with quarter note division to 12/8 with eighth note division in the middle of tracking? Score window does show triplets mostly, but these don't lay out conveniently on the matrix.

 

[JuanTahnahmahrah]

You can also re-position your MIDI notes in the Event List Editor. If you have not used it before, it is handy when you don't want to quantize, but need to tighten up a MIDI track. You need an understanding of "ticks" in addition to measures and beats.

The upbeat of measure four, beat three, for example, has a specific numerical eqivalent in Logic. Although a downbeat is usually "1" -- an eighth note upbeat is "480" [!]. That is how Logic keeps track of rhythm. In 4/4, there are 960 ticks (or slices) within each quarter note.

I am guessing you are clicking in your timeline when the locators move. It has both an upper and lower segment. You can click-drag the locators, or just click and they will move.

 

[Eli]

Is there a way to "protect" or "lock" the locaters or divorce them from whatever is causing them to move (maybe being linked to marker sections) in surprising ways? I realize that changing meter married to markers is perhaps a feature? How can I switch from 4/4 with quarter note division to 12/8 with eighth note division in the middle of tracking? Score window does show triplets mostly, but these don't lay out conveniently on the matrix.

Hi Sunhunter,

There are a couple of things you can do. First of all, switching from 4/4 to 12/8 can be done by some clever smpte locking and mathematical tempo calculations. But, being lazy, I would do it "the easy way". Let me explain.

First off, set the division value in the transport bar to 12 instead of the default 16. By doing this, and setting your snap value to "division", you can easily edit your notes in the Piano Roll editor in increments of 12 divisions to the bar; 3 to each quarter note. See the screenshot below.

Secondly, by setting your score display quantize to 4,12 you can force the notation to be displayed as eight note triplets for each quarter note of the time signature. This works relatively well, depending on the complexity of your rhythms of course. See the screenshot below

And with regard to locators, there's no way that I know of to lock them. But what you can do is lock your markers to smpte position (see screen shot). So, you can set the markers to equal your locator values. Then if you lock the marker and change your tempo, your markers absolute position will be preserved. You can then use those start and end values to set your locators.

 

[sunhunter9]

Juan, Eli, thank you. Your responses have solved my difficulties and given me some new angles to work with. GREAT!