Logic Pro 9 selecting and playing selections immediately

[edurbrow]

I've been using Logic for around two years or so and I am still a newbie. I am a long time Digital Performer user and there are couple of things I'm still trying to come to grips with in Logic that I had grown accustomed to in DP.

To hear some portion of audio or midi, in DP, I can just drag over tracks in the Tracks or Sequencer windows to select the part I want to hear from outside of an audio region. It doesn't select the whole region. To play any selection of audio or midi I just hit opt-spacebar and it plays what I've selected immediately. Double clicking an audio region ("chunk" in DP's terminology), gets me inside of it. Within an audio region, as soon as I make my selection, i.e. let up on the mouse button, it plays. I'm so used to selecting and hearing selections quickly that I feel I must be missing something in Logic, as I haven't figured out how to do this quickly.

As far as what I've learned, in Logic, to hear a portion of audio in the arrange window you have to choose the Marque, make a selection, then click on S (hitting S on keyboard doesn't seem to work in this case), then hit play, then click again on S to take it out of solo mode. Isn't there an easier way I'm missing?

Also for midi, in DP, in any kind of window, I can just drag across events and hit opt-spacebar and what I've selected immediately plays. This is particularly useful in a graphic window if I only want to hear part of a track, say a group of notes above C3 or the HH only. I don't know how to do this in Logic.

Thanks in advance

 

[CSeye]

You can do the same thing by dragging over regions or some portion of them with the Marquee tool.

Use Shift/Enter to playback the selection. You can change the key command to option-spacebar if you like.

If selecting sections of many tracks, you can also make visible the Marquee strip above the ruler. Select it from the upper right of the Arrange window from the pop up with the 8th note on it. When visible, just drag on that strip to select all tracks. Shift click to remove the ones you don't want included.

 

[georgelegeriii]

Actually, just put Logic into solo mode and press the curser where you want to listen from on that region.

Is that what you're asking for?

 

[CSeye]

Click and hold on the Cycle button in the Transport.
Check on Auto Set Locators by: Selection, Region, Note.

Hit "S" to activate Solo, now select a Region, or select notes in the Piano Roll.
Hit spacebar to play.

Make another selection (a region or notes) hit spacebar etc.

I think the above is the closest to the DP behavior that you're used to.

 

[edurbrow]

Actually, just put Logic into solo mode and press the curser where you want to listen from on that region.

Is that what you're asking for?

No, I don't think so.
Are we talking about midi or audio here?
Let's take midi: Say if I select some toms in a midi drum track in a piano roll window, hit S on the QWERTY keyboard to enter solo mode, pressing the cursor only plays whatever note I click on. In fact that is the same whether it is in solo mode or not.
What I want, is to make a selection, hit some key combo and hear my selection only, that is, the highlighted notes and then have it stop playing.

Audio:
I'm surely missing your meaning, but in the Arrange window I tried clicking on an audio region after hitting S on the QWERTY keyboard to enter solo mode, and it did nothing. I tried hitting the S in the track lane too. Also nothing. The only way I've gotten Logic to make audio sound is to hit the space bar
Thanks,

 

[edurbrow]

You can do the same thing by dragging over regions or some portion of them with the Marquee tool.

But that plays all the tracks in that time selection. In order to hear a particular track or tracks you have to click the S in the track lanes. Hitting S on the QWERTY keyboard doesn't work. And then after you hear the selection, you have to go and unclick the tracks.

Use Shift/Enter to playback the selection. You can change the key command to option-spacebar if you like.

Ah, shift-enter. Thanks for that. But wait, how is that different from just hitting the spacebar?

If selecting sections of many tracks, you can also make visible the Marquee strip above the ruler. Select it from the upper right of the Arrange window from the pop up with the 8th note on it. When visible, just drag on that strip to select all tracks. Shift click to remove the ones you don't want included.

I keep forgetting about that Marquee strip. Very useful.
Shift click what? If I click in the Marquee it makes new Regions. Shift clicking the lanes does nothing.

Thank you.

 

[CSeye]

Spending time with the manual and the highly recommended Apple Pro books clears up much of how things work.

Drag in the Marquee Strip with your Pointer tool to make a selection (of all tracks at this point), then shift-click the Track headers with the Pointer tool to deselect tracks you don't want included.

Explore available key commands by clicking Option K. Enter Stop in the search box to see if you find something that may be of use to you.

My experience has been that switching DAWs means understanding how the new DAW works. Sometimes it's a matter of learning how functions are labeled, what menu they're located in, etc. Often times, you can discover a way to make the new DAW perform some function in a way that fit's your work flow. At other times, that doesn't happen.

 

[edurbrow]

Drag in the Marquee Strip with your Pointer tool to make a selection (of all tracks at this point), then shift-click the Track headers with the Pointer tool to deselect tracks you don't want included.

With respect, this is not fast. I'd be interested to know how others work. For me, selecting a phrase, listening to it, then selecting another phrase in a different instrument, listening to it, then another combination is something I want to do very quickly and not have to go and select/deselect tracks. Imagine an orchestral score. You want to check the woodwinds here, the brass there, the strings here, one right after the other.
So the thing that I am hoping for, and I am wondering if Logic can do this, is a key combo that enables what plays back to be limited to the selection made with the marquee without having to go over and click a bunch of solo buttons then deselect those, click others and so on.

My experience has been that switching DAWs means understanding how the new DAW works. Sometimes it's a matter of learning how functions are labeled, what menu they're located in, etc. Often times, you can discover a way to make the new DAW perform some function in a way that fit's your work flow. At other times, that doesn't happen.

Right on. This has also been my experience.
Like I mentioned, there are a couple of things I haven't gotten a handle on, selecting and immediately hearing the selections is one of them. It may well be that Logic isn't capable of this, but it is so deep in every other area I am hoping I simply haven't figured out how to do so. So, I'll try to explain in more detail what I want to do and perhaps someone can point out some solutions.

In the case of MIDI, I did find the shift-enter quite useful in a piano roll view, as it plays from the beginning of a section (shift-return is nice too, as it brings it back to the selection beginning). This behaves somewhat like the marquee selection. Since marquee isn't available in a piano roll or notation window, it fills that gap. However, it doesn't stop when the selection does, like the marquee. Also, it doesn't play just the selected data (see screen shot) and doesn't stop when it passes the end of the selection. My main gripe when working in a single track is that I cannot hear the selected data. It plays everything from the selection beginning. In the screen shot, I have selected the top line but when I hit shift-enter, it plays the lower parts as well.

 

[CSeye]

Check out the Solo tool.

When selected, it will solo a region (audio or MIDI) from the point of contact (mouse click and hold) and will stop when contact is released. So you can click all around the Arrange to listen to selected bits in solo mode.

Zoom in the Arrange window (or click on Auto Track Zoom in the View menu) so that you can see MIDI data in the Regions. When the the Piano Roll is open, you'll see the playhead position based on click-position of the Solo tool for quick editing if needed.

The Solo tool is visible at the playhead location but doesn't show up in the screen shot.

DP has the best automation draw and reshape tools. But as a more or less former DP user I think it's MIDI functionality, although powerful, is kinda primitive compared to the tools and functions offered in Logic.