Audio Instrument vs. Aux track

For instruments with multiple outs, what is the best type of track to use and what are the advantages?
For instance, BFD or EXS show up on Audio Instrument tracks as stereo or mutiple instruments, so with drums for instance, I just load 8 separate Instrument tracks with Bass Drum, Snare etc. Each track wih one sound or instrument.
I've heard you should use Aux tracks for multiple outs - which don't show up automatically on the arrange window so it hadn't occured to me - is there a reason why?
MAcbook Pro 2.16, G5 iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8) Logic Pro, Final Cut Studio

Use multi. It will change your life.
It's tricky and it took me a while to figure this out - with much help from iS and Jord and others on this site.
Load BFD Multi (for example) into an instrument track. Switch the MIDI channel to ALL. Name it BFD Multi.
Go to environment, Audio layer. Create a multi instrument. Name it BFD. Cable it to the track you put BFD on.
Change your pointer tool to the MIDI tool. Click on first eight MIDI channels on the Multi instrument icon.
Click back on 1st MIDI port.
Go back to arrange window.
You should see 8 new icons named BFD 1 to BFD 8.
That's where the MIDI files go.
Go to an instrument track. Click hold name and select BFD from pull down menu. BFD outputs 1-2 will be assigned here automatically.
Now back to the environment window.
Go to Aux tracks. You will need 7 stereo Aux's. Assign BFD outputs 3-4 to Aux 1. BFD outputs 5-6 to Aux 2. Etc ....
(BFD outputs 1-2 are assigned as above remember).
Voila.
The MIDI goes in the Mulit icons tracks. The processing and mixing happens on the aux tracks.
This seems odd and hard to follow at first. Practice this many times and it starts to actually make sense.
Cheers
Dee

Similar Messages

Adding audio instrument to 24-track audio template: no MIDI or sound

I've been trying to add an audio instrument track to what was originally a song that started out with the 24-track audio template in Logic.
I don't seem to have any trouble adding an audio instrument track, but when I then choose the audio instrument - and, yes, I have chosen an instrument, not just clicked on the track - I get no sound nor can I see any MIDI connection in the transport window.
Everything works fine on songs based on templates that start out with both audio and audio instruments. So, I'm wondering if there's something I need to add to the environment to allow the MIDI connection? I admit I'm not an expert once in the environment, but a quick glance seems to show the general MIDI already set up.
I simply want to add a B3 to a band's rhythm track.
Any help?
TiBook 800 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

if you are getting midi into logic with other songs then there must be something missing in this song. open your environment to the click and ports layer and make sure there is a cable that runs out of the sum, of the Physical input to the Sequencer input (Record & Thru). there may be a couple other objects there like a keyboard and monitor object, just make sure everything is linked together.
hope this helps
Don

Audio Instrument track disablign audio tracks

While doing some band recording this weekend, I noticed a weird phenomenon.
I had about 8-10 audio tracks and one MIDI track using a Logic instrument. I armed all of them for recording. When I hit "Record", only the Logic instrument would record anything. The audio tracks would just remain blank as the SPL moved forward, recording nothing.
However, if I started recording with the Logic Instrument track unarmed, then then armed it after recording had begun, it would work; the audio tracks and the Logic instrument would record fine.
It may just be my Logic ineptitude. What was I doing wrong?

What does SHIFT-select do that normal select/arm does not?
The concept is similar to that of the OS. Shift-clicking allows you to select groups (of, say, files).
This is how you tell Logic that you want to record audio MIDI simultaneously. You can disengage MIDI record on the fly, or switch to another track (if you want to record another, pre-configured Audio Instrument or MIDI track from the same MIDI keyboard)...

Alright, why do audio instruments not exist?

Ok guys...iMac Intel, 1.8ghz duo...so we open logic express 7.2.3, and hey guess what, no audio instruments. So i go to CREATE MULTIPLE, and i get "can not add anymore tracks"
NEVER seent his before. Furthermore the mixer window lacks everything except the MIDI nstruments, which is a bug thats been driving my crazy on my rig for sometime now.
Can anyone help me out here?
Thanks in advance

Ok guys...iMac Intel, 1.8ghz duo...so we open logic
express 7.2.3, and hey guess what, no audio
instruments. So i go to CREATE MULTIPLE, and i get
"can not add anymore tracks"
Go to your Environment window (under "windows" menu)
Adn tehn go to the audio layer.Look at what audio objects you have there.Do you have audio tracks,audio instruments,busses,auxes and outputs,plus a master?
Here is where you can create new audio instruments,if there are none.
Manual,Chapter 5 "The Environment" page 201 to see how to create a new audio object.
Manual,Chapter 6 "Logic's Mixing Facilities" page 295,for a description of each type of audio object.
NEVER seent his before. Furthermore the mixer window
lacks everything except the MIDI nstruments, which is
a bug thats been driving my crazy on my rig for
sometime now.
Can anyone help me out here?
Thanks in advance
In the mixer window,at the left,you will see a list of blue or grey buttons,labelled:
Global
MIDI
Input
Track
Inst
Aux
Bus
Output
These buttons simply are for viewing that type of object in the mixer window.If it's grey,you do not see that type of ojject in the mixer window.
Manual,Chapter 6,"Logic's Mixing Facilities" page 307, "Display Modes"
So,there you are,one big spoon for a big job...most everyone gets offended if I say RTFM.
Cheers

Audio delay problem when using UAD plug ins on aux track

HI there,
I've been trying to route my drum tracks to bus 1, then send bus 1 to the aux 1 track also and apply UAD compression plug ins to it to mimick the NYC parallel compression technique.
But, when I do this, and add one of the UAD plug ins to the aux 1 track, the audio on that track becomes noticeably delayed by a few ms and you hear a kind of phasing/flamming sound as the bus 1 and aux 1 track combine slighlty out of sync. However, if i use logic's own compressors on the aux track there is no delay notivceable and it works fine.
frustrating as i'd like to be able to use the 1176 or lA2A on the drum track on the aux bus!!
any ideas?
J Cee

try this setting
I suppose that you need software monitoring for use Logic Compressor and reverbs in live monitoring mode
the setting is
Sample buffer 256 or 128
PDC set to Audio And Software Instrument...
this set if very good
I always use that with UAD plugins in Live mode on my professional studio
No latency at ALL
when Mixing set the buffer at 1024 and PDC to all...
this set is very important only in th Mixing Phase
feel free to ask for more advice
Cheers

How can I record an Audio Instrument (saxophone) and listen to a reference track at the same time?

How can I record an Audio Instrument, and listen to a reference track at the same time?

Are you using an external audio controller or the line-in and headphone jacks on the side of your computer? You shouldn't have an issue using headphones when you're recording through the line-in but you may want to make sure you have monitoring on and it's going to the right place.
If you're using an external audio controller, try making an aggregate device combining the controller and the "built-in output" into the same device. Go to Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup, click the "+" sign at the bottom left to make a new device and check the "use" boxes to the left of the physical devices you want to use as part of that aggregate device. That is how I use the computer's speakers or headphones to monitor my input as opposed to only being able to use the output on my audio controller.
Now that I see some of the questions on the side of this page I realize that the 13" MBPs seem to have only one combined input/output jack... That is an incredibly stupid feature. What on Earth could possibly justify that design decision? I suppose if that's the problem you're having you'll have to buy some sort of splitter (if they even make them) or get an external audio controller like an Apogee Duet or something along those lines. I would be furious if they combined those two jacks on all of the MBPs.

Multi Channel Audio Instrument [Kontakt 2]: Auxes not working?

Hi,
I've searched the forums and come up with several posts about using multi-channel audio instruments, but none seems to exactly address the issue I'm seeing (and being confused by). I'm trying to set up Native Instruments' Kontact 2 sampler in multi-channel mode in Logic Pro 7. I perform the following steps:
1. On an available audio instrument object, I click the input drop-down, select Multi Channel -> AU Instruments -> Native Instruments -> Kontakt 2.
2. When Kontakt 2 opens, I load, say, three different instruments.
3. In Kontakt 2's Outpus area, I create three outputs, labelled "st. 1", "st. 2", "st. 3". I cable these to "Plugin Output 1" and "Plugin Output 2" for st.1, "Plugin Output 3" and "Plugin Output 4" for st.2, "Plugin Output 5" and "Plugin Output 6" for st.3.
4. In Kontakt 2, I assign the output of instrument 1 to st. 1, the output of instrument 2 to st. 2 and the output of instrument 3 to st. 3.
5. Back in Logic Pro, I create two new (stereo) audio objects and assign them to channels Aux 1 and Aux 2 (and name them accordingly).
6. In my Aux1 object, I select its input drop-down and choose Instrument1 -> Kontakt2 3 & 4.
7. In my Aux2 object, I select its input drop-down and choose Instrument1 -> Kontakt2 5 & 6.
Okay, so basically I'm set up now, right? So to test this out, I set the MIDI receive channel of all of my instruments in Kontakt 2 to omni and click on the built-in keyboard in Kontakt 2. I can see the volume level indicators on all three instruments light up. I can also hear all three instruments coming out of my speakers. However, when I look at the environment page where I've created these objects, I find that they're all coming as a stereo sum from the original audio instrument object. The Aux1 and Aux2 objects are just sitting there doing nothing.
What gives?
Dual 1GHz PowerMac G4 (Quicksilver) Mac OS X (10.3.9) MOTU 828

Okay, I found the solution to this, and it's odd enough that I figured that I'd post it just in case anyone else ran into it.
It turns out that the multi-channel thing does not work at all when you play Kontakt 2 from the built-in keyboard (in K2). Visually, K2 still shows all the audio going out on the corresponding channels, etc., but I guess it's summing it and outputting in stereo only when you do that. If you send it data from Logic, it works just fine. So I had this setup correctly all along.

Mono audio instrument tracks

Good day To each and every! I saw this posted one time before but i cant seem to find the post. All of my audio instrument tracks are in mono for some reason. Im still using 7.2 and this is the first time this has happened. how do I make all of them stereo again. I cant load any of the presets with them being in mono. Thanks A Lot!

It's not whether the Track is stereo, but which instrument you've selected for that Track.
If you can change from one instrument to another, then you can also pick the stereo version of the instrument which is currently mono.
You are not changing an instrument from mono to stereo; you are choosing a different instrument (although it has the same name). You are switching instruments.
Suppose you have three Audio Instruments: "iBassoon", "iHorn (mono)", & "iHorn (stereo)".
You know how to switch the Audio Instrument Track from "iHorn (mono)" to "iBassoon", right?
Use the same technique (Command-click, click-&-hold, whichever way works for you) to change from "iHorn (mono)" to "iHorn (stereo)".
Look around; perhaps you're just not expecting to find the stereo instruments in a different folder from the mono instruments (after all, it would make sense for instruments with the same name to live together, wouldn't it? — But that's not the way it works here)!

Recording Audio and Audio Instrument Tracks Simultaneously?

Hi all,
sometimes i'll leave an audio track armed (which my synth is hooked up to), while playing keys on an audio instrument track, and it usually creates some incredible textures. Every time I try to record the two at the same time, it never works. Is it in any way possible to record audio and virtual instrument tracks at the same time? Would it matter that I have the same synth hooked up as both (I use audio tracks for the synth, and MIDI for the virtual instruments)? Many thanks!

Thanks for the responses! I'm actually able to arm both an audio and a virtual instrument track at the same time, and I hear both playing over each other. But as soon as I begin recording, I notice that only the virtual instrument track is recording what i'm playing. Any way around this?

Aux track gives different library options to audio track

If i click on a "bus" or "aux" track and select settings in the inspector, i get a different set of preset options in the library that I do on an "audio" track.
I would like to be able to use audio track presets (vocals particularly) on a bus. Is this possible?

Hi
Click and Hold on the Settings button whilst holding down Option.
CCT

Only 24 audio instrument tracks?

In Logic Pro 7.1.1, am I allowed only 24 audio instrument tracks? I cna't seem to add any more than that.

Additionally, you can use
Track->Create Multiple
from the arrange-this will add the audio objects to the environment, good for existing projects. Just make sure the max # of audio tracks is set properly in the audio hardware and drivers window. Also, If you use setup asst you can use functions from the environment such as update, and then use the environment from the session with ample environment objects as the source for import. So you can import or set your environment for existing songs and base them on newer/larger environments. Make sure you work on copies of songs when importing environments.

Audio instrument tracks limit?

I'm trying to establish a template that loads my favorite softsynths and samplers. Is there a way to use more than 32 tracks of audio instrument tracks? Logic's only letting me see and name 32 tracks.
Fresh_oil

Check your Global Track Mixer, if it is showing more that 32 instrument channels, you just need to add them to your arrange window. Otherwise, you need to add the audio objects in your environment (or running the Logic Setup Assistant may help set up the number of instruments you need). Logic should support up to 128 audio instruments.
jord

Is it OK to clip audio if just going to an Aux track?

Hi there
I have a project where the drums are recorded on 5 tracks (kick/snare/hat/overheads).
There's no clipping in the recording, but they sound a bit lifeless so I'm using EQ, nosie gate and lots of compression on the kick, snare & hat. This pushes the level meters for each track way into the red. (6.0+).
But, the output to these tracks is a "Drum Chamber" Aux Channel (via Bus 1) which has a mild "space designer" effect, followed by an adaptive limiter which stops the clipping from the output to the Aux track.
I've think got the sound I wanted. But should I be worried that the individual tracks are clipping, even though the original recordings and the final output aren't?
Cheers
SL

Well + 6dB is far too hot imo. On the other hand if you like the sound like it is, then why turn it down. Anyway I would never mix like that - depending on the speakers and especially after compressing to low quality mp3 the now inaudible artefacts produced by the heavy clipping could suddenly become audible and nasty sounding.
Why don't you at least insert a limiter set to -0.3 dB after the signal chain before the signal hits the Aux channel. You can bring up the fader again after that.
The smoothing of the drum chamber disguises the clipping of course, so bypass the reverb and see how the drums sounds dry.
Also use the pre fader metering when mixing. It helps keeping levels under control.

Selective Track Import: "Replace" mode deosn't work here with AUXes tracks

I wonder why, using Selective Track Import, if I select an instrument track in arrange, and I select the instrument of the source song I want to import from, I get the chance to use "Replace" mode. On the contrary, with AUXes this option doesn't work: "Replace" mode is always disabled..... only "Add" mode.... (even putting aux track in arrange and selecting it...)

Hey RevDave, it's David, not sure if you remember me?
We went to your studio once with Curt Bisquera....
Of course I do - Glad to hear from you again!
Anyway:
The MIDI preferences do work correctly, however they
should have no impact on the Audio behavior. The fact
that 'Merge new recordings...' messes with the
replace mode is a bug.
Another funny fact: the recording settings are
divided into two categories:
General and MIDI. That's misleading: they all only
deal with MIDI recording behavior. Audio recording
doesn't have such settings as 'Auto create tracks' or
'Auto mute tracks' since it always behaves like that
anyway.
Thanks for explaining that - and glad to hear that it's a bug.

Streaming audio/instruments from Extreme or Time Capsule

Hi there
I am thinking about getting either Time Capsule or an Airport Extreme with an additional USB hard drive attached for backup.
Either device will be wired to my mac via ethernet.
I was also thinking of streaming audio or an audio instrument from the hard drive of either.
Does anyone know what the performance would be like with either device hard wired to my Mac?
Stuart

I've been trying to do this but it doesn't seem to work so well :/
I put all the Logic project files and Apple Loops onto Time Capsule and the project plays fine, but the loops will not preview (I can, however, add them to a track, just can't preview). Time Capsule is set up to only connect to my MacBook via ethernet.
I then moved the Apple loops to another ext. HD (WD Passport connected via USB->Mini firewire) and it worked fine.
I also read here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7047999&#7047999
That someone called Apple and they said Apple "does not recommend use of Time Capsule with high powered apps such as Logic or Logic Express." Their testing indicates that some "files may be compromised when they are written to disk."
Which is kinda sad. Also, before 10.5.3 (today) large project files wouldn't play from the Time Capsule. Oh well, guess I'll keep the extra logic files on the passport.

Audio Instrument vs. Aux track

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