Rename midi-cc's in Logic Pro 9

Question

Hello!
In Logic I have a.o. a midi-track used to automate vocal-fx in Mainstage.
I use midi-cc's to control fx sends on Mainstage mic-channels.
I have "Mainstage" set up as an external instrument in Logic, used via the IAC-driver.
It seems to me that I can't rename these cc's in Logic.
I would of course like them to be called something related to the function
they have in my setup, instead of the GM-name they come up with.
Before I "accept" that this can't be done, I thought I'd ask here
(Having used Sonar for 10 years before going Mac about a year ago
this is quite a surprise to me. This was a basic thing in Sonar to define
your non-GM instruments)
Best regards
Kim Holst
DK

Answer 1

Some of the newer hardware controllers have the ability to display the function
of the sliders/knobs relevant to the device they connect to.
Ok, that's just calling a knob on your controller, for instance, 'Filter Cutoff" because that's what you want to control.
That has nothing to do with which MIDI CC you are using to do it - it's just calling the knob "Filter Cutoff". If you are creating, eg, virtual knobs in Logic's environment, you can of course name the knob "Filter Cutoff".
This is very different to what you originally asked - renaming the actual MIDI CC's in Logic - so when you open up a region with CC#7 data, instead of saying "Volume" it would say "My renamed MIDI CC number". So I don't think what you originally asked for is actually what you wanted - or I interpreted your question incorrectly.
Wouldn't that be equivalent to having the same thing done in a software-controller?
If it's groundbreaking in hardware, wouldn't it be relevant in software?
Sorry, I don't quite follow you here...
I play live with about 400 songs as potential repertoire.
Ok, so you are indeed playing backing songs under a timeline, not just using Mainstage to play live instruments, yes? Or do you mean you know and can play from those songs, and are not using sequenced parts? (it's all live)
If the former, that obviously makes it more complicated. Ableton Live has a better toolkit for this stuff in general as it's designed from the get go as a live, don't stop performance tool, whereas Logic is a more conventional DAW - which in some ways makes it unsuited to live use.
Midifiles "converted" to audio
Ok - so you are playing back audio files - presumably you are currently using Mainstage and the audio playback module to play the backing tracks in stereo, yes? Or are you using Logic for this?
When I want to play a song with backingtracks, I want to press one button and everything gets ready.
Sure - so the simpler, and more bulletproof the rig is, the better. (Ie, it's good to cut down on the amount of different programs that have to run, open files etc etc.)
Whether I play with backingtracks or 100% manually I need some sounds and fx to be present all the time. I need a vocal reverb and a bass-sound to be present all the time.
Sure.
"On top of that" I need to switch between songs containing backingtracks and miditracks controlling my stagepiano-patch, my synth-patch and muting/unmuting my vocal reverb at the exact right time relative to the backingtracks.
So if I understand you, you are playing audio backing tracks, but also want sequencer control of the other stuff to set up patch/FX changes at preprogrammed points in the song? If so, then Mainstage as you know cannot do this. This leaves you two options - run both Mainstage and Logic at once - Mainstage for the live stuff, Logic for the preprogrammed stuff - this will work, but is more complex, and uses more resources than just a single program - or, run the whole lot in Logic and find a good workflow to switch your backing tracks.
The former should be fairly straightforwrd with a few gotchas, and you'd use the IAC bus to get Logic to remote control Mainstage.
The latter Logic-only solution is trickier - the main problem being you want to run live in one song, but be able to quickly choose different backing tracks. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. Just having a quick think about it, I would probably pull in all the backing track audio files, and appropriate MIDI parts (patch changes etc), and put each in a folder on the main arrange page.
I'd solo safe the live instruments, vocal and FX channels, and then enable solo mode. Now, by selecting a particular track, I'm soloing that entire backing track item (audio + sequences) and can there fore play it. I'd map the various track selection up/down commands to my hardware keyboard so I could select them quickly. I'd also route the live MIDI playing (keyboard/software instruments) away from the sequencer object o the destination instruments directly so it's not affected by the currently selected arrange track.
There are other ways of rigging it up, but that gives you an example.
I understand Logic as a "single layer" application.
One song active at a time.
Yes (well, technically you can load multiple songs, or use OnStage to switch between songs), but one song is active at any one time. What a "song" actually is though, is up to you. One song doesn't have to correspond to one backing track. As I demonstrated above, my example setup has all the backing tracks in your one live "song" - and this is similar to how Mainstage would be set up. Like I say, everything you can do in Mainstage you can do in Logic, though sometimes not quite as easily.
Mainstage offers that basic layer, plus additional layers.
A software version of my hardware rack.
Are you saying that is possible in Logic?
Yes, Logic can do all this. Everything you can do in Mainstage you can do in Logic (apart from the looper plugin in Mainstage).