If you use Auto Tune and have had this happen, you know that when you click on the insert where Auto Tune is loaded an “Out of Memory” error will display and the interface refuses to open.  Since you cannot click on the insert without getting the error, you cannot bring up the menu to replace or remove the plugin and free up some memory.  We tried saving the project and reopening, but it didn’t help.  We were stumped.

After spending some time trying to figure out a way around the error we remembered a trick for inserting a plugin to multiple selected tracks at once.  We selected the VOX track and the track next to it in the Mixer.  Luckily, the next track did not have a plugin on the first insert where Auto Tune was loaded.  When we selected the plugin on the adjacent track we held down the Option key and selected a plugin.  The out of memory error popped up and we thought it hadn’t worked.  However, when we dismissed the error the plugin we selected was loaded into the insert on both tracks.

This method should work with any other plugin that you are having difficulty opening by clicking on the insert.  We just happened to be using Auto Tune when we had issues.

First, you should display automation by pressing the ‘A’ key on your keyboard.

Select the automation parameter you would like to display in the automation drop down that is now showing on the track header. You can display another automation lane by clicking the triangle in the lower left of the track header. Once the lane is displayed you can select the parameter you would like to be displayed for that lane.

Just remember, if you turn off automation display the extra automation lanes will not reappear. We recommend creating a locked screenset if you would like to recall the additional automation lanes.

To cancel a bounce that is in progress, simply press Command + Period  ( .)

Have you ever noticed the button in your transport bar?  Apple simply calls it Solo, but it is better described as a “Selected Region Solo Mode”.  When enabled only selected regions will be played.  This mode works with any combination of selected regions in the arrange window.  You may be wondering how selecting regions can be any quicker than clicking the solo button on and off?  Well, here’s how…

When you click a track header in the arrange window all the regions for that track are selected and all other regions are deselected.  Therefore, to solo another track all you need to do is click the track header.  Much quicker than enabling and disabling the solo button when trying to find the track that was recorded with the noisy cable!

Not sure why Apple thinks this is necessary…

“Newly created software instrument tracks now include an EVP88 instrument plug-in by default.”

More information on the update here.

Open the Environment and create a new empty layer. You can name this layer anything you like.  Make it relevant to the channels you will include in your custom mixer.

Once you create the layer you can begin placing the channels you want into the layer.  (Be sure to create all the tracks you need in the arrange window first.)  Then go to the main Mixer layer in the Environment and select the channels you would like to include in your new layer. You can hold Shift to select multiple tracks at once.

When you have all the tracks selected that you would like to include in your custom view, click on Edit > Copy (⌘C ) to copy the channels.  Return to your custom layer and paste (⌘V) the channel objects.

You can arrange the objects however you see fit.  You can go to Options > Clean Up > Align Objects to line up selected objects and make it look nice.

Tips and Suggestions

We suggest that you protect the position of your items to prevent accidental movement while clicking around in the mixer.  Click on View > Protect Cabling/Positions to do so.

You can maximize screen real estate by selecting View > Frameless Floating Window.  This will remove the clutter of the environment window and allow area for plugins or other items.

If you appreciate the power of screensets as much as we do, you can create a screenset for each of your custom mixer views.  Here is an example screenset with a mixer for the band (minus drums) with compressor plugins for each instrument so you don’t have to mouse to the track and double click the plugin to make a change.

When dealing with custom mixer views in the environment, be sure to leave enough room for the track objects to expand as you add inserts and sends.

This type of setup is VERY powerful and useful when dealing with large scale projects.  Here is an example of a custom mixer that we use on a dual screen setup.

We could never see all of those tracks onscreen with the default mixer pane or by opening the mixer in a separate window. Apple, why isn’t this the standard mixer view?

One thing to remember when using the “Frameless Floating Window” option is that once you open a plugin, if you click back to the mixer, the plugin will be hidden by the environment window.  The best way we have found to get around this is to use ⌘` to cycle through the open windows to get back to the plugin or to close the plugin window when you are finished making changes.

One more thing… The insert behavior is not quite the same when using this method.  While you can still insert plugins on tracks, you cannot ⌘ + click/drag to rearrange plugins once they are inserted.  This must still be done in the regular mixer view.

We use custom mixer views everyday and love them… but we want to know what you think.  Post any questions or issues in the comments.

The Shuffle L mode will cause the beginning of a dragged region to snap directly against the end of the region immediately to the left on the same track.  This drag mode is very handy when editing where you will be removing portions of the original audio file.  When you delete a section of audio, all of the regions that follow will shuffle left and snap against the end of any regions that preceded the deleted region.  Assuming your edits were good, you should have seamless playback across the edit point without having to drag or align any regions.

This happened to me today while working on a project.  I tried to change to a screenset with a 3rd party plugin window open while the project was looping.  Something caused Logic to lock up and display the spinning beach ball of death while the project continued to loop in the background.  I couldn’t stop playback, change screensets, or save the project.  I figured Logic would eventually crash and ask me to save, but 5 minutes later it was still going and I still couldn’t do anything.  I looked at the timestamp of my project file to see when I last saved.  Intstead of losing my last 10 minutes of work, I decided to figure out a way to make Logic crash and automatically dump the project.  Simply selecting “Force Quit” was not an option because it doesn’t tell Logic to dump the project before quitting.  After some quick testing on another machine, I found out that if you kill Logic via the terminal it will save the file as if it crashed as long as you send the correct kill signal.

Please note that this may not work in all situations.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type ‘top’ and press enter.  You will see a window like the one below.
   
3. Find the PID for Logic.  In the screenshot above the PID is 8070.  This number will change each time you launch Logic.
4. Press ‘q’ to get out of top.
5. Type the following command and press enter.  Remember to replace XXXX with the correct PID.

kill -s ABRT XXXX

6. Logic should tell you that it crashed and has saved the project for you.
   
7. Hopefully, you can proceed to reopen Logic and load the (crashed).logic project file and hopefully recover your changes without Logic crashing again.

Performing the steps above will cause Logic to save a (crashed).logic project file even if it is not locked up.  So, feel free to try it on an empty project for practice.  That way you don’t mess it up if you have to use it on an important project!