Using Panorama with Logic
Transcription
Using Panorama with Logic
Using Panorama with Logic Applicable to Panorama P1, P4 & P6 www.nektartech.com www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic Logic Integration Setup and Configuration The Panorama Logic Integration is compatible with Logic 9 and Logic X. These instructions assume you have one of these programs installed running on OS X 10.6 or later. Installation Here are the steps you need to go through to get Logic up and running with your Panorama: Panorama Integrated Installer The Panorama Integrated Installer and firmware update is required to get the Logic support up and running. If you have already completed the following steps previously, you can jump straight to the installation of the Apple Logic files 1. Run the Panorama Integrated Installer (part of the zip file you downloaded with this guide) and follow the onscreen instructions until complete. 2. Update your Panorama’s firmware as described here Installing Panorama Integration for Apple Logic With the Panorama Integrated Installer complete, here are the steps required to get your Panorama successfully up and running with Logic: 1. Locate “Panorama_Apple_Support” installer in the zip file you downloaded and run it. 2. If you get a message that the installer “can’t be opened because it’s from an unindentified developer”, do the following: Go to System Preferences/Security & Systems/General and switch “Allow apps downloaded from” to “Anywhere”. 3. With installation complete, make sure your Panorama is connected to your computer and switched on. 4. Launch Logic. 5. The first time you run it you will see a control surface page as per the image on the right. Close it. That’s it, setup is now complete and you can move on to the fun part, learning how it all works. Troubleshooting: If the Logic integration is not working after following the above two steps, do the following: 1) In Logic, open the 'Logic Pro' menu and go to Control Surfaces/Setup, then delete the 'Panorama', 'Mixer' and 'Instrument' icons. Then quit Logic. 2) Open Audio MIDI Setup (located in Applications/Utilities), find Panorama's red 'n' icon and delete it (Panorama must not be turned on for this step). 3) Restart your computer and with Panorama plugged in, launch Logic following. Installing Plug-in plist files optimized for Panorama Later in this document we cover how to use Logic’s CSParameterOrder.plist files to create the parameter mapping you want for Panorama. The zip file you downloaded contains the installer and a folder named “Plug-In Settings”. If you would like to install the mapping files we have created and are referencing in this documentation, simply drop this folder in the following directory, replacing files already present: <Your HD>/Application Support/Logic/ Note: This will replace the default mapping files which would be shared with any other control device that might use plists. If you don’t know what the CSParameterOrder.plist files are, chances are that this will not matter to you. However if you have created your own plist files for other purposes, we recommend that you back these up before overwriting them with the Panorama optimized files. 2 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com Navigation & Transport The following pages focus on how Logic and Panorama work together. We do not attempt to describe how the Logic functions work since this is covered extensively in the documentation for Logic. So the aim is to provide a fundamental understanding of how Panorama interface with Logic. From time to time, you may need to consult the Logic documentation for additional information. Let’s start by taking a look at the main panel buttons and then go deeper in to the Panorama menus from there. Navigation The six buttons pictured above allows you to navigate important parts of Logic at any time. Here is what they do: Track - / +: Navigates to the next or previous track in Logic’s sequencer. This is the same as using the arrow up/down keys on your computer keyboard . Patch - / +: Changes the mixer channel preset in the Logic Library browser window (The preset of an instrument is changed in the instrument window). View: Toggle the Logic Mixer window open/close. Press [Shift]+[View] to close a plugin window. Bank < >: Shifts the current selection of eight mixer channels in Mixer mode so the fader group assignments are changed from channels 1-8 to channels 9-16, for example. Hold [Shift] and press one of the [Track -/+] buttons to view an adjacent bank of channels. Zoom < >: These two buttons are currently not mapped Transport Buttons The transport buttons allows you to activate or deactivate important transport functions as listed in the table below. As with the navigation buttons, these are available in any mode, at any time. Key Combination Description [F-Keys] Press and hold this button to use the transport buttons as F-keys. F-keys can be used to trigger QWERTY macro’s to for example create tracks [ ] Goto the Left locator [ ] Goto the Right locator [Shift]+[ ] Set Left locator to the current song position [Shift]+[ ] Set Right locator to the current song position [Undo] Same as Undo in Logic [Click] Switch the metronome/click on or off [Mode] Toggle Record Arm on/off for the selected track [Cycle] Switch the loop/cycle between the Left and Right locators on/off [Rewind] Rewind in steps of 1 bar. Press and hold for fast rewind [Forward] Forward in steps of 1 bar. Press and hold for fast forward [Stop] Stop playback. Press twice to goto zero [Play] Activate play [Record] Activate record www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic 3 Modes and Display The Mode Buttons In this first iteration of Panorama Logic control, only 2 mode buttons are active: [Mixer] and [Internal] Mixer: Assigns all controls to Logic and provides access to control menus. Instrument : Not available at this point Transport : Not available at this point Internal: Uses Panorama’s internal MIDI controller functions so you can jump out of our dedicated Logic protocol and use Panorama as a traditional MIDI controller What the Display Tells You The top-line of the display is the current parameter line, showing you the name and value of the parameter you are currently controlling. The display Info-Bar is the top Red/Gray/Red area and provides the following status information: Track Name/Mixer Channel Number/Name of primary plug-in on the current track Under the Info-Bar, the display shows you the status of current assignments, which varies depending on what menu you have selected. And finally the five display buttons are used to navigate menus or activate functions. On most pages there will be labels above one or more of these buttons in the display. 4 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com Logic Mixer Control Mixer Mode Home Page Start by creating an empty project in Logic, creating a single External MIDI Track. The Panorama display shows 9 faders corresponding to the 9 physical 45mm faders and looks similar to the image on the right. The info bar’s first red field shows the track name and should now show GM Device 1 for the track you just created. Try changing the track name in Logic and you will see it update on Panorama as well. You may have to press the [Mixer] button to see the name field update or change track. The first fader (of the group of 9) on Panorama now controls the mixer channel volume of the track you created. Moving the fader will not change the volume immediately because the fader position have to first match the position in Logic, to allow for smooth change to the volume setting. So move the physical fader towards the virtual fader position and notice that once the red line and the virtual fader position match, the fader cap graphic will follow the fader movement and in Logic you are now changing the volume setting for the mixer channel. Now create an Audio Track in Logic. This action will also create an Output and a Master mixer channel in the Logic mixer so now you can see 4 channels in the Panorama display. Press the [View] button on Panorama to bring the Logic mixer in to view to check that they correspond. Using the Logic View Filters Panorama can follow the mixer filter view settings in the Logic Mixer. Click on the “View” button at the top of the Logic Mixer window and make sure “Link Control Surfaces” is ticked. To the right of the Logic ‘View’ button you have the option to select “Single”, Tracks” or “All”. First select “Single and press the Track buttons to go back and forth between our two tracks. Notice that the Panorama display updates to show only the currently selected track and it’s associated channels. The Logic mixer window mirrors this view. In Logic, now select “Tracks”. The display updates to show the two tracks and their associated mixer channels (4 in total now). Finally you can click “All” which will show all channels whether they are associated with a track or not. In our example here, this will bring a mixer channel for each of the 16 MIDI channels on the External MIDI Track. The image on the right shows the first 8 channels now visible in Panorama and the Logic mixer. Click the “MIDI button to the far right to hide the MIDI channels from view. Creating Separate Panorama and Logic Views Logic allows you to create a separate view settings for your control surface. First set up the view you would like on Panorama. We prefer to simply select the “Tracks” option. Next un-tick “Link Control Surfaces”. The view settings can be saved to a template so you only have to set this up once. Next create an additional 6 tracks (audio or instrument) so you have a complete bank of 8 tracks to control. www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic 5 Logic Mixer Control Controlling Select, Mute, Solo, Arm and Pan The encoders above the faders are assigned to Pan. Try adjusting the Pan setting for a few of the tracks in the Panorama Window. The 8 LED buttons below the faders are by default assigned to Select. Try pressing first LED button 1 and then LED button 8. Notice this is a quick way to jump from one track to another. You also use these buttons to select mixer channels that don’t have a track associated with them (such as aux or output channels). Pressing the [Toggle/Mute] button will change the assignment of the LED buttons to Mute. Additional presses will assign them to Solo, Record Arm and then back to Select. The image to the right shows you the location of the labels that tell you what the 8 LED buttons are assigned to control. Navigating Tracks & Channels Now create an additional 8 tracks in the Logic song so you have a total of 16 tracks to navigate. Use the [Track+] button to navigate to channel 14. That's a lot of button presses but thankfully there is a quicker way. Press and hold the [Shift] button on Panorama, then press the [Track-] button. This button combination activates the second menu layer on Panorama (in this case [<Bank]) so we now view channels 1-8 again. Make sure the LED buttons are assigned to Select, and press the LED button that corresponds to channel 6. You have now learned how to navigate Logic channels and tracks from Panorama using 3 different methods: [Track-] and [Track+] buttons go to previous or next track in the Logic sequencer [Shift]+[<Bank] or [Bank>] bank over the 8 channels you operate in Logic Pressing the [LED buttons] when assigned to "Select" enables quick channel selection within the bank of 8 channels you are currently controlling from Panorama 6 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com Logic Channel Strip Control In addition to the multi-channel control we have just covered, Panorama can control a complete Logic mixer channel strip including EQ, Sends, Inserts and SmartControls. A channel strip is selected by its association with a track (changing track changes the channel also). Its not possible to control the channel strip for a channel that does not have a track associated. The channel strip menus are accessed from Panorama's Mixer mode home page. Each of these menus change the assignments of the right hand 2x4 encoder group which means you still have access to the multichannel mixer on the controls to the left of the display, at any time. EQ Start by selecting an audio track and press the first display button labeled [EQ] to open the EQ menu. Here you can control each of the 8 bands in the Logic channel strip EQ. The top row of the 2x4 encoders allow you to control the Frequency for each of the bands and the bottom row controls gain. Press the display button [Q->] to change the assignment of the top row of encoders to Q. You can toggle back to frequency using the same button. The first two buttons labeled [HP Flt] and [Lo Shelf] allow you to switch band 1 and Band 2 on or off. Press the 3rd button [B3&B4] to change their assignments so you can switch Bands 3 & 4 on or off. Press the 5th button labeled [B5-B8] to change the window assignment to control the last 4 bands using the same principal as for the first 4 bands. Press the [Mixer] button to exit the EQ menu and return to the Mixer home page. Sends Panorama can control up to 8 sends for the currently selected Logic mixer channel. Sends have to first be set up in Logic with the destination you want. Once set up, pressing the [Sends] display button will allow you to adjust the send controls using the 2x4 encoders. As long as send destinations have been set up, Panorama will show an abbreviated destination name for each of the encoders. In Logic, if you change for example the name of the return track for a send, the destination name will update on Panorama. By default, the encoders control the send levels. If you press the [Bypass] button the encoders will allow you to change the by pass status and if you press [Position] you can change each of the sends pre or post fader/pan position. Press the [Mixer] button to exit the EQ menu and return to the Mixer home page. www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic 7 Logic Channel Strip Control Inserts The Inserts menu is the third option from the Mixer home page. From this Panorama menu you have access to control any of the up to 15 plug-ins that can be inserted in each audio mixer channel in Logic. First select an audio track and insert a couple of effect plugins such as Compressor and Echo. Then press the [Inserts] button to open the menu on Panorama. With plug-ins present in the insert slots, Panorama will immediately map the first 8 parameters to the 2x4 encoders and open the plugin window in Logic. You can now tweak controls and either view the update in Logic or on the Panorama display. Display Buttons The two first display buttons [<Slot] and [Slot>] allow you to navigate the insert slots. Press [Slot>] to select the next plugin in the chain and with the display updating accordingly. Press [<Slot] to revert back to the previous plugin slot. The Logic plugin parameters are divided in to groups of 8 in a page so the buttons labeled [<Page] and [Page>] allow you to navigate to previous and next parameter page. The fifth display button show you current page number / total amount of pages. Press this button to get back to page 1. Reordering Plugin Parameters The order of plugin parameters that Logic send to Panorama may not be the order you prefer. Thankfully Logic provides the ability for you to reorder parameters, using their CSParameterOrder.plist files. Here is a simple example of how that works, using the Logic Echo plug-in. In Logic, insert the Echo plug-in on a channel, and view the parameter page on Panorama. Notice that the Dry and Wet parameters are assigned to the last two encoders. Locate the CSParameterOrder.plist file for the Echo plug-in, in the following location: <Your HD>/Application Support/Logic/Plug-In Settings/Echo Default Logic Parameter Order for Echo <key>ControlSurfaceParameterOrder</key> <array> <string>16 Time</string> Open the file with TextEdit. <string>17 Repeat</string> The text located between <array> and </array> is the mapping order. Each <string>18 Color</string> <string>-1</string> parameter is identified by a number so you can see that the first parameter is <string>-1</string> number 16 Time. The number is what’s important and the text descriptor is <string>-1</string> only there to tell you what parameter the number corresponds to. <string>19 Dry</string> <string>20 Wet</string> Move the Dry and Wet parameters currently in positions 7 and 8, to positions 5 and 6, so the order looks like example 2. </array> Quit and then re-launch Logic. Insert the Echo plug-on on a track and check on the Panorama inserts page <key>ControlSurfaceParameterOrder</key> that the Dry and Wet parameters are now assigned to the first two bottom <array> Logic Parameter Order for Echo After Edit <string>16 Time</string> row encoders. <string>17 Repeat</string> <string>18 Color</string> In this example, also notice that –1 is used to create a blank assignment. This is <string>-1</string> helpful to visually make demarcations between groups of controls or to avoid <string>19 Dry</string> having a control grouped on a page where it does not belong. <string>20 Wet</string> <string>-1</string> Reordering is easy with plugins that have only a few pages. Once you work with plugins that have hundreds of parameters, it makes sense to create layouts that <string>-1</string> </array> are logically defining each parameter section so at a glace you can see where you are in the hierarchy. 8 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com Creating Plist Files for 3rd Party Plug-ins If you use 3rd party plug-ins you may have noticed that not all of them install a plist file which means you can't reorder the plug-in parameters as described on the previous page. There is however a way to create the plist so here is how: Open the AU plug-in and click in the Preset field at the top From the pop-up menu, select "Save as Default" Select "Go" from the top OS X menu and type in the following path: ~/Library/Audio/Presets Click "Go" The folder that corresponds to the AU plugin you saved a default preset for will now contain the CSParameterOrder.plist file. You can go ahead and reorder the parameters as instructed on the previous page. www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic 9 Logic Channel Strip Control Smart Controls Panorama is also able to control the 16 Smart Controls that were implemented in Logic X. From the Mixer Mode Home Page, press the display button labeled [Smart]. The first 8 smart control parameters on the current track are now assigned to the 8 2x4 encoders. Press the button labeled [9-16] to change the encoder assignments to the next group of 8 Smart Control parameters. The 3rd display button is labeled [View]. Press this button to open or close the Smart Control window in Logic. Assigning Smart Control Parameters You may have noticed that the Echo CSParameterOrder.plist file contained a reference to Smart Controls. That’s because Logic use the same plist file to know which parameter should be used as a Smart Control as well as in which order. In our Echo example, the Smart Controls are the same as the regular controls however typically you would only choose 4-8 key parameters as your Smart Controls. When you have multiple plug-ins active on a channel strip, such as an instrument and several effects, the Smart Controls become a powerful tool that combine the most essential parameters across all plugins, in one condensed user interface. So you can simply copy a parameter line from the parameter list above, and past it in to the SmartControlsParameterOrder list below. Any parameter you don’t need you can just delete. Note: if the Smart Control values are not updating on your Panorama, this is because Logic doesn’t send the updates continuously. We hope this will be resolved in a future update. <key>SmartControlsParameterOrder</key> <array> <string>16 Time</string> <string>17 Repeat</string> <string>18 Color</string> <string>20 Wet</string> <string>19 Dry</string> <string>BYPASS$BYPASS</string> 10 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com Logic Instrument Control Controlling a Logic plug-in instrument from Panorama works pretty much the same way as controlling an effect plug-in. The big difference is of course that instruments can have hundreds of parameters which can cause confusion if there is no clear structure. It’s generally a good idea to try to follow the structure of the software GUI when grouping parameters in pages. In the following example we assume you installed the CSParameterOrder.plist pack which contains preordered files for most of the standard Logic plug-ins. Check the Installation page of this document for details. Note: There is only one CSParameterOrder.plist file for every plug-in. If you have created files for use with another surface, make sure to copy them for backup before you drop in the Panorama files. Instrument Page To control and instrument, first create an instrument track and select the Logic Retro Synth plug-in. Next press the 5th display button labeled [Instrument] from Panorama’s Mixer Mode Home Page. This action will open the Retro Synth plug-in in Logic. You can close the instrument GUI at any time using the [Shift]+[View] button combination. Changing Patches You can step through instrument patches within the current instrument from Panorama, by pressing the two first display buttons now labelled [Patch>] to go to the next patch or [<Patch] to go to the previous patch. As you change patch, the parameter values are updated in the instrument page. The [Patch-] and [Patch+] buttons still allow you to change patches in the Logic Library Browser. Controlling Retro Synth Now lets take a look at how the CSParameterOrder.plist file makes sense of the Retro Synth parameters. The first control page on Panorama is set up to control the Oscillator. Turning the first encoder will change the Oscillator and the rest of the controls give you access to each of the parameters related to the Oscillator. Note that if you select FM, some parameters are no long applicable. Pressing the [1/9] button will refresh the display and take you back to Page 1, from any other page. Now step through each of the following 8 pages and notice how each of them give you control over these Retro Synth menus: Page 1: Oscillator Page 2: Filter Page 3: Filter Envelope Page 4: Amp Envelope and Amp Out Page 5: LFO Page 6: Vibrato Page 7: Effects Page 8: Global parameters including Tune, Stereo Spread etc. Page 9: Real-time control assignments including Aftertouch, Velocity and Modulation Wheel It’s not possible to name individual pages but thankfully parameter names typically tell you which group they belong to as well as the name itself. So as you scroll through pages it’s not difficult to identify the page with the parameters you are looking for. The image on the right shows you page 4 controlling Amp Envelope. www.nektartech.com Using Panorama with Logic 11 Motorized Fader (applicable to P4/P6 only) If your Panorama is equipped with a Motorized fader, you may already have noticed that the fader controls follows the currently selected track. When you make track changes, the fader will jump to the volume position of the track in Logic and you can simply change it at any time by just moving the fader. Try setting the volume of a few tracks to different settings and notice how the fader will jump to the right position every time you select a new track. You also have Mute and Solo buttons with LED indicators that show if they are active for the current track. Try pressing the mute button for a track and notice now that when you change track, not only does the motorized fader update but also the status of the mute (and solo) button. 12 Using Panorama with Logic www.nektartech.com