Thanks to everyone who emailed for the positive feedback on the launch of this new web page. As a little footnote to last weeks thought’s on using Pause Mode – I just want to remind all Mackie/Logic Control users that Pause is easily invoked with the front panel buttons by pressing Shift and Play together.

 

Now on to this weeks subject…

 

Every Logic user knows that, at the most basic level; one of the two most powerful aspects of this program is the extensive and customizable set of Key Commands that are available (the second thing of course being the ability to store and recall over ninety unique screen sets). So, as Logic users, we are constantly scrutinizing the Key Command list; learning or programming new keystrokes to speed up our work flow. While this certainly offers a great deal of power and control over the software, using combinations of successive Key Commands together can bring another level of mastery. I like to think of them as Key Command Combos. Or super sizing your Key Commands. Would you like to add an apple pie to your Big Mac Trio?

 

Looking over the Key Commands list can seem overwhelming at times. It’s often hard to really grasp how some of the less common commands can really be used in day-to-day tasks. Here I’ll look at some useful Key Command combinations that involve the use of consecutively executed Key Commands to achieve a specific result. Think of them as Key Command macros. Most editing tasks involve a two-step process. First a selection needs to be created, and then some sort of action is performed on that selection. Key Commands can be used for each of these steps. Here are a few examples.

 

1.    Suppose you have programmed up a MIDI part, say a nice 16 bar string section part for example. You then decide you want to try and double the top voice with a solo violin sound. You’ve copied your MIDI Region onto another track and loaded up a solo string sound. Here’s a quick Key Command combo, to be used from within any of the MIDI Editor Windows, for isolating that top voice:

 

    Select Top Line --> Toggle Selection --> Delete.

 

Here you have used two Key Commands to create the selection; and finally one to actually then perform the needed action. The Toggle Selection Key Command is designed to be used in conjunction with other selection criteria. In this above example, it can also be used with the Select Bottom Line Key Command as a means of isolating the lowest voice, should you need it.

 

 

 

 

Here’s a not untypical scenario I often encounter: I need to cut out a certain section of the song and then tighten up the newly created gap by shifting everything on the right of the cut to butt up against everything on the left. So, to avoid extensive RSI induced mouse dragging across what could be a large section in the timeline, here is a Key Command Combo that will handle this sort of task:

 

     Select All Following --> Goto Position --> Pickup Clock.

 

 

It is worth noting here that the Select All Following command works two different ways. If there are one or more Regions selected, the selection is based on the position of the earliest Region. If there are no Regions selected, the selection is made based on the position of the SPL. When you invoke the Goto Position command, just type in the destination bar position and hit Return. If you want to locate to somewhere other than the beginning of a bar, simply use the space bar between each divisor that you type in. The Pickup Clock, an often-underused Key Command, is great for snapping regions to the SPL.

 

 

3.    As opposed to these relatively infrequent actions, here’s a Key Command combo that everyone reading this can use at least once, and usually more than once, on any given project being mixed down to a stereo pair. The most common way of producing a final two-track mix is via the Bounce command. There’s a button specifically for this task directly on the Master Output faders. But it is also available as a Key Command.

 

Instead of entering the Bounce zones from within the Bounce dialogue box, a few Key Commands will help achieve this effortlessly; and the whole process can be carried out directly in the Arrange Window.

 

Select All --> Set Locators By Regions --> Cycle --> Bounce

 

Whenever the Cycle Mode is engaged before the Bounce command is invoked; the Bounce zone will be set accordingly. It is worth noting in this Key Command sequence that the Set Locators By Regions takes into account the boundaries of the first and last regions in the selection. So, the Select All command is sort of a “brute force” way of ensuring that the first and last Regions in the timeline are selected. But it gets the job done.