Great way to set up for keyswitches in Logic
- Thread starter Lambchops
- Start date
aldous
Senior Member
Here are the relevant bits of the Logic Pro manual on (1) creating a Mapped Instrument; (2) setting up the names, etc. It wouldn't really be useful for key-switches but - for more drum-kit-like usage - you might be interested in (3) using mapped staff styles if you use notation. The down-side of going this route for key-switches is that it's designed to work with notes that are sounded - even if they're not tuned - so the colour coding, notation styles, etc, are applied to the key-switch notes rather than the played notes.Very nice ! Do you happen to have the YouTube link ? - I’d like to have a go at this myself
I'm sure you know, but for completeness: Logic provides Articulation Sets as the mechanism for handling key-switches, with the advantage that colour coding (in Piano Roll), and notation styles (in Score View) get correctly applied to the played notes. Logic can then hide the key-switch notes to give you a clean piano roll/score.
Both routes are handy, but - for key-switching - I'd always go for Articulation Sets first, and fall-back to Mapped Instruments in exotic cases where articulations won't cut it.
Martin S
Active Member
Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, @aldous . Much appreciated 
I don’t use that many keyswitching libraries, but for those Articulation sets I currently use, I’ve applied a script - if my memory serves me correctly, it was created by @Dewdman42 in the Logic Pro forum. It is very handy, as I like working in the Automation view in the Arrange (sorry, Main) window, but that other option above might be useful for me, too.
[edit] the ‘multi tongue’ articulation in the screenshot is due to a wrong naming in my articulation set when I did the test. Obviously, multi-tongueing for Violinists must be…ahem, err…something else..
I don’t use that many keyswitching libraries, but for those Articulation sets I currently use, I’ve applied a script - if my memory serves me correctly, it was created by @Dewdman42 in the Logic Pro forum. It is very handy, as I like working in the Automation view in the Arrange (sorry, Main) window, but that other option above might be useful for me, too.
[edit] the ‘multi tongue’ articulation in the screenshot is due to a wrong naming in my articulation set when I did the test. Obviously, multi-tongueing for Violinists must be…ahem, err…something else..
Last edited:
aldous
Senior Member
Yes - so many ways to do this in Logic, depending on what one needs for any given project. I've taken an automation-based approach for sketching before - like your screenshot - but I found it got too fiddly once I started changing articulation more often than per-phrase, say.
Yet another option: I often end up using a track stack. The top-level track has the MIDI, and then there's a sub-track per articulation, each on a different MIDI channel. You can choose the played articulation by setting the MIDI channel (or use Logic's articulation system to do that for you, if you want naming/notation.) In addition, you can adjust track parameters - such as delay - per-articulation, and play two different articulations simultaneously - whether as different parts or as an overlay effect.
Martin S
Active Member
Ooh, now that’s another clever solution. You’re right, Logic is indeed quite versatile, depending of the task/project at hand. Thanks for bringing my attention to this option, as well.
Aldunate
Active Member
How do you hide the key switches?
Will they get exported when using notation software?
aldous
Senior Member
When you're using Articulation Sets, you don't create the key-switch notes yourself: Logic creates them implicitly according to which articulation you've chosen for each played note, e.g. from the Articulation drop-down in the Piano Roll Editor. In that case, the key-switches don't appear in either Piano Roll or in the Score Editor. If you export the MIDI, though, Logic will create the key-switch notes so you can take them with you to other tools.
If you're using Mapped Instruments then you're creating the key-switch notes just like any other note, so they'll get exported with your MIDI as usual. Hiding the key-switches isn't quite as "natural" as with Articulation Sets, but you should be able to hide them in the Score Editor by creating a staff style for the mapped instrument.
SimonCharlesHanna
Senior Member
yep
aldous
Senior Member
Okay, S1 seems good too, but I'm not sure what your point is: S1's tool for this job - Sound Variations - looks roughly equivalent to Logic's Articulation Sets. Logic will protect you from building other, unnecessarily complicated solutions by default (i.e. "enable complete features" is unchecked), but I'm sure you can build Heath Robinson machines in either if you want to?
Aldunate
Active Member
It is really the best articulation system available, also it does not export the key switches when going to a notation software.
Martin S
Active Member
I don’t believe Logic’s articulation sets does that either, so that comparison is moot.
aldous
Senior Member
Logic will emit key-switch notes in exported MIDI, but I don't see why that's a bad thing...? E.g. it looks like Sibelius can both import and export key-switches - optionally interpreting or ignoring them - so I don't see why you'd want to throw that information away.
OP
OP
Lambchops
Member
I just booted up S1 and started making music straight away as all the articulations for Sync libraries are already in there and very immediately accessible. So from that point of view I’ve just saved a lot of time.
