. Audio, Macintosh

  1. Importing ProTools Sessions into Logic Audio Platinum
  2. LAMP, OSX, AudioWerk: there's no choice in the Audio Driver prefs for digital input
  3. DP Macs: make better use of both processors
  4. Using LAMP with Rebirth/Rewire
  5. Importing audio files in Logic for OSX

.1 Importing ProTools Sessions into Logic Audio Platinum

There are a few easy ways to accomplish this:

If by chance the engineer "consolidated" the files to measure 1 in ProTools, they should all be the same size. ("Consolidating" is the PT term for creating a new audio file - you can select the entire session and make each track have one long region. In Logic, this would be done by bouncing one track at a time.) If the files associated with each session are all the exact same length, they may have consolidated them. Simply add them to the Logic session, all with the same start time.

If not, you can use PT Free or borrow a friend's PT system for a short time. If the track count for the songs is high, try to find a TDM system. For brevity, I will assume you are using some sort of PT LE system. The TDM instructions would be the same.

Follow these instructions for each session:

  1. Open the ProTools session. If the total track count is allowed by the version of PT you are using (24 for PT Free, 32 for PT LE), the session should open as normal. If the track count exceeds the limit, a window will open, telling you what tracks have been left out, and asking you if you want to save this info. SAVE IT.
  2. You should now have a session in front of you consisting of 24/32 tracks. Immediately do a "save as" to denote the new session you are working with.
  3. The easiest method is to "consolidate" the tracks so they all start at measure 1.
  4. Select all of the audio in the session. the easiest way to do this is with the cursor tool (to the left of the hand tool). In the grey "bar and beat" ruler, select a point that is after the end of the song (to the right of the last region), hold "shift" and hit "return". This should select all of the regions in the session. There are many other ways to select all, as well.
  5. "Consolidate" the files by hitting "Shift+Option+3", or by going to the Edit menu and finding "Consolidate Selection".
  6. When this is finished, you should have a nice-looking session of uniform regions. These regions can be brought into a Logic session, put on measure 1, and there you have it.

    If tracks were dropped, print out the list of dropped tracks. Delete all of the tracks with the newly consolidated regions, so there are no tracks in the session. Select the tracks by Option-clicking on the track name, and "Delete Tracks" from the File menu.
     
  7. Go to "Import Tracks" in the File menu, select the ORIGINAL session, and select the next bank of tracks you need.
  8. These tracks, once opened in the session, should be consolidated as the previous tracks were.

You can opt to export the time stamp of each separate region, but the consolidate method is much easier.

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.2 LAMP, OSX, AudioWerk: there's no choice in the Audio Driver prefs for digital input

There is a solution.

  1. Launch Audio/Midi Set up from your Utilities folder
  2. "Selected Audio device" choose Audiowerk 8
  3. "Input Source", choose digital
  4. Return to Logic or launch it if isn't running. The difference is that you set it from OS X and not Logic.

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.3 DP Macs: make better use of both processors

Any audio channel track or VSTi track that has the I/O-helper plugin inserted in it will run on the processor which currently is mostly unused. This means you can get some extra power out of the processor which formerly only ran OS and MIDI/screen redraws etc.

To do this , just do the following:

  1. Insert the I/O helper plugin in any Audio object (Track or Instrument, etc).
  2. Set the Output in that plugin to be any available output (don't leave it at "--" which is the default - you won't get the benefit if you don't pick an available output).
  3. Option-click the insert to disable it...
  4. Voila...! Any plugins on that channel (including VSTi's) will now use the much less heavily loaded processor.

Try this one and all and see if there are any downsides or cases where it doesn't work. But it appears to give you a simple way to control what is running on which processor. And when you're running tight on CPU, you'll have quite a bit of usable power to spare which you can now grab. Sure beats bouncing tracks to add another plugin or VSTi to the mix, eh?

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.4 Using LAMP with Rebirth/Rewire

The trick is to open/close both applications in the right order. Start LA first! Leave your Autoload song open, start Rebirth. When done: quit Rebirth first with your LA song still open. Only then quit Logic. Works flawlessly, no freezes no problems.

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.5 Importing audio files in Logic for OSX

1) Select an audio track (Arrange window) 2) put the cursor at the desired time point 3) go to main menu and choose: Audio > Import Audio File.. and pick the sound file from where it is stored on your computer.

Or: from main menu pick Audio > Audio window. Then from the Audio window's menu choose: Audio File > Add audio file, and pick the sound file. This way you can use this "Audio window" as a palette from which you drag and drop sound files in the Arrange window (at the desired track and time point). It is convenient to select Window > Tile Windows Horizontally, so that Arrange window and Audio window don't overlap.

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