If you physically split the file into separate regions, you have the option of shortening each region to avoid those little glitches at the end. However, I prefer instead to use separate audio regions to determine the slices, the main reason being that if you use the transient markers as the split points, you might find that the end of a particular slice could include a fraction of a following hit at the end of a slice. The 'Convert to New Sampler Track' function can then work with these transient markers to decide where to split the file.
More often than not, this will show more transient markers than you actually want, but there are ways to increase or decrease the sensitivity (which were discussed in this column in SOS December 2009 and SOS January 2010). When you turn on Flex Time on a particular track, Logic will analyse that track and show a number of transient markers.
While it wasn't perfect, it worked pretty well and, with the ability to both add and delete manual markers, you could get a good result pretty quickly. In Recycle, you'd do this using a Sensitivity control: adjusting this would increase or decrease the sensitivity to transients in the source file. The first thing we need to do is tell Logic where each slice begins and ends. If you're interested in the re‑ordering features, though, you'll need to investigate the 'Convert to New Sampler Track' option, which offers a lot of the basic functionality of Recycle. The Flex Time feature allows audio files to automatically conform to changes in tempo, and it offers us the option to quantise audio files too. Times have moved on, though, and we can now do all of this in Logic without the need for third-party software. Although this could obviously be achieved manually, Recycle automated the process, making it much quicker and easier.
A more interesting feature of the resulting sampler patch and MIDI file was that it gave you the ability to change the feel or groove of the loop - and even to reinvent its basic pattern. Because the original audio file was split into slices, you could change the tempo of the track, with the slices triggered at the correct time but without any time‑stretching of audio.
You're probably familiar with Propellerhead's Recycle software, which was the first software that allowed you to cut a sample into 'slices', allocate them to sequential MIDI notes, and create a MIDI file with the timing information for each slices. If, like me, you don't want to sound like everyone else, you should explore Logic's 'Convert to New Sampler Track' feature, and in this column I'll run through a few examples to get you started. The march of technology has made sampling tools increasingly sophisticated, but with vast bundled libraries in Logic and other DAWs, and a never-ending stream of third-party sampled instruments, fewer and fewer people seem to be creating their own original sounds using their samplers - and that's a real shame, in my book. It seemed magical that these unassuming little boxes could not only record but also manipulate audio - they really were ground-breaking at the time. You can specify the range of notes that will be used, which is handy if you want to turn a drum loop into a playable kit on your MIDI keyboard, for example.Use Logic's 'Convert To New Sampler Track' function to mimic Recycle and make your own sampled instruments.īefore DAW software and computers came to dominate the production industry, many producers had their first taste of 'digital audio processing' in the form of hardware samplers, such as the Akai S950. In this way, rather like ReCycle and similar loop-based tools, Logic will slice up the audio region and assign each slice to be triggered by a different note. Or - very neatly - you can ask Logic to create a new EXS24 instrument based on the transients detected in the audio region. First, you can create an EXS24 instrument that maps an audio region so that it can be triggered from one MIDI note, making it easy to recreate ’80s-style st-st-stuttering effects. The snappily named ‘Convert Regions to New Sampler Track’ command makes it possible to trigger audio regions via EXS24 in one of two ways. Perhaps best described in the Sound on Sound review of the “new” Logic Pro 9 back in 2009…
All selected regions are sequentially mapped-in accordance with their timeline positions-to the specified key range, starting with the lowest note. You can convert audio regions to sampler instruments with the Convert Regions to New Sampler Track function (default key command: Control-E). #LogicProX Convert Regions to New Sampler Track ⌃EĬonvert audio regions to sampler instruments – Logic Pro X