Logic Magician is an enhancement tool developed to significantly save time while using Logic Pro. It enables a more efficient workflow whether you’re just starting out or you are a pro.
It seamlessly works together with the keyboard ninja key map from Logic.Band, and there are no key conflicts between the two, so you’ll find that disabling Logic Magician won’t be necessary as often.
For example, In certain operations such as bouncing/Bounce track/region in place, save/save as/Save Project Alternative, the Go to position/marker dialogs or renaming track/region etc. where you’d need to type something, you will hear a sound as Logic Magician is automatically disabled so you can type as needed. When the dialog is closed, whether you press escape, Return, or VO Space on an OK button, you’ll hear another sound as Logic Magician is re-enabled. The goal is to not have to toggle Magician on and off, but to have it dynamically switch Logic Magician on/off as needed when in a window where you will need to type.
Aditionally things like volume, pan position, solo, mute, input monitoring won’t speak while the project is playing. This allows you to make critical listening decisions while playing back the project without the distraction of an announcement. When the project isn’t playing these will all speak.
Logic Magician Is created with efficiency in mind, so everything you need is usually a single press away, so you can freely concentrate on your music making, producing,mixing, or other creative endeavor’s.
Requirements
Logic Magician uses Keyboard Maestro app version 8.0 and above as a platform to run various macros and scripts, so you will need to have it installed on your machine.
Logic Magician also requires Logic Pro version 11.1 or above, as Logic Magician has been optimized to work with and take advantage of new features introduced in Logic Pro 11.1.
– MacOS Sonoma, version 14.5 or newer is recommended, as Mac OS Sonoma is the oldest OS version which supports Logic Pro 11.1.
Installation
Download and install Logic Magician installer.
– When done, uncompress it if necessary, then start the Logic Magician installer app and follow the prompts.
If Logic Magician is already installed it will prompt you to uninstall or re-install. If Logic Magician is not installed, it will prompt you to install. The installer will install Logic Magician, the LogicKeyboardNinja Key commands file, and the LMConfig Logic Pro Template. The template is useful for setting up Logic Pro to work with Logic Magician quickly as explained in the set up section of this guide.
Setup In Logic Pro
After Logic Magician is installed, the only thing left to do is to make some changes to Logic Pro in order to get the most out of Logic Magician.
Option 1: The Easy Way
The easiest way to do it is using LMConfig, the Logic Pro template which would have been installed along side Logic Magician. It was installed to the Logic Pro default templates folder: User/Music/Audio Music Apps/Project Templates.
In Logic Pro, to open a template, press Command N. Then interact with the table and choose my templates. Use VO J to jump into the collections area and select LMConfig. Stop interacting and jump to the end of the window with VO End, and select choose.
Once you have the template opened in Logic Pro, lets go ahead and save the control bar layout as default.
To do this, go to the control bar and press VO-Shift-M to bring up the context menu and choose Save As default. This sets up the control bar to be optimized for Logic Magician in any new projects you create.
When creating a new project not from this template, you will also want the inspector to be visible. The letter I shows and hides the inspector.
If you opened a project created before using Logic Magician and Logic Magician isn’t working correctly, in Logic, navigate to the control bar, press VO Shift M on it and select apply defaults. Also make sure the inspector is visible in that project.
Option 2: Somewhat Harder
The other option requires you to get your hands dirty a bit, and manually set up a project similar to the included template in option 1. You will still need an want to save these settings as default when you are done to make future projects in Logic Pro work well with Logic Magician.
Go to the control bar, then to control bar group, then to the display mode pop up menu and choose custom from there.
Then from the same menu, choose customize control bar and display option. The pop up dialog will open with various options. Here are the things you must have checked:
- Position&Time Beats
- Replace
- Locators, Left Right
- Autopunch
- Sample Rate Or Punch Locators
- Tempo
- Time Signature Division
- Key Signature
- Project End
- Apple Loops (Loop Browser)
- Tuner
- Play
- Solo
- Skip Cycle
- Cycle
After you’ve checked these items, go to the end of this dialog and hit Save As Default, then Apply Defaults. For efficiency, feel free to uncheck the settings that aren’t on the above list. Then remember to press Save As Default and Apply Default again.
You will also want the inspector to be visible. The letter I shows and hides the inspector.
Feel free to save a template with these settings for when you create new projects. Otherwise when you create a new project, go to the control bar, and press VO Shift M to bring up the context menu and choose apply default to set up the toolbar for Logic Magician.
If you opened a project created before using Logic Magician and Logic Magician isn’t working right, in Logic, navigate to the control bar, press VO Shift M on it and select apply defaults. Also make sure the inspector is visible in that project.
Set up in Mac OS
It may also be useful to disable some Mac OS global key commands as well for Logic Magician to work more effectively.
If any of these are key commands you use, you can re-map them. Otherwise you can disable them as explained below.
1. Press VO-M to open the apple menu and down arrow to system Settings.
2. When on System Settings, press Vo-Space to open it..
3. In the side bar find Keyboard.
4. Stop interacting with the side bar and navigate with VO Right to the Keyboard Scroll area
5. Interact with the Keyboard scroll area and navigate with VO-Right to the keyboard Shortcut button.
6. Vo Space on Keyboard Shortcut button.
7. in the dialog that opens in the sidebar select Mission Control.
8. Stop interacting with the side bar and navigate with VO-Right to the table.
9. Interact with the table and uncheck;
– Mission Control (Control Up Arrow)
– Application Windows (Control Down Arrow)
– Show Desktop (F11)
– On the Mission Control check box that’s collapsed, press right arrow to expand it, then uncheck,
– Move left a space (control Left Arrow)
– Move right a space (control right arrow)
10. When these are unchecked, stop interacting with the table and VO-Right to the Done button and VO-Space on it.
You can then quit system settings with Command+Q.
After you have taken care of this, Logic Magician is finally ready to use.
Starting Out
Logic Magician consists of a few actions, which get activated or deactivated based on your actions or the context.
It will also announce most window names, such as main window. It announces the titles of the Plug-in windows associated with them.
General Workflow
The concept behind Logic Magician is very simple. You should make music and forget about technical stuff.
With Logic magician, you’ll stay in the tracks list most of the time. Anything you want to do or check is just one key press away.
Many key commands already exist in the keyboard ninja key map, and Magician enhances them with speech feedback.
Some key commands specific to Logic Magician have single and double presses, and there are certain sounds used by Logic Magician, which indicate certain states and actions, like when Logic Magician is enabled/disabled.
Below are lists of all the key commands, arranged by module. Most should be self explanatory, but additional explanations are provided for some commands.
Global Commands
Toggle magician on/off, Control-Escape
Say currently focused window f
You can press F to verify which Logic window you are currently in. However, while this shouldn’t happen, on rare occasions Logic Magician may lose track of which window it should be focused in you can press F to force it to refocus to that window. For example if you are in the piano roll but Logic Magician commands speak as if they are still selecting regions in the main window and not notes in the piano roll, pressing F should force it to refocus to the piano roll, and the key commands should now work in the piano roll.
Main Module
Tracks and ChannelStrip module
This module is available always in main window, in plug-in window, and in the mixer window. Of course, things which are not present in mixer window won’t work there.
Control Bar
- speak playhead position in bars/beats, (double press for hours, minutes seconds) – Shift-slash
Speak current tempo – F1
Speak left locator position – F2
Speak right locator position – F3
Speak project end – F4
Speak sample rate (double press to open sample rate menu) – F5
Speak buffer size (double press to open buffer size menu) – F6
open/close tuner ( – F7
Speak display mode (double press to open display mode menu) – F8
Speak project tempo setting (double press to open project tempo menu) – F9
Speak time signature (double press to open time signature menu) – F10
Speak key signature (double press to open key signature menu) – F11
Note: For F11 to work, you will need to disable the Go To Desktop key commands as explained in the Mac OS set up section.
Speak division value (double press to open division display menu so you can choose a different Division Value) – F12
While you can speak current tempo by pressing F1, you can also
decrease/increase tempo in increments of 10BPM
Option Dash or Option Equal
decrease/increase tempo in increments of 1BPM
Shift-Option Dash or Shift-Option-Equals
You can also press Option W, after pressing F1, to be able to type in a tempo value like 90 and press return. This will set the tempo to 90BPM.
In fact the first 4 function keys, (F1, F2, F3, and F4) Can be edited by typing in a value.
Press the appropriate Function key (F1, F2, etc), then press Option w to be presented with a dialog where you can type in a value.
F12 speaks the current division value and double pressing F12 opens the division value menu where you can choose a division value. However, you can also use Control-Slash to switch to the next higher division value and Shift-Control-Slash to switch to the next lower division value.
varispeed toggle On/Off – Shift-F1
edit varispeed value (byp typing) – Shift-F2
Note: VoiceOver will speak minimum and maximum value based on what unit is currently selected with shift F3.
speak varispeed units, double press to open varispeed units menu – Shift-F3
speak varispeed mode, double press to open varispeed mode menu – Shift-F4
Toggle solo mode (toggle Solo Region) -Control-S
Toggle autopunch, Control-Option-Command-P
Toggle replace mode, Control-Option-Command-r
Plug-Ins, Sends And Channel Strip Settings
Accessing Plug Ins
press any number from 1 to 0, it will speak the plug in name if it’s active.
it will say bypassed then say the plug in name if the plug in is bypassed.
It will drop down the menu to choose a plug in if there is no plug in already there. Hit escape to close the menu if you don’t want to add a plug in.
Note: When you press a number and it drops down the plug in list so you can add a plug in, Logic Magician is also disabled so you can use the search field to type in the name of the plug in you are looking for. Whether you use the search field or navigate through the list to choose a plug in, Logic Magician will remain disabled until you press escape to close the list of plug ins, or until you press return to load a plug in.
Also be aware when using the search field, pressing return after typing in the field will not load a plug in, you will have to down arrow and press return on one of the search results to load the plug in.
Bypass/unbypass current plug-in – Accent
Remove current Plug-In – Shift-Accent
Open currently selected plug-in – Dash
Insert plug-in before current one – Shift-Dash
Change plug-in at current slot – X
Add MIDI FX – Shift-Equal
Report number of plug-ins and Sends – Equals
The following keys work only Inside a plug-in window.
Speak preset (double press to open presets menu) – Shift-P
Previous preset, Left Bracket
Next preset – Right bracket
Speak current side chain (double press to open side chain menu) – D
Speak current view mode (double press to open view mode menu – W
Note: the menu used to switch between controls view and Editor/Remote view
Activate plug-in extension (if available) – Control-Shift-Escape
Accessing Sends
press shift-1 through 0 to report send name/bus number and it’s current send level value
When you press shift and any number from 1 to 0, it will speak the send name/bus number along with its current send level value. (infinate means the send is turned down all the way and most likely will not have an audible effect on the track).
it will say bypassed then say the send name/bus number if the send is bypassed.
If there is no send, it will drop down the send menu for you to choose a send. Hit escape to close the menu if you don’t want to add a send.
Note: When you press Shift and a number and it drops down the send list so you can add a send to the track, Logic Magician is also disabled so you can use the search field to type in the name of a bus or output number you are looking for. Whether you use the search field or navigate through the list to choose a send, Logic Magician will remain disabled until you press escape to close the list, or until you press return to select a send.
Also be aware when using the search field, pressing return after typing in the field will not select a send, you will have to down arrow and press return on one of the search results to select the send.
Toggle bypass/unbypass of current send – Accent
Remove current send – Shift-Accent
Change current send – X
Change send value – Page Up/Page Down (FN Up/Down arrows on Laptops without number pads)
Change send value in smaller increments – Shift-Page Up/Page Down (Shift FN Up/Down arrows on Laptops without number pads)
Report number of plug-ins and Sends – Equals
Library
Search Library – Shift Y
Note: This key will put you in the search field in the Logic Pro Library. If the Library is hidden, it will toggle it visible and put you in the search field. It will also disable Logic Magician in case you want to type in the search field. Otherwise you can VO right once over to the browser and interact with it to browse the Library by categories.
Next or Previous Patch in the Library – Left or Right Bracket
Useful if you already have a library patch selected and want to be able to quickly browse other patches from the same category in the library. Logic Magician should speak the name of the patch as they are loaded. This also requires to have the Library visible and not hidden. You can toggle the Library from hidden to visible on screen with the letter Y.
Channel Strip Settings
open channelStrip setting menu – Option-C
Switch the track/channel strip between mono and stereo – Control-Shift-S
previous/next channelStrip settings – Shift + Left/Right brackets
Note: Library will need to verify visible for these commands to speak. You can toggle the library with the letter Y.
remove all audio plug-ins – Control + Shift + A
remove all sends – Control-Shift-E
remove all bypassed plug-ins – Control-Shift-B
remove all empty insert slots – Control-Shift-I
Automation
TOGGLE show/hide automation – A
Speak Automation Mode, double press to OPEN automation menu – Option-A
automation parameter cycle – Command-Y
Region and track inspector controls
region inspector
Access region inspector parameters, Control-Number row keys from 1 through 0.
On Software Instruments (MIDI) Tracks
q-strength – Control-1
q-range – Control-2
q-swing – Control-3
q-flam – Control-4
q-length – Control-5
q-velocity – Control-6
clip length toggle – Control-7
Speak pitch source, (double press to open pitch source menu) – Control-8
region delay – Control-9
region transpose – Control-0
Note: Option-Up/Down Arrows and Option-Shift-Up/Down Arrows still adjust transpose, however no speech will happen so you can transpose by ear if you’d like. Control-0 will adjust the same transpose parameter however, after pressing Control-0 to select the transpose parameter if you adjust the transpose value with control-up/Down or Control-Shift-Up/Down, it will speak the transpose value. Also if you change the transpose value with Option-Up/Down arrows or Option-Shift-Up/Down arrows, you can still press control-0 to hear the current transpose value.
Dynamics – Control Left Arrow
Gate time – Control Right Arrow
On Audio Tracks
q-strength – Control-1
q-range – Control-2
q-swing – Control-3
fine tune – Control-4
fade in curve, ( double Press to open fade in menu to choose between Fade in/Speed up) – Control-5
fade out curve, (double press to open fade out menu to choose between Fade out/Slow Down) – Control-6
Speak crossfade type, (double press to open crossfade type menu) – Control-7
Speak pitch source, (double press to open pitch source menu) – Control-8
region delay – Control-9
region transpose – Control-0
Note: Option-Up/Down Arrows and Option-Shift-Up/Down Arrows still adjust transpose, however no speech will happen so you can transpose by ear if you’d like. Control-0 will adjust the same transpose parameter however, after pressing Control-0 to select the transpose parameter if you adjust the transpose value with control-up/Down or Control-Shift-Up/Down, it will speak the transpose value. Also if you change the transpose value with Option-Up/Down arrows or Option-Shift-Up/Down arrows, you can still press control-0 to hear the current transpose value.
Fade In – Control Left Arrow
Fade Out – Control Right Arrow
Change values of inspector parameter sliders (for example, fine tune, quantize strength, Fade In/Out etc.) in large Increments – Control-Up/Down arrow
Change value of sliders in small increments – Control-Shift-Up/Downarrow
Note: For control-Left/Right arrows, Control-Up/Down and Control-Shift-Up/Down to work, you will need to disable the Mission Control key commands as explained in the Mac OS set up section.
Speak current quantize setting (double press to open quantize menu) – Option-Q
Set higher quantize value – Control-Option-Q
Set lower quantize value – Shift-Control-Option-Q
Quantization off – Option-Command-Q
Report current quantize type (double press to open quantize type menu) – Shift-Q
Toggle flex and follow, (double press to open Flex and Follow menu) – Control-F
Speak gain (for audio tracks)or velocity offset (For MIDI Tracks) – Shift-V
Reset gain/velocity offset value to default – Shift-W
Increase/decrease gain/velocity offset value – Control-Command-Up/Down arrow
increase/Decrease gain/velocity offset value by smaller increment – Shift-Control-Command-Up/Down arrow
Reverse a region – Shift-Control-R
Track Inspector
- Access track inspector parameters, Control-Shift- Number row keys 1 through equals
ON Software Instruments (MIDI) Tracks.
speakMIDI input, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-1
speak internal midi in, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-2
Speak midi in channel, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-3
Speak midi out channel, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift4
Speak track velocity – Control-Shift-5
Speak velocity limit – Control-Shift-6
Speak key limit – Control-Shift-7
Speak articulation set, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-8
Speak track delay, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shfift-9
Speak track transpose – Control-Shift-0
Speak freeze mode, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-Dash
Speak, default region type, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-Equal
On audio tracks
Speak flex mode, (double press to open menu) Control-Shift-1
Control-Shift-2, Control-Shift-3, and Control-Shift-4 changes based on what flex mode is selected.
Some modes have only one control, others 2 or 3.
Speak freeze mode, (double press to open menu) – Control-Shift-Dash
Change values of inspector parameter sliders in large Increments – Control-Up/Down arrow
Change value of sliders in small increments – Control-Shift-Up/Downarrow keys
Note: For Control-Up/Down and Control-Shift-Up/Down to work, you will need to disable the Mission Control key commands as explained in the Mac OS set up section.
Tracks And Regions
Selecting And Working With Tracks
Previous Or Next Track – Up/Down Arrows
Rename Track – Shift-Return
Speak Currently Selected Track, T
Move VoiceOver Focus To Currently selected Track, Option-T
Move to the First or Last Track, Option-Home/End
Works in Main Tracks Window only. If used in the mixer window, it will simply speak track name
Find Track (opens a search box where you can type in a track name to search for), Control-T
Works in Main window Only, In Mixer Window Control T will add the selected Aux Track to the Main Window.
Select all tracks – Command-Option-Shift-A
Note: Logic Magician will speak the number of selected regions when you select all tracks.
INCREASE/decrease volume on Selected Track, Command-Up/Down arrows
INCREASE/decrease volume in smaller increments on selected Track, Command-Option-Up/Down arrows
Speak current volume. V
To reset volume to unity gain (0db) on Selected Track, Shift-W
ADJUST pan left/right on Selected Track, Command-Left/Right arrows
ADJUST pan left/right on Selected Track in smaller increments, Command-Option-Left/Right arrows
Speak current pan position, P
To reset Pan to center on Selected Track, Shift-W
Toggle solo Track/Channel Strip, S
MUTE/unmute Track/Channel Strip, M
Open/close Track Stacks – Option-Accent
Toggle flex on/off – Command-F
TOGGLE input monitoring on/off on Selected Tracks, Control-I
Speak input, (double press to open input menu to select an input on Selected Track) I
Speak output, (double press to open outputs menu to select an output on Selected Track) O
When you double press I to open the input menu, Logic Magician is also disabled so you can use the search field to type in the number of the input you are looking for. Whether you use the search field or navigate through the list to select an input, Logic Magician will remain disabled until you press escape to close the list of inputs, or until you press return to select an input.
The same is done when you double press O to open the menu to select an output for a track.
Also be aware when using the search field, pressing return after typing in the field will not select an input or output for the track, you will have to down arrow and press return on one of the search results to select an input or output..
Switch between tracks area grid and live loops grid – Option-V
switch between currently selected track and it’s output or send/Aux track – Control-Tab
In cases where the currently selected track is not in a Track Stack, press Control-tab to be on the stereo output/master track in Logic, and use all the same key commands you would use for adding effects, adjusting volume etc etc etc except now you are doing it on the stereo track. Press Control-tab again. and you are back on the originally selected track you started on.
In cases where the currently selected track is in a track stack, pressing Control-tab puts you on the track stack itself so now you can adjust the track stack effects, volume, pan etc. Press Control-tab again to return to the original track you had selected.
So if you have a track selected that’s not in a track stack, Control-tab toggles you between the original track and your stereo output (aka the master track) in Logic. If you have a track that’s inside of a track stack selected, then Control-TAB toggles you between the original track and the track stack. Keep in mind this is only for summing track Stacks.
If you adjust the send level first, then Control-Tab now toggles you over to the aux track for the send you just adjusted the level for. So you are able to add a new send to a track, adjust the send level to a reasonable amount, (-15 is a good place to start for reverbs and delays for example), then when you press Control-TAB you will have the AUX track that was created for the send you just added in focus now. So you can use LM to add a plug in to the track and etc. Press Control-tab when you are done manipulating the plug in settings to return to the original trac, So if you ever want to adjust an Aux track instead of your stereo output or TrackStack, just adjust the send level for an Aux track so that Control-Tab will toggle you between the Original track and Aux track instead.
Peak Meter, Gain Reduction Meter, Tuner And Their Watchers
Peak Meter
Speak peak level value – Z
Reset peak meter – Shift-W
speak peak level of Output/Aux of Selected Track – Option-Z
Note: This will look for peak level of stereo output track, but if you are focused on track inside track stack, it will speak the peak level of the stack track itself, or if you just changed send, it will speak peak of the send. Essentially this will speak the peak meter for whatever track/aux channel strip Control-tab would switch you to. See the explanation for Control-TAB key Above.
Start/stop peak watcher – Shift-Z
Speak Peak Watcher Interval (how frequently it announces the Peak when peak watcher is enabled). Double press to set interval – Command-F1
The Peak Watcher is a special function of Logic magician which allow you to have spoken feedback from the peak meter every few seconds or however often you choose to set it for, without you having to press the Z key over and over again. It will speak the peak meter’s value on repeat at the specified interval (e.g. every 2 seconds
) until you disable the watcher by pressing Z or Shift Z again.
Gain Reduction Meter
Speak gain reduction -G
Enable Gain Reduction Watcher – Shift-G
– Speak Gain Reduction Watcher Interval (how frequently it announces Gain reduction when Gain reduction watcher is enabled). Double Press to set the interval. – Command-F2
Gain Reduction Watcher is a special function of Logic magician which allow you to have spoken feedback from the gain reduction meter every few seconds or however often you choose to set it for, without you having to press the G key over and over again. It will speak the gain reduction meter’s value on repeat at the specified interval (e.g. every 2 seconds
) until you disable the watcher by pressing G or Shift G again.
Note: this reports the Gain Reduction for the Logic Compressor. The compressor must be an effect on the selected track for the Gain Reduction Command to work.
Tuner
Open tuner (works only on audio tracks), F7
Once it’s open you can use the following commands:
Read current note and cents values, Z
Start tuner watcher, It will speak note and cents value every few seconds, Shift-Z
Speak Tuner Watcher Interval (how frequently it announces Note Pitch info when the tuner watcher is enabled). Double Press to set the interval., Command-F3
The tuner Watcher is a special function of Logic magician which allow you to have spoken feedback from the tuner every few seconds or however often you choose to set it for, without you having to press the key over and over again. It will speak the note pitch and cents value on repeat at the specified interval (e.g. every 2 seconds
) until you disable the watcher by pressing Z or Shift Z again.
Selecting Regions
- PREVIOUS or Next region – Left /Right arrow
Speak Region Name, (Double Press To Open Region Selection Mode) – N
Change Speech Feedback Style for Selected Region – Control-N
Note: This affects what will happen when you press left and right arrow keys. It may do nothing, speak region name, speak region starting position, or speak and move to starting position of the region.
Rename Region – Shift N
Split region At current playhead position – Command-T
Note: When Logic Magician is active, this will split at the playhead on the selected track even if the region isn’t selected first
Mute Region – Control-M
Solo Region – Control-S
All options under Edit Menu > Select will now speak the number of selected regions when they are selected from that menu or when you use their key command.
Open/close take folder, Option-F
Previous/next take, Shift-Command-Up/Down arrows
Rename Take – Shift-T
Region selection mode
Double Press N to Toggle Region Selection mode on and off
After it’s enabled, it will speak its state, and also the track name and the number of regions on the track.
Left and right arrows will move between regions in a virtual mode, and it won’t wrap around past the last region, or the first region. It will instead announce when you are at the last region or first region.
Down arrow, will toggle select or unselect current region,
Up arrow, read all selected regions.
Note: as you left or right arrow through regions, VoiceOver will say the region name and if it’s selected. If it’s not selected it will only say the region name.
After you’re done with selection, hit the N key twice. VoiceOver will say that the mode is disabled, and you can now copy, cut, delete etc those regions.
If you press the n key once after you are done with selection, it will speak the number of selected regions.
Cycle Mode
Set Left Locator (start point for cycle mode) — Option-Command-Left Bracket
Set Right Locator (End Point for Cycle) – Option-Command-Right Bracket
Go To Left Locator And Announce It’s Position – Option-Command-Home (Option-Command-FN-Left Arrow on laptop keyboard)
Go To Right Locator and announce it’s Position – Option-Command-End (Option-Command-FN-Right Arrow on laptop keyboard)
Toggle Cycle Mode – C
Skip Cycle – Control-Shift-C
Making Time selections
Want to set a start and end point and have Logic only playback that section of the project? This is referred to as a Marquee in Logic and there are a few quick and easy ways to set and adjust a Marquee start and end points.
If you have a region selected and want to convert that to a Marquee, press Command Shift Backslash
Press Shift D to clear the time selection.
Already have a Left Locator and Right Locator where you would like your start or end point to be respectively, then press
Option-Command-Backslash, to convert the locators to a marquee selection (for only the selected track or tracks)
Shift-Option-Command-Backslash, to convert the locators to a marquee selection (for all tracks)
Press Shift D to clear the time selection.
Set Selection Start And End Points At The Current Playhead Position
.Got the playhead positioned where you would like to start a selection? Press Control-Option-Shift-Left Bracket to set your start point.
Then move the playhead to where you want the selection to end and press Control-Option-Shift-Right Bracket to set the selection End Point.
Once the start and end points are set Logic will only play the time selection when you press space.
The above key commands will only create a selection for the selected track or selected tracks. If you want to set a time selection for all the tracks in the project, use
Control-Command-Left Bracket to set the Start Point
Control-Command-Right Bracket to set the End Point
Press Shift-D to clear the time selection.
Once you have your time selection made, if you need to adjust the start and end point
Adjust the start point to the left by transient – Shift-Left Arrow
Adjust the Start Point to the right by transient – Shift-Right Arrow
Adjust the End Point to the left by transient – Left Arrow
Adjust the End Point to the Right by transient – Right Arrow
You can also set the nudge value and then
– Adjust the end point to the left by nudge value – Shift-Option-Left Arrow
– Adjust the end point to the right by nudge value – Shift-Option-Right Arrow
– Move Time Selection Left by nudge value – Option-Left Arrow
-Move Time Selection Right by nudge value – Option-Right Arrow
you can always just move the playhead to a new position and use the above set start and end point key commands again.
Set Nudge Value
Set nudge to 1 millisecond, control-Option-1
Set nudge to 10 milliseconds, Control-Option-0
Set nudge to bar, Control-Option-M
Set nudge to beat, Control-Option-B
Set nudge to division, Control-Option-D
Set nudge to sample, Control-Option-S
Set nudge to ticks, Control-Option-T
Set nudge to 10 ticks, Control-Option-9
Reset Sliders To Default Values or Type Values For Sliders
reset control – Shift-W
type values into sliders – Option-W
Note: previous two commands are special. Shift W will reset any selected slider: volume, pan, gain, velocity, sends, and all sliders from inspectors.
Option + W allows you to type values into selected sliders. Select volume for instance, hit option W and you can type your value after the sound.
While you’re typing, lm is completely off so you won’t activate anything while typing. It’s important to finish typing with either return or escape key, to deactivate this mode and turn lm back on. When you hit return or escape keys, you’ll hear another sound indicating that the mode is deactivated and the lm is back on.
Escape cancels the mode, Return sends the value you typed in through to the slider.
Mixer Window
These key commands will speak the commands when pressed, but not the number of channel strips selected.
select audio channel strips – Shift[A
select auxilary channel strips – Shift-F
select instrument channel strips -Shift-S
select muted channel strips – Shift-M
select output channel strips – Shift-O
select summing stack channel strips – Control + Option +-C
select same color channel strips –C
select midi channel strips – Shift-E
move between mixer types – Shift-X
Piano Roll Module
This module Becomes Active whenever you press Command-4 to open the Piano Roll window.
Select first Note in Piano Roll – N (saves the step of having to first interact with the Piano Roll Layout area)
Move To Previous or next note, Left and Right arrow
Transpose by semitone, Option-Up /Down arrow
Transpose by octave, Option-Shift-Up/Down arrow
select strength slider, 1
select swing slider, 2
Speak Scale key, double press to open scale key menu, 3
Speak scale mode, double press to open scale mode menu, 4
Speak Articulation set, double press to open articulation set menu, 5
Speak/Select velocity slider, V
Change velocity, swing, or strength if selected, Command-Up and Down arrows
Change velocity, swing, or strength in smaller values, Command-Option-Up and Down arrows
Scale quantize, Shift-Q
Speak currently selected event/note, N
Change Speach Feedback Style for selected Note Control-n
Note: speech feedback style: off, speak note, speak position, speak velocity
Speak position of currently selected event/note, P
Select first note in a bar (based on current playhead position), Option-P.
select first note in a beat (based on current Playhead position) – Option-Shift-P
Note: the above two key commands will select the first note in the bar or beat respectively closes to the playhead. This is useful because you can quickly get to a note close to the playhead without having to split the region first. Given that it’s jumping to the closest note, it may not always be the most accurate but it will get you a lot closer.
Speak number of selected notes, Dash
Speak total number of notes, Equals
MIDI In toggle, Option-I
MIDI out toggle, Option-O
Select Highest Notes, Shift-Up Arrow
Select Lowest Notes, Shift-Down Arrow
Select All Notes Following Currently Selected Note, Shift-F
Select All Notes Of Same Pitch Following Currently Selected Note, Control-Shift-F
Select All Notes Inside Locators, Shift-L
Select All Muted Notes, Shift-M
Select All Overlapping Notes, Shift-O
Select All Similar Notes, Shift-S
Select Equal Notes, Shift E
Select Same-Colored Notes, Shift-C
Select Same Channels, Shift-H
Select All Notes of Same Subpositions, Shift-P
Select All Notes With Same Articulation, Shift-A
Invert Selection, Shift I
De-select All, Shift-D
De-Select All Outside Of Locators, Option-Shift-D
Close Piano Roll, Command-w
Note: the key commands used for selection are native commands, but when you use them with LM, VoiceOver will speak the number of selected notes which can be quite useful in editing.
Tempo list, marker list, and signature list
Next and previous event – Tab/Shift-Tab or Left/Right Bracket
number of events – Equals
Speak order of currently selected event – Dash
Speak currently selected event (double press to add new event to the list) – N
switch between two reading styles – Control-N
Note: The two reading styles are speak position first, or speak selected type value first.
Speak main value only – I
Speak Only Marker name/number in marker list, tempo in tempo list, or signature in signature list.
speak additional value – O
Note: Additional value speaks, marker length for markers, playhead SMPTE value for tempo markers, and marker type for signature markers.
speak position – P
Move the selected marker in the list to the current playhead position – Semicolon
remove selected marker – Delete
Increase/Decrease main Value – Command-Up and Down arrows
Increase/Decrease main values in smaller increments – Command-Option-Up and down arrows
Note: This will change tempo for tempo markers and the first value of time signature markers.
Option + W, type in the main value
Note: This lets you type in the tempo in the tempo list and type in the marker name in the marker list.
catch playhead toggle – C
Speak current set (double press to open set menu) – S
Open Signature Type/Options Menu – T
Note: In signature list, it will speak, signature type menu, and a double press will open the menu. For the tempo and marker list, it opens the options menu.
Loop Browser Module
The loop browser module doesn’t change how logic’s loop browser works. Native functionality is the same.
The Logic Magician module simply gives you fast access to browser filtering by instrument, genre and descriptors and all of the keywords, which you can choose now from the custom list.
It also gives you access to scale and signature menus, loops type and play in menus, and finally the sound packs menu.
Here are the keystrokes available, then the workflow.
Enable apple loops module and turn loop browser on at the same time. (double press to disable apple loops module and close loop browser) – Command 0
Play/stop the loop – Option-Space
note: sometimes it won’t start the loop immediately. It happens when you change sound packs or filter keywords so none of the loops get selected. Therefore there’s nothing to play. In that case, simply hit up or down arrow.
Previous/next loop – Up/Down arrows
Go to first or last loop – Option-Up/Down arrows
note: This is native functionality, so while loop browser is selected, it will do this, but after you refocus to the tracks view, the transpose will become active.
Speak selected instrument keywords. Double press to Open list of available keywords – Option-1
Speak selected genre keywords. Double press to open list of available keywords. – Option-2
Speak selected descriptor keywords. Double press to open list of available keywords – Option-3
Filter by favorites – Option-4
Speak currently selected sound pack, double press to open sound packs menu – Option-5
Open loop type dialog – Option-6
Speak selected scale (double press to open scale menu) – Option-7
Speak selected signature (double press to open signature menu) – Option-8
Open play in menu – Option-9
Note: the above keystroke is only for opening play in menu, as logic doesn’t allow Logic Magician to retrieve the currently selected value in the play in menu.
Speak number of loop – Option-0
Clear filters of selected filter type – Option-Escape
For instance, if you have a few instruments selected, then you want to cancel all of them and choose something else, you hit option-1 to select instrument filter, then option escape to clear it all. The options need about a second to do that in case there are multiple filters, but will usually happen in less time than that.
Speak Speed, double press to open speed menu – Option-S
Loop Search – Option-Return
Puts you in the search field in the Loop Browser so you can type in a search term.
Loop Browser Workflow
It’s important to remember that enabling the loop browser module doesn’t disable any other module, with the exception of transpose up and down by semitones not being available when the loop browser is in focus as explained above.
When you start the loop browser module for the first time, voiceOver will be focused in the loop browser. Logic Magician has nothing to do with that, as it happens every time you enable the loop browser with the O key.
You can stay there or return to the tracks area by pressing TAB. This is Logic default behavior to switch focus between the tracks area and the loop browser. .
Most of the keys are self-explanatory, but here are a few important things to note.
Pressing Option-1, 2, and 3 will read instrument, genre, and descriptors, but if you have some keywords selected, such as rock and blues, or piano, or gentle, those will be spoken too.
If you press any of these 3 keystrokes twice , the pop up window will open, which has 1 text element, one table, cancel and ok buttons.
The Text element will tell how many keywords are available in a certain category. For instance, if you want to filter by instrument and you choose the piano keyword, then most of the remaining 51 keywords will become unavailable.
So if you press option 1 twice again, this text element will contain a different number.
In short, it will always tell you how many keywords are available for you to choose from.
The table contains all available keywords which you can choose from. You can interact with the table, choose desired keyword, stop interacting and press the Ok button.
Or to make it a bit easier, go to the end of this window with VO plus end, and move back to the table. Then you won’t have to interact, and you can simply use Up and Down arrow keys or first letter navigation, and hit enter on the desired keyword.
Unfortunately, that’s how this pop up window works, and there’s nothing Logic Magician can do about it because it’s not customizable.
Option-2 and Option-3 if pressed twice will behave in the same way, but they will just show you the list of genres or descriptors respectively.
Option-4 or filter by favorites will do nothing unless you have some loops tagged as favorite.
Note: There is currently no Logic Magician keystroke for tagging a loop as a favorite, as this would be slow in cases when you have thousands of loops available. Perhaps a way to do this may be devised in a future update.
The Scale and signature , loop types and play in, and sound packs menus work the same.
Option-0 will always read the number of loops currently shown.
Now, here is how you use it.
As soon as you hit option-Space to play a loop, the loop browser has full focus, even if you are in the tracks header.
This is great, as you can use arrow keys, or option arrow keys to move between loops, and you can use command C to copy a desired loop when you find it.
When you find a desired loop, simply paste it in the tracks header. A new track will be added to the project, as has always been the case with loop browser.
However, the focus is still on the loop browser, so if you’re not done with loops, simply keep pressing arrow keys to choose another loop, and repeat this process until you have all the loops you want in the project.
To break the focus from loop browser, simply press the TAB key. The tracks header is now in full focus, and the loop browser won’t be in focus until you hit Option-Space again.
When the track header is in focus, option up and down arrow keys will act as transpose up and down by semitone again.
Logic Magician Extensions
Logic Magician Extentions or LMX for short, are extentions to the Logic Magician, and they are created for speciffic plug-ins.
For now only kontakt 8 and ml drums extensions are available.
To activate LMX, while in a plug-in window, hit Control Shift Escape.. It will select LMX if available.
While LMX is active, Logic Magician controls are not active, except Shift-P for presets menu, left and right brackets for previous and next preset, D for side chain, W for view mode, .
When you want to go back to Logic Magician controls, simply enable it with Control-Escape.
Kontakt 8 LMX
Open File menu, Control-F
ML Drums LMX
Enable with Control Shift Escape
Speak preset. ⌃P
Note: this navigates presets included with ML Drums or any you saved using the ML Drums Preset manager.
Humanize. ⌃H
Switch pages – ⌃⇥
Note: Switches between the Drums and Mixer pages
In the Mixer
EQ And Compressor Parameter, Shift 1 through 0.
Other Parameters 1 through 0
Move to next or Previous Drum Channel in the mixer, (Kick, Snare, Overhead etc) Tab/Shift Tab
Adjust currently selected parameter up/down – Control-Up/Down
Speak current channel – accent