My 5 favourite Logic 9 shortcuts

Aahhh!.. The beauty of Logic... don't worry I'm not about to break into a sonnet or something! Instead I want to share my 5 favourite key commands (new Logic users may prefer the term 'shortcuts'). Yes, so back to the beauty of Logic... Well, I make no secret that being highly user customizable is without doubt one of the reasons I love using Logic so much. A large part of this is being able to customize and alter practically every menu function (and plenty of functions that aren't available within the menus) to your own key command.

For newer users this can seem daunting, and often new users ask for advice on which functions they "should" learn or assign to their own key commands. Now, there's no right or wrong answer. It's a matter of discovering your preferred workflow, finding those commands you use very often and opening up the Key Commands dialogue window (Option-K) and searching for your oft-used command(s).

Once you become more comfortable with how this works it can become fun to see what other possible key commands Logic has up it's sleeve. For example, open the Key Commands window and in the search field type tempo. Immediately Logic will present you with every possible tempo function that can be assigned to a key command. Let's say you wish to assign a key command to quickly view the Tempo Global Track... Select 'Toggle Tempo Track' and click on 'Learn by Key Label'. Hold down the modifier keys and the alpha key of choice. (I've chosen to assign mine to Control-Option-Command-T). Once it's recognized click on 'Learn by Key Label', close the Key Commands window and you're good to go.

Read on for my top 5...

Key Command 1

Wouldn't it be great if you could move a selected region(s) or event(s) to wherever your playhead is positioned?

Pickup Clock does just that. This is really useful when working with music to picture or adding effects to a specific area of your composition. Works well in the Arrange and MIDI Editors.

Key Command 2

There are a plethora of commands that can move the playhead to a position in the Bar Ruler... Go to... is a fine example, but sometimes you may want to move the playhead to the beginning of a selected region or MIDI event and start playback in one fell swoop.

Check out Play from Selection

This is possibly my most used (over-used?) key commands in Logic!

Key Command 3

Moving the Cycle area (left and right locators) using the mouse in the Bar Ruler can be cumbersome and time consuming. If, for example, you've already setup a cycle area between the first 8 bars and now want to move that to between Bars 9-17 these two commands will come in handy.

Move Locators forward by cycle length
Move Locators backwards by cycle length

Key Command 4

Typical scenario: I've carefully assigned all my drum channels to the same group. Then while editing their levels have realised the snare level needs to be attenuated a tad... I go to move it's level down and well I've now adjusted the levels of all the tracks in that group(!)

Time consuming solution: open the Mixer find the channel strip. Click in the Group section and choose 'No group' make your adjustments. Now add it to the same group and close the Mixer.

Easy solution: Toggle Group Clutch

One key command, make your adjustments and toggle group clutch again!

Key Command 5

For us Logic 9 users, Bounce in Place was one of the more heavily requested features over the years before it's release. Put simply, Bounce in Place renders the selected region(s) or track to a new audio file and places it on a track in the same position as the original selection.

This is already a huge time-saver compared to the old workflow:
soloing a region, setting cycle length to the region, File > Bounce... (remembering to tick 'Add to Audio Bin') opening the Bin, finding the file and placing it on a new audio track and lining it up with the original region.... the Bounce in Place key commands make the process even quicker...

Bounce Regions in Place
Bounce Track in Place

Do you have any Key Commands you find indispensable? Let us know in the comments below!

If you need further help on this or any other Logic or Mac software issue visit us at www.macprovideo.com/forum/

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Interested in learning more about Logic? These tutorials will help you to become proficient whether you are starting out or looking for advanced tips, tricks and techniques!