Apple Logic (1.1) - Manual (Page 86)

86 Chapter 8 The Environment Concept
4 To connect the Instrument directly to one of your computer’s MIDI ports, you need to
define the Instrument Object’s Port setting. To do so, click on the All menu option in the
Object Parameter box Port setting, and select the MIDI port that connects this
Instrument Object to the actual hardware MIDI device. As mono-timbral MIDI devices
can only receive data on one MIDI channel at a time, you must set the Instrument
Object’s MIDI channel to match the MIDI channel of the device it represents.
5 Double-click on the number 1 beside the Object Parameter box MIDI Channel setting
(Cha), and enter the MIDI channel that your mono-timbral MIDI device is set to receive
on.
6 Create a new track in the Arrange window (or click-hold on the name of one of the
existing tracks), and select the newly-created MIDI Instrument Object as the “target”,
from the hierarchical track menu. If you can’t see the new Object, click the show in
menu checkbox beside the icon in the Object Parameter Box.
7 If you select this track, and play, or perhaps record, some notes, the MIDI data is sent
from the Arrange window track to the MIDI Instrument Object (the target), and from
there to the MIDI output that the external instrument is connected to.
Note: Logic sees all data received at the Sequencer Input and this data—recorded as a
MIDI Region in the Arrange window—can be routed to any target Object that exists in
the Environment. While it is possible to create several MIDI Out Objects that represent
your physical MIDI Out ports, and cable Instrument Objects into them, this step is
unnecessary as the MIDI Out port and MIDI Channel (or channels, in the case of Multi
Instrument Objects) can be addressed directly from the Instrument (or Multi
Instrument) Object.
From Arpeggiators to Step Sequencers
Beyond the audio and MIDI Objects that you’ve been introduced to, the Environment
offers a large number of other Objects that can be used for MIDI data manipulation.
These include: arpeggiators, MIDI delays, transformers, chord memorizers, and more.
These Objects can be connected freely with virtual cables, enabling the creation of
various (from the simple to the very complex) MIDI processors.
There are, in fact, so many creative possibilities waiting for you here that you can even
build step sequencers, drum computers and random pattern generators in the
Environment. This tutorial, however, is not the place to discuss all of the possibilities
afforded by the Environment—extensive information can be found in Logic’s Onscreen
Help system and the Logic reference.