Creating tracks – Apple Logic Pro 8 Getting Started User Manual

Page 10

Chapter 1

Starting Your Project and Importing Media Files

Toolbar:

Toolbar buttons execute several major functions. The Media and Lists buttons

open/close the Media and Lists areas (shown below the buttons, when open).

Local menu bar:

Provides access to window-specific functions.

Tool menu:

Provides access to tools, used for selection and editing tasks.

Bar ruler:

Horizontally displays Logic’s time axis—from left to right. It is also used for

navigation, playback, and recording tasks.

Track list:

This is where you select, create, move, and delete tracks.

Arrange area:

This is the arrangement workspace. It can contain any number of MIDI

or audio regions, aligned on horizontal track lanes (shown in the track list).

Playhead:

The playhead indicates the current project position, and moves from left

to right as the project is playing. The playhead can also be used as a target for paste
operations.

Inspector:

The Inspector is used to adjust various aspects of track or region playback.

Channel strips—for the selected track, and its destination channel—are displayed at
the bottom of the Inspector.

Editor buttons:

The Mixer, Sample Editor, Piano Roll, Score, and Hyper Editor buttons

open or close the corresponding editor window above the Transport bar—the
Arrange area is resized to accommodate the editor.

Transport bar:

Used to control playback and recording operations.

Zoom controls:

Drag the Zoom control sliders to change the horizontal and vertical

magnification factor of the window contents.

Creating Tracks

Logic works on the basis of tracks, much like a multi-track tape machine. You can see
and access these tracks in the Arrange window track list.

If you followed the steps outlined above when opening Logic, the project will contain a
single audio track, called Audio 1. There are two other track types that can be used to
create arrangements; instrument and external MIDI tracks.

To create a few new tracks:

Click the + button directly above the track list.

In the New Tracks dialog, click the Audio button (if not already active).

Highlight the number “1” in the numeric field at the top of the dialog, and type in “3”.