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340 Chapter 22 External Instrument
Using the External Instrument
The following section outlines the steps required to route external MIDI sound
generators through the Logic Express Mixer.
To process external MIDI instruments with effects:
1 Connect the output (or output pair) of your MIDI module with an input (pair) on your
audio interface.
Note: These can be either analog or digital connections if your audio interface and
effects unit are equipped with either, or both.
2 Create an instrument channel.
3 Click the Instrument slot, and choose External Instrument from the pop-up menu.
4 Choose the MIDI Destination from the menu in the External Instrument window.
5 Choose the input (of your audio interface) that the MIDI sound generator is connected
to from the Input pop-up menu.
6 Adjust the Input Volume, if necessary.
7 Insert the desired effects in the Insert slots of the channel.
As the track is routed to an instrument channel (which is being used for an external
MIDI sound module), it behaves just like a standard software instrument track, which
means that you can record and play back MIDI regions on it—with the following
benefits:
 You can take advantage of the sounds and synthesis engine of your MIDI module,
with no overhead on your Macintosh CPU (apart from the effects used on the channel) .
 You can use insert effects, obviously, but can also use Send effects by routing the
Instrument channel to aux channels.
 You can bounce your external MIDI instrument parts—with or without effects—to an
audio file, in real time. This makes the creation of a mix, inclusive of all internal and
external devices and tracks, a one step process.
Additional Things to Bear in Mind
If using multitimbral MIDI sound sources, please be aware that each External
Instrument requires a separate audio output.
Freezing an External Instrument track is not possible, as per any Bounce operations
where MIDI hardware is involved.