Logic Pro 7 TDM Guide
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1 Preface 5 5 Contents An Introduction to TDM Systems About This Guide Chapter 1 7 7 8 14 14 Audio Hardware and Drivers Hardware Setup Drivers Digidesign Hardware Setup Adaptation of Songs Produced With Other Hardware Chapter 2 15 15 16 17 19 About TDM Differences to Native Processing TDM Plug-ins Specific Characteristics Simultaneous Operation of TDM and Other Hardware Chapter 3 21 21 22 24 ESB TDM and EXS24 TDM Features EXS24 TDM ESB TDM Chapter 4 29 29 30 30 30 Audio Export and Import OMF
Glossary 37 Index 49 Contents
Preface An Introduction to TDM Systems In general, DAWs take one of two approaches for the task of audio signal processing: the use of dedicated hardware DSPs (TDM systems), or the native processing capabilities of the computer’s CPU. Logic Pro allows you to make use of your TDM system DSPs in conjunction with your computer’s native CPU processing resources. The link between the DSP world of your TDM system, and your computer’s native CPU processing resources is the ESB TDM (Emagic System Bridge TDM).
We have presumed a level of knowledge on the general concepts of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) and basic computer operations. We have also assumed that you have connected your TDM system to your Macintosh, and have installed (and tested) the Pro Tools system software. A correctly installed and operational ProTools system will ensure a reliable Logic Pro/DAE system. Note: Please carefully read and follow the instructions of your Digidesign ProTools installation manual.
1 Audio Hardware and Drivers 1 This chapter provides you with the information required to set up Logic with TDM hardware. In the initial section, you will be introduced to TDM hardware that can be used with Logic Pro and drivers for this hardware. You will then learn all about appropriate driver settings. The latter portion discusses the adaptation of songs that were produced with different hardware.
Drivers All audio hardware requires a driver, which acts as a communication link with the Logic software. To use particular hardware, its/their drivers need to be activated. Selecting and activating a particular audio hardware device is achieved directly in Logic, via the Audio > Audio Hardware and Drivers dialogs. Logic will automatically recognize any installed Core Audio hardware, and will use the default settings—as defined in the Audio MIDI Setup pane—for it.
This allows your computer’s CPU to perform processes in Logic’s native DTDM Mixer, including: audio track playback, the use of software-based instruments such as those incorporated into Logic plus Audio Units instrument and effect plug-ins. Up to eight audio streams emanating from this native mixing board can be fed into your TDM mixer, where the data can be further processed with TDM plug-ins. The Direct TDM driver parameters are described in the “Core Audio and Direct TDM Settings” section below.
Recording Delay This parameter is measured in samples. It allows the recording of Audio Regions to be delayed by a certain fixed value. It helps advanced users to compensate for the delay that may be caused by incorrect delay information being provided by the driver. Normally you don’t have to bother with this parameter. Max. Number of Audio Tracks The Audio Engine requires free system memory, which is not assigned to Logic or any other application.
Important: In order to change tracks to or from DAE/TDM, always switch Universal Track Mode off, and work with split stereo or mono files. Also be aware that DAE/TDM does not currently work with interleaved stereo files. If your tracks need to be switched between DAE/TDM and other systems, split stereo files should be used. To do so, enable the Preferences > Audio > General > Force record & convert interleaved into split stereo file(s) parameter.
DAE Settings The DAE parameters can only be set after activating the DAE. To do so, check the Enabled box in the upper left corner of the DAE pane. You will then have access to the following parameters: Global Bit Depth This parameter allows you to choose between 16 bit or 24 bit playback and recording. Note: The DAE does not allow the use of 16 and 24 bit files simultaneously. About Sample Rates and Bit Depths Some audio hardware, such as Pro Tools HD, supports high sampling rates of 88.2, 96, 176.
Release in Background if Stopped We strongly recommend that you do not enable this option until the DAE and standalone Digidesign Core Audio driver support this feature. Activation of this parameter will release the TDM hardware when Logic is not in play or record mode, allowing you to address the hardware with another application—such as the Pro Tools software or a sample editing program.
Digidesign Hardware Setup The Digidesign Hardware Setup dialog box contains all important System settings for your Digidesign hardware. This is where you determine whether Logic will use the analog or digital inputs, when recording. You can also check your hardware, to ensure that it is functioning properly. If you own several Digidesign hardware units, you can select from among them here.
2 About TDM 2 Logic Pro allows you to make use of the TDM functions supported by ProTools HD Accel, HD, Mix, and 24/MIX systems. TDM stands for Time Division Multiplexing, the time-interlaced transmission of several digital audio signals through a single data bus. This bus system is physically isolated from the computer system bus, and runs between the individual TDM-capable PCI boards.
• The TDM hardware determines the overall features of the system: number of tracks, number of TDM plug-ins that can be used simultaneously, number of in/outputs and so on. Please refer to the manuals delivered with your ProTools system for further information. • Stereo recordings require two tracks, and are recorded as two separate files. In the Arrange window a stereo recording is handled as two linked Regions, which use two tracks. In the Sample Editor stereo recordings are displayed as stereo file.
Load Setting Loads stored parameter settings from disk. The file selector box only shows settings for compatible plug-in types. It can also read the Digidesign format for TDM plug-in settings. The parameter settings of a plug-in can also be copied between the plug-in’s mono and stereo versions, and the Digidesign format for plug-in settings can be read (the supplied settings of most plug-ins are saved in this format).
TDM Mixer Plug-in Please ensure that there is only one Mixer plug-in within the Plug-ins folder (found inside the DAE folder), which will be either the Stereo Mixer or Stereo Dithered Mixer. You may also have one of the Surround Mixer plug-ins residing here, but these Mixer plug-ins have no function within Logic Pro. The Stereo Dithered Mixer requires more DSP capacity than the Stereo Mixer. This may result in a DAE error message (“DSPs maxed out”), when opening older songs with maximum DSP load.
Note: You can choose to bounce, rather than copy and convert your audio files from 24 to 16 bit. The advantage of this approach is that the POW-r dithering algorithms can be used to improve the quality of the downsampled audio data. Sample Editor All functions of the Sample Editor can be used on 24 bit audio files. You can even exchange sound material in either direction (between 16 and 24 bit files) when using DTDM, via the Copy and Paste commands. Note: Premiere plug-ins are not supported in Mac OS X.
Total Number of Audio Tracks When operating different audio hardware devices simultaneously, the number of possible playback tracks cannot be determined by merely adding them up. This is especially true if the connected systems place a strain on the CPU. The number of tracks may also be reduced if the connected systems access the same hard disk bus. The impact of this may be significantly lessened (resulting in an increase in the total track number) by using different hard drives for the various systems.
3 ESB TDM and EXS24 TDM 3 With the ESB TDM and EXS24 TDM Logics provides you with two plug-ins that enhance your TDM system. The ESB TDM and EXS24 TDM expand your TDM mixer—controlled by Logic Pro. If working at 44.1/48 kHz, up to 32 additional channels are available. These extra channels can be used for multiple EXS24 sampler instances and/or up to eight inputs routed from DTDM, the native audio engine running in parallel to the DAE.
EXS24 TDM or ESB TDM? If you want to process the output signals of (up to 32) EXS24 TDM samplers with TDM effect plug-ins exclusively, please read the EXS24 TDM section directly below. Bear in mind that if you want to use the EXS24 TDM exclusively, there is no need to activate DTDM in addition to the DAE. In scenarios where you wish to utilize Logic’s native audio system (DTDM)—in addition to your TDM system—please refer to “ESB TDM” on page 24.
Note: Should you require a stereo instance of the EXS24 TDM, please press Option while inserting the plug-in, or choose a stereo Aux Object. Select the Stereo EXS24 TDM version from the menu. In the example shown, multiple EXS24 sampler instances have been inserted into the Aux Objects 9–24. Note: Please note that the icon checkboxes must be checked in each Aux Object’s Parameter box. This allows the Aux channels to be selected as tracks in the Arrange window.
EXS24 samples reside in the computers RAM (although large samples can also be streamed from hard disk, in realtime). Should any Instruments loaded into multiple EXS24 instances use the same samples, RAM usage is unaffected. This intelligent memory management ensures that any given sample is only loaded once into memory. This allows the use of the same sound program (sampler instrument) or some/all of the same samples in several EXS24 instances, with minimal impact on system resources.
Although we recommend using the default settings, it may be useful to set the Process Buffer Range parameter to Large in order to avoid disturbing the DAE’s calculation of TDM audio tracks. Changing this setting will aid system performance, allowing the playback of the maximum number of audio tracks to remain achievable. You should only activate the 64 Busses feature if absolutely required.
Dependent on the number of any given Object type required, your DTDM mixer could look something like this: This mixer example features six Audio Track Objects, two Bus Objects, two Audio Instrument Objects, and two stereo sums. It is possible to engage up to 255 Audio Track Objects and 64 Bus Objects. The eight output signals of this mixer are routed into the TDM mixer, courtesy of StreamManager technology.
Within mono Aux Objects, you can select the desired output channel of the DTDM mixer (ESB 1–8). Stereo Aux channels can be set to input channel pairs ESB1–2, 3–4, 5– 6, and 7–8. Please take a closer look at the available inputs: Please note that Logic handles mono and stereo channel settings separately. This means that you can set up the ESB inputs for eight mono channels, and then switch the Audio Objects to stereo operation.
4 Audio Export and Import 4 Logic has the ability to export and import song contents using the OMF and AAF file formats. Typically, the OMF (Open Media Framework, also known as OMFI—Open Media Framework Interchange) or AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) formats are used for data exchange with Digidesign ProTools software.
Pan tracks If this box is checked, Logic adds information to the OMF file which sets the panning of the exported tracks as they appear in Logic itself (Stereo tracks in Universal Track Mode are exported as two mono tracks. Assuming this option is checked, the left mono track is panned to the left and the right one, to the right). Warning: This does not work with OMF Tool or DigiTranslator.
5 Tips and Tricks 5 This chapter provides you with tips and tricks on running Logic Pro with TDM hardware. You will find information about the differences when using ESB TDM on Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X, along with tips on importing songs from other systems. You will also be introduced to the use of DAE, DTDM, and Core Audio simultaneously, and to the System Performance window. To close, you will learn about different bounce strategies.
ESB TDM Differences Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X How things used to work in Mac OS 9: The eight possible output signals of the DTDM mixer were routed into the TDM mixer, courtesy of DirectConnect technology. The output signals were received by the ESB TDM plug-ins inserted in the uppermost Insert slots of the TDM Aux Objects. Within the ESB TDM Plug-in window, you could select the desired output channel of the DTDM mixer (Outputs 1–8).
Using songs created in Logic Pro for Mac OS9 in Mac OS X: If you are opening a song created on an Mac OS 9 system, Logic Pro (for Mac OS X) will automatically create the correct ESB TDM inputs (with inserted ESB TDM plug-ins) in the dedicated TDM Aux Objects. The plug-ins themselves remain crossed out. If you leave them alone, you will be able to reopen the songs on Mac OS 9 systems without problems.
How to Import Native Songs from Any System If you simply want to use the native processing capabilities of Logic, start Logic Pro using Core Audio—with the standalone Digidesign Core Audio driver for your TDM hardware activated. You will be asked if you’d like an automatic conversion if the song was created on a non Core Audio system, provided that the Universal Track Mode setting is the same on both systems. Be aware of problems with incompatible plug-ins and/or settings, as mentioned above.
The number of TDM streams used by the DAE is displayed in the TDM DSP Usage window (Audio > TDM DSP Usage). Check out this window to see how many streams are used, and how many are available for further EXS24 TDM or HTDM instruments and plug-ins. Bounce Strategies The easiest way to perform a stereo bounce is to choose File > Bounce. This will open the Bounce dialog for Outputs 1/2 of your primary audio hardware.
Please bear in mind that none of the TDM surround features are available in Logic Pro. You will need to use the Bounce button of each desired Output Object for all bounce operations, other than those for Output 1-2 (or surround) bounces. DTDM If using the DTDM Output Objects, you will have nearly all of the offline and online bouncing features afforded by Core Audio. The only omission is that surround bouncing is limited to eight channels, given the maximum of eight ESB streams. This means that 7.
Glossayr Glossary AAF Abbreviation for Advanced Authoring Format. This file format, typically used for data exchange with Digidesign ProTools software, can be imported and exported by Logic. It allows multiple audio tracks to be imported, with reference to tracks and Region position, volume automation included. amplifier Device which controls the level of a signal. amplitude This term is used to describe the amount of a signal.
Audio Object Audio Objects are found in Logic’s Environment. They are the “building blocks“ of the Audio Mixer. When expanded, Audio Objects look just like channel strips. Audio Objects tell Logic where to send audio signals. The following Audio Object types are available: Audio Track Object, Input Object, Audio Instrument Object, Bus Object, Output Object, Master Object, Aux Object.
Beat Mapping track Component of the Global tracks that helps to make a rhythmically meaningful display of recordings that do not correspond to a strict tempo throughout. It does this by redefining the bar positions of existing musical events, without changing their absolute time position, thereby preserving the audible result with its original timing. bit depth The number of bits a digital recording or digital device uses.
controller MIDI data type. As examples; sliders, pedals or standard parameters like volume and panning. The type of command is encoded in the first data byte, the value in the second data byte. Core Audio Standardized audio driver system for all Macintosh computers running version 10.2 or higher. Core Audio is an integral part of Mac OS X, allowing access to all audio interfaces that are Core Audio compatible. Logic is compatible with any audio hardware that offers Core Audio drivers.
drag & drop Grabbing objects with the mouse, moving them, and releasing the mouse button. driver Drivers are software programs that enable various pieces of hardware and software to be recognized by other programs in a computer, and also to have the appropriate data routed to them in a format they can understand. In Logic, you can use the Preferences > Audio > Drivers panel to select and configure your audio hardware drivers.
export To create a version of a file, such as a Logic song, in a different format that can be distributed and used by other applications. Freeze function The Freeze function performs individual offline bounce processes for each “frozen” track, saving almost 100% of the CPU power used for software instruments and effect plug-ins. All plug-ins of a track (including software instrument plug-ins, if applicable, along with all related automation data) are rendered into a “Freeze file”.
Logic Setup Assistant A utility that guides you through the process of setting up your Macintosh, audio and MIDI hardware to work with Logic. The Logic Setup Assistant can be run at any time by choosing the Preferences > Start Logic Setup Assistant menu item. main menu bar The bar at the top of the computer screen, offering global functions such as opening, saving, exporting or importing songs. It does not offer access to local functions. MIDI Abbreviation for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
OMF Abbreviation for Open Media Framework, also known as OMFI—Open Media Framework Interchange. This file format, typically used for data exchange with Digidesign ProTools software, can be imported and exported by Logic. The OMF file format only supports the exchange of audio data (audio media and the usage of this audio media in a song). MIDI and automation data will simply be ignored when using Logic’s export function. Open TL Abbreviation for Open Track List.
RAM Abbreviation for random-access memory. A computer’s memory capacity, measured in megabytes (MB), which determines the amount of data the computer can process and temporarily store at any given moment. Region Regions can be found in the tracks of the Arrange window: They are rectangular beams that act as containers for audio or MIDI data. There are three different types of Regions: Audio Regions, MIDI Regions and Folder Regions. Also see: Audio Region, MIDI Region and Folder.
Settings menu Accessible via the Arrow button found in the gray header at the top of all plug-in windows. Allows you to save, load, copy and paste settings: the parameter values of effects and software instruments. shelving EQ EQ type that allows reducing or increasing the frequency range above or below the specified frequency. side chain A side chain is effectively an alternate input signal—usually routed into an effect—that is used to control an effect parameter.
Track List Situated to the left of the Arrange window’s working area. Displays the Objects assigned to various tracks as well as the Track buttons. window class Status of the window as a float window or a normal window. Float windows always “float” in the foreground and can not be hidden by normal windows. Also see float window. word length See bit depth.
A AAF 30, 37 importing 30 adapting song produced with other hardware 14 aftertouch 37 amplifier 37 amplitude 37 analog 37 Arrange window 37 attenuating 37 AU Audio Instrument 37 Audio Mixer 37 Audio Mixer (generating) 19 Audio Object 38 Audio Track Object 38 Aux Object 38 Bus Object 39 deleting 17 generating manually 22 Input Object 42 AudioSuite plug-in 19 audio track (total number) 20 Audio Track Object 38 Audio Unit.
Max.
T TDM 15 differences to native system 15 plug-in 16 setting 16 side chain 17 stereo recording 16 TDM Mixer plug-in 18 TDM Setup Indicator 12 toggle 46 Index Touch Track 46 Track List 47 24 Bit Recording option 11 U Universal Track Mode 10 W word length.
