4/23/2014

Apple Logic: Pedal Power

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In this article:
Set Up For Success
Taking Control
Incorporating
Hardware
Pedalling Ideas

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Apple Logic: Pedal Power

Logic Notes & Techniques
Technique : Logic Notes

You can get the amp and stomp-box collection youve

always wanted now that Logic offers Pedalboard and Amp
Designer.

Buy PDF
Published in SOS June 2010
Printer-friendly version

Stephen Bennett

raditionally, the world of computer-based recording has been inhabited by geeks rather than the archetypal axe-
wielding guitar hero. Logic Pros initial foray into fret-based processing, Guitar Amp Pro, was a rather lacklustre affair
and cant have brought many guitarists on board Apples flagship DAW. However, the company obviously believe that
theres a whole world of fret-fiddlers out there who could benefit from using Logic Pro. So, with version 9, they introduced
two major new plug-ins aimed directly at guitarists: Amp Designer and Pedalboard.
Amp Designer really does do what it says on the tin. Not only can you select several model types which are based on a
wide historical selection of successful guitar amplifiers but you can also edit the amp and speaker, thus creating models
that have never existed in the real world. At the end of the chain, theres a virtual ribbon, dynamic or condenser microphone
whose position in front of the virtual speaker cone can be adjusted. However, the most important improvement over earlier
incarnations of guitar processing in Logic Pro is the sound. The amplifier simulations are excellent and, in my opinion,
comparable with the best from the likes of Line 6 or Native Instruments. Pedalboard isnt that hard to grasp, either, allowing
virtual guitar effects to be assembled onto a virtual pedalboard. Its like having Pete Cornish inside your Mac!

Set Up For Success

The first thing you need to be aware of is that you cant just connect a guitar to a line input jack or microphone XLR on your
audio interface. Guitars need a high-impedance input (sometimes labelled Instrument), and failure to use one is often the
reason why people complain that their DAW-based guitar simulations sound weedy or thin. If you dont have the correct type
of input, youll need to use a suitable preamp or a DI box designed for use with guitars.
Playing a guitar live through Logic Pro (or any DAW) also immediately raises the thorny issue of latency. Inserting
Pedalboard and Amp Designer on an audio track introduces an audible delay between the plucked string and the
processed sound, so youll need to get this delay as small as possible, by reducing the buffer size in the Audio Preferences
window. A value of 64 or 128 should be perfectly acceptable, while values of 256 or higher might be usable if youre playing
Durutti Column covers.
Logic Pro will only record the raw, unaffected guitar sound on the track to which the guitar is routed and, while this allows
you to re-process the sound during mixing, guitarists often like to permanently print effects and amp sounds when
recording. You can simulate this technique by right- or Ctrl-clicking on the region after recording and selecting Bounce In
Place, making sure that Destination is set to New Track and Source is set to Mute.
An advantage of working in this way is that the original, unprocessed guitar recording will be retained, so you can easily
set up a simulated double-tracking effect by copying this unprocessed region to a new track, adding some new amp and
pedalboard effects and setting a delay value in the new tracks Inspector column. Panning this track hard left and the
printed region hard right creates a passable imitation of two different guitars with a widened stereo image.

Taking Control
The controls on the amps are pretty simple and include very basic tone knobs.
This may beg the question as to why anyone would bother using these simple
bass, mid and treble EQs when Logic Pro has much more sophisticated frequency
shaping on board. Amp Designers tone controls just like ones on the amps
they model have been created to provide control over the most useful guitar-
friendly frequencies. Like many modelled EQs, they are designed to have a specific sound, which is obviously also an
essential part of the original amplifiers appeal. The reverbs on the amps are often based on spring types, while the
modelled tremolo and vibrato have been designed, tonally, to specifically suit the associated virtual amp circuitry.
Unlike the originals, Amp Designers modulations can be synchronised to Logic Pros tempo. However, for the ultimate in
emulation, it might be better to set these by feel and ear. Pedalboards time and modulation controls can also be made to
follow the beat of Logic Pros drum, but the same caveat applies as for the amps, though echo can often benefit from being
more closely tied to tempo. Pedalboards controls will also be familiar to anyone who has even a passing relationship with
the real thing and, visually, they are a something of a psychedelic smorgasbord. Pedals are dragged to the virtual board
from the browser box on the right, and their physical arrangement can be adjusted by simply dragging with the mouse. The
signal path is revealed by opening up the virtual lid, and it can be re-patched in the same way. Pedalboard has two virtual
buses, so effects can be inserted serially or in parallel by dragging the relevant boxes.
Clicking on the little arrow at the bottom left of the Pedalboard window reveals
the MIDI Controller assignment window. Setting MIDI control of the pedals
parameters is initially a bit confusing, as the basic setup is performed in Logic Pro
itself, rather than in the Pedalboard window:
1. To assign the Rate and Depth controls of the Retro Chorus (for example), select
Auto Assign and click the Rate control. This will be assigned to the Macro A
Target field.

You can view the signal path of the virtual

pedalboard by lifting a virtual lid, and re-
patch by clicking and dragging.

2. Back in Logic Pro proper, select Learn Controller Assignments for Rate from Preferences / Controller Assignments and
turn the hardware MIDI controller that you wish to use to control the Rate.
3. Close the Controller Assignments window and you should then find that the Rate knob on the Chorus turns in tandem
with the hardware control.
4. Repeat this for all the Macro Targets you wish to assign to hardware MIDI controllers. Mappings are saved with
Pedalboard settings.

Incorporating Hardware
If youd like a taste of real speakers moving air, you dont need to do your entire guitar processing completely within Logic

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun10/articles/logicnotes_0610.htm

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4/23/2014

Apple Logic: Pedal Power

Cubase
Digital Performer
Live
Logic
Pro Tools
Reaper
Reason
Sonar

Pro. I have a really nice Crate V5 five-watt valve guitar amp, but no pedal effects to
drop in front of it, so I use Pedalboard when the raw guitar sound isnt enough.
Logic Pros I/O plug-in (found in the Utility menu) allows you to send audio through
one of your interfaces output jacks and then on to an amp, but you could also
send the channel strips audio directly to the same output. If you use the I/O plug-
in, make sure the channel output is set to No Output.

Guitar
Pedalboard
Planner
dboards.com

After the sound is adjusted to taste, a microphone can be used to record the
sound back onto a new track. Ive found that Amp Designers microphone
placement feature is a brilliant teaching aid and, if youre inexperienced with
recording guitar amps, you can use the plug-in to give you some pointers on how
the different models and positions will affect the sound although, of course, you
wont actually be using the modelled amps themselves if youre using a real amp.

The Guitarist time

saver Check it out

Follow the steps shown to assign MIDI

controllers to Pedalboard functions.

Therell be some latency induced by sending out audio to the amp but, again,
this isnt too much of an issue with a low buffer setting and when using very
processed guitar sounds. If it does sound out of time, recording the unprocessed
guitar from the input channel strip along with the miked-up guitar will generate a
nice visual aid if you zoom in on the waveforms. Logic Pros many nudge key-
commands can then be used to bring the processed guitar back into line.

Pedalling Ideas
While the guitar-based effects in Logic Pro 9 sound excellent when used with their
intended source, they are also fabulous on other instruments. I particularly like the
EVP 88 electric piano through some of the Tweed simulations, while the L100
EVB3 organs through the distortion, wah and echo are instant Dave (not
Eurhythmics) Stewart. Because you can use MIDI controllers to control your virtual
knobs, guitarists should easily be able to obtain the tactile, real-time interface they
are used to. For the rest of us, the guitar-based effects open up a world of noise,
grit and grunge often missing from purely electronic music.

Published in SOS June 2010

Amp Designer features adjustable

microphone placement, which actually
acts as an excellent teaching aid, if
youre unfamiliar with amp recording.

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