I would like to use my BFD3 libraries with Logic Pro and sometimes with an AKAI mini keyboard, but also with Logic loops. I can bring BFD3 in as an instrument and clicking on its keyboard, I can hear drums and see levels on the Logic Pro track input meters, but when I go into record, it doesn’t work. I have tried looking in the Logic Pro Controller panel, to see if there’s a way to make Logic see the AKAI keyboard, but that seems way above my level of comprehension. I have added the AKAI keyboard manually and am SO CLOSE, but still not home. What am I missing
You can’t record MIDI, or audio? Try opening Audio/MIDI Setup in macOS and press, Command+2 to bring up the MIDI Studio. If your AKAI controller is visible there, then I would think Logic should automatically see it too. I use Pro Tools, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to do any configuring in the DAW. Have you checked the Logic manual to maybe see what it says about connecting MIDI controllers?
Should be very easy. Logic is usually very much plug-and-play when it comes to connected MIDI-controllers. Provided it recognizes them.
Either way, it’s very handy (also for reasons far beyond the scope of this thread) if you familiarize yourself a bit with Logic’s Environment to quickly solve issues such as this. The Environment can be thought of as Logic’s basement where all the wiring happens and all its internal plumbing can be found. (Sure, you can work your entire life with Logic without ever visiting the Environment and many users do just that — that’s perhaps why Apple seems set on burying the Environment ever deeper inside the software with every new version —, but Logic becomes, or can become, so much more than what it seems to be on the surface if you know how to exploit the power of the Environment.)
Exploiting the power of the Environment is of course not what this thread is about. I only want to steer you there, for a brief moment, to have a look at the “Click & Ports’ layer of the Enivronment.
(You open the Environment by either pressing Command+0 or by holding Option and then selecting ‘Open MIDI Environment’ from the Window-menu. Once the Environment is opened, navigate to its ‘Click & Ports layer by selecting it in Layer-selector in the top left corner of the Environment window.)
Standard on the “Click & Ports” layer are elements representing (1) the “Physical Input” and (2) the “Sequencer Input”, usually with a monitor keyboard cabled (=connected) in between them. The “Physical Input” element is important here because it lists all the ports — physical or virtual MIDI-ports — that Logic recognizes and will accept incoming MIDI-data from. Normally, your Akai keyboard should be listed there too. If it isn’t, that means that Logic is for some reason not aware that the Akai is connected to your computer. In which case you should indeed follow FenderBender’s suggestion and open the AudioMidi Setup application where you should be able to add the Akai.
If the Akai is listed among the “Physical Input” entries, make sure it is connected as well: it should be cabled into the “Sequencer Input”. Normally, it should be connected automatically but in case it isn’t: simply click on the small triange next to its name and then drag your pointer to the Monitor Keyboard. That action will result in a cable connection between the Akai and the Monitor Keyboard from where the Akai’s MIDI-data is sent to the “Sequencer Input” (which is the point where the data effectively enters Logic’s MIDI-engine or ‘sequencer’).
Alternatively, you can also connect the “Sum” triangle (uppermost entry on the “Physical Input”) to the Sequencer Input. This ensures that all MIDI-data from all the ports will be sent into Logic. Easy and convenient, but with the disadvantage that you can no longer process incoming MIDI from different ports/devices separately before they enter Logic’s sequencer. (This is, for example, one of those features of Logic that can make it such powerful software. But again: much too off-topic to go into this now.)
If you’re feeling adventurous and confident, you might want to add an additional MIDI-monitor prior to the “Sequencer Input” because the Monitor Keyboard only informs you of Note On/Off events. Logic has another ‘Monitor’-object that can also be cabled into the “Click & Ports”-structure and that will provide much more feedback — channel info, continuous controller info, etc. … — on incoming MIDI-data. Very useful. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll explain it further.
Anyway, if the Akai is recognized and is cabled correctly — again, all of this should have happened automatically without requiring any intervention from you — you might also want to check another window and that’s the “Inputs” tab of the MIDI settings. (Menu: Logic Pro > Settings > MIDI > Inputs.) This tab lists ALL the ports through which MIDI data is entering Logic. If your Akai was recognized in the Environment, you should see it listed here too. The only reason you need to check this “Inputs” tab is to make sure that the MIDI port associated with your Akai is enabled.
If all of the above is set as it should be, what I would do next is to test the Akai mini keyboard not with BFD3 but with some other, simpler instrument. Maybe load, say, Logic’s electric piano on an Instrument track and try to play it with the Akai. If it works, and it should, you’re all set to move on to playing/controlling BFD3 with your Akai.
If you’re still experiencing problems at this stage, I would suggest visiting BFD’s Preferences — read the manual if necessary — to make sure that BFD3 is set up correctly as well. But once again: all of this should be set up correctly by default. When I began working with BFD3, not too long ago, I simply installed the software, loaded the BFD3 AU-plugin onto an instrument track in Logic and immediately started playing/working with it. Never had to to make any changes to any settings anywhere.
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