If I understand you correctly, here's what I do. When working on somethiing with the VI interface open I go to the patch window. When there, it shows me, on the left, the cell assignments. If I need to, I can just click the cell I want to trigger and it plays that cell going forward.

jay

@Jay Weigel said:

If I understand you correctly, here's what I do. When working on somethiing with the VI interface open I go to the patch window. When there, it shows me, on the left, the cell assignments. If I need to, I can just click the cell I want to trigger and it plays that cell going forward.

jay

This is true and is something I do often. The important thing for me is to be able to watch the console with playback rolling to see how the series of patch and matrix changes behave. I swap out lots of patches before I settle on the right combination-- I'm always adding or deleting patches and rebuilding matrices as needed since some projects require different patches than my custom templates contain.

But, still-- in order to manually change the patch in the Console, the Console must be on top. In order to activate the playback, the DAW must be on top. I'm just trying to minimize the amount of excessive clicking back and forth to accomplish what seem to me to be very simple tasks.

But, it's okay. It is what it is, it does what it does the way it does it so I'll go with it.

What works for me is a dedicated midi controller. It always accesses the Logic DAW for playback/transport control - no matter whether the VI interface is on the top or the bottom.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on one try the Presonus FaderPort.

http://www.presonus.com/faderport.html

@Jack Weaver said:

What works for me is a dedicated midi controller. It always accesses the Logic DAW for playback/transport control - no matter whether the VI interface is on the top or the bottom.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on one try the Presonus FaderPort.

http://www.presonus.com/faderport.html

Yes-- I'm aware of Faderport. I'm delighted to know that the transport "talks thru" the VI Console, which is not the case on all controllers.

Thanks, Jay. This is the best news I've had all week! [:P]

Just to make it perfectly clear, I actually use the Mackie Control Universal. I'm just assuming that the FaderPort would do the same thing. I haven't tried it yet but plan to get one as soon as the new Mac Pro comes out. I'll dedicate the MCU's to the G5 with the Pro Tools on it and use FaderPort on the Mac Pro with Logic. (I'll probably use the G5 as a host for all the virtual instruments that don't yet work in UB.)

I can't think of any reason the FaderPort wouldn't work. For $199 you couldn't miss.

I also use Logic Control (same as a Mackie Universal, perhaps with a different silkscreen). Unfortunately, my "hit enter" instinct is imprinted after ten years' use, so I rarely hit the transports.

But here's a question I've never answered. These controllers only talk to our computers via MIDI. But is it that hard to ask the space bar or enter key to send the same message, either via an intercept / translator in Logic's Environment or through VI itself?

More curiously, my Unitor only talks to my computer through USB, and my qwerty keyboard is also going into the Mac by USB. Why can one USB message find its way to a running program and another is forced to talk to the topped window?

I'm sure there's a reason. It's one of those "I don't know how to do it but I can't understand why it can't be done" things.

@Plowman said:

I also use Logic Control (same as a Mackie Universal, perhaps with a different silkscreen). Unfortunately, my "hit enter" instinct is imprinted after ten years' use, so I rarely hit the transports.

But here's a question I've never answered. These controllers only talk to our computers via MIDI. But is it that hard to ask the space bar or enter key to send the same message, either via an intercept / translator in Logic's Environment or through VI itself?

More curiously, my Unitor only talks to my computer through USB, and my qwerty keyboard is also going into the Mac by USB. Why can one USB message find its way to a running program and another is forced to talk to the topped window?

I'm sure there's a reason. It's one of those "I don't know how to do it but I can't understand why it can't be done" things.

Yeah, Plowman.

I never really wanted to complain about this, but the cumulative time I've spent this week doing workarounds has really cost me dearly.

I don't have my project running at the moment, but something just occured to me:

Regarding the little Audio Unit Interface that opens (which I've not seen on any other plugin)--- I wonder if that little window is active instead of the VI Console whether the DAWs keystrokes work as expected? I'm having another semi-unrelated issue regarding MIDI data being read or ignored by the VI Console....

Seems like some MIDI/USB signals are just not being put through to the interface layer that houses the Console itself. Hmmm.

Film at 11.

"I never really wanted to complain about this, but the cumulative time I've spent this week doing workarounds has really cost me dearly."

I feel the same way. I'm concerned that people will use a complaint as a pretext to dismiss VSL, which remains the best orchestra out there. Nevertheless, hitting enter to play and any appearance of the "Show Window" box are the two most common annoyances I face with VSL. A third would be dragging in a new sound and needing to re-edit the cell settings, which return to default. (I'll make a second request for a modifier key as we drag to avoid this behavior.)

If I understood you correctly, you were wondering if the Audio Units box allows for play-through. Mine does. But when I hit "Show Window" and enter the plug-in proper, Logic keystrokes cease.

@Plowman said:

"I never really wanted to complain about this, but the cumulative time I've spent this week doing workarounds has really cost me dearly."

I feel the same way. I'm concerned that people will use a complaint as a pretext to dismiss VSL, which remains the best orchestra out there. Nevertheless, hitting enter to play and any appearance of the "Show Window" box are the two most common annoyances I face with VSL. A third would be dragging in a new sound and needing to re-edit the cell settings, which return to default. (I'll make a second request for a modifier key as we drag to avoid this behavior.)

If I understood you correctly, you were wondering if the Audio Units box allows for play-through. Mine does. But when I hit "Show Window" and enter the plug-in proper, Logic keystrokes cease.

Aha!! I've been closing the AU Iinterface window to cut down on visual clutter. Now it seems reasonable to leave these open-- which means I'm going to need a bigger monitor!! I sure wish these windows could be popped into a grid or consolidated somehow, but there may be hope as I'm limiting my instances to 6-8 per session and then running the instances out as audio to augment the orchestra.

It's not the most ideal solution, but it may prove to be less unwieldy.

On a tangential subject, if the always unwelcome "Show Window" box will be with us for a while. it would be nice to have a clear, largely printed read-out of the name of the instrument (or matrix, or first matrix of many) in that box. The only point of differentiaion is that tiny "Instrument ##." With multiple AU windows open, I usually have to click on one to remind myself which instance it is.

@Plowman said:

On a tangential subject, if the always unwelcome "Show Window" box will be with us for a while. it would be nice to have a clear, largely printed read-out of the name of the instrument (or matrix, or first matrix of many) in that box. The only point of differentiaion is that tiny "Instrument ##." With multiple AU windows open, I usually have to click on one to remind myself which instance it is.

See? This is what I'm talking about.... such sensible matters of practicality. It's really amazing the amount of time I spend guessing and clicking through windows.

It's not the end of the world, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who likely clicks on the wrong box. This explains how I get cello patches in my violin matrices so easily!!! [:D]