FANTOM X and LOGIC 9

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anthonylong
Posts: 4
Joined: 23:49, 23 December 2010

FANTOM X and LOGIC 9

Post by anthonylong »

I don't believe that I have the level of understanding that an advanced person would have regarding midi, Logic and the Fantom. I have a basic understanding.. but, I think there is something that I am obviously missing. This is what I have, in my arsenal.

I have a midi uno midi man, fantom x6, Maudio firewire 410, Logic 9 installed on a MacPro.

I understand that I utilize Midi via the Fantom USB, Midi cable to Fantom from the 410, or the Midi Man.

This is what I want to be able to do. I want to send the midi tracks from my Fantom Sequencer to Logic 9 via midi, and if I want to use the sounds from my fantom patches, use those patches (fantom) audio and midi, while both are being recorded into logic. So, I am needing to know do I need the Fantom to control Logic, or Logic to control the fantom. However, whenever I have wrestled countless hours to try and figure this out... there seems to be no valid information on plainly telling me how to do this. I am very computer savvy, and I am actually a certified Mac Specialist.. so I know Logic.. But, I believe the "Midi" part of it, is where I have issues.. no audio recording..

Is there anyone that can help me with this issue? It has been plauging me for years.. and to be honest, I have almost given up. I also have Motif XS, and have been just as unsuccessful. I know there is an "environment".. in Logic that I need to make this work.. but, like I said, I just haven't had someone to properly explain it to me. Either people know Logic and not the Fantom X, or the Fantom X and not Logic...

Please Help.

Thanks to All
Tony.
Rodan
Posts: 486
Joined: 14:33, 10 June 2006
Location: San Diego, USA

Re: FANTOM X and LOGIC 9

Post by Rodan »

Welcome to the clan, Tony. MIDI is not too complicated, although it can be hard to figure out on your own. Here is some basic information that may be too basic for you, but if so just ask a more detailed question. I like to think of it in terms of the pieces or operations and how MIDI links them together.

1. Note source. This is the sequence of notes that should be played. This source can be the keyboard of the Fantom if you are playing live, or it can be a sequence of notes from LOGIC. In the second case, LOGIC is being used as a "sequencer", that is it has a series of notes already recorded or imported from somewhere . Oh yes, and just to keep things confusing, the Fantom has its own sequencer (note recorder), so if you recorded something you played on the Fantom, you have created a sequence.

2. Sound source. This is the element that actually converts note data to audio sound. It could be actual audio to amplify and send to speakers or just digital data that must first be sent to an ADC (analog to digital converter). The Fantom has sound sources, all the patches and LOGIC also has sound sources, all of its instruments.

The link between the note source and the sound source is MIDI. MIDI is a standard made up of data messages. If you looked at the messages, you would see a lot of things like "Use instrument 1." "Key C4 down with velocity 99". "Key C4 up." "Key D4 down with velocity 120." "Key D4 up." It has lots more complexity, but the basic idea is that the messages are independent of what sound source they are going to. As long as you have assigned your instrument of choice to "1" in your sound source, you will hear what you were expecting when you send this MIDI sequence to the sound source.

So this all seems pretty straight forward. What makes it so hard? Well there are at least three physical ways to send this MIDI data with the hardware you have. You can send it over the traditional MIDI cable interface if you hook up Fantom to the Uno Midi Man to Mac. Or you can send it directly by putting the Fantom in USB MIDI mode in which case the connection is direct Fantom to Mac with a USB cable. Or you can use the firewire 410 as the interface. So the first obvious thing to be sure of, is that you are only hooking up in one of the three ways. I'll leave it to someone else to comment on what is the best way to do it.

3. ADC. I like to think of the ADC as a separate part of the set up just because there are several of them and it is good be be clear in your mind as to which one you want to use. Obviously, the Fantom has ADCs so you can take the audio out to speakers from its sound source. Your Mac has ADCs so you can take audio out to speakers from the headphone jack. And in your case the firewire 410 has ADCs so it can also convert digital data to audio and as I'm sure you are aware, this functions like the sound cards that our PC friends love to talk about.

So l'll stop and give you a chance to respond in case I've covered a bunch of trivial stuff and you question is more complex. In your case, simplest and maybe also the best from a sound quality point of view way to hook things together is to use the firewire 410 with MIDI cables to the Fantom and firewire to the Mac.

Oh, one more thing. Don't worry about a LOGIC environment. You don't need that to get to the basic functionality you are looking for. Once you are using your Fantom and LOGIC together for a while, an environment will become useful.
anthonylong
Posts: 4
Joined: 23:49, 23 December 2010

Re: FANTOM X and LOGIC 9

Post by anthonylong »

Thank you Rodan... Yes I do understand all of this. The problem that I have is this. I understand that most people track from the Logic Sequencer. And, I am forced to do this, because, I don't know how to hook up the other way. IO want to track on the Fantom Sequencer, and import what I have tracked into Logic. I used to cheat, and just save as a standard Midi file, and import into Logic, and assign the proper sounds in Logic. However, I have been tracking on the Fantom since 2006 when I bought it, and it is much easier for my ideas to flow more freely on the keyboard, as opposed to using the computer to track. So, I am trying to do whatever keeps me inspired Musically.. and that is tracking on the actual keyboards, then putting it into Logic (using Logic as a sequncer). So, I may have to back and apologize, that maybe, I am not as bad, as I may have made it in my original post.

But, I use the fantom as a controller all the time. So, I know how to just use it as a controller.. but to use logic as a sequencer.. I do not know how to set it up. I have been trying the same thing with the Motif XS.. (know I should be mentioning that board in this forum).. But, here is the most success that I have had.. but it was still wrong. When, I finally got the Fantom talking to Logic.. it appears that it was trying to send all 16 midi channels of data into one midi track in Logic. So I could all hear all the notes from the entire sequence being played at one time. And, i know this was wrong. I know it's supposed to be setup in logic the same way it is on the Fantom.
for instance.. in the sequencer mode, I want. Midi Channel 1= piano,
to only record the piano part into the Logic sequencer on midi channel 1. And what I was getting was drums, keys, bass, everything trying to be played on midi channel 1, instead of keeping the midi channels seperate.

And to answer the other part about the best way to connect midi.. I bough the midi uno thingy.. because, every forum that I was reading it seems on both the Fantom and the Motif users were having trouble, using the USB cable.. to the computer.. So I didn't go that route at all. I just use the midi man thing. And, it's setup right, because I can play any of the VI... in Logic, or Komplete.. but what I understand from my friends, is that with the Environments, I can upload the Fantom Patches into Logic, and assign the exact same sounds to the proper patch listings.. and it's practically the same thing as using the Fantom is this right?

AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPSONSE. I was playing angry birds, when I got the email notification... I was so excited to see that someone maybe had replied.. and someone had.

Thanks Again

Tony.
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