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Workshop
Expandable Synthesizer Module
and Audio Interface
SonicCell
™
Using SonicCell with Logic Pro
© 2008 Roland Corporation U.S.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the
written permission of Roland Corporation U.S.
Apple™ and Logic Pro ™ are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is not associated or affiliated with Roland in any manner.
SCWS05
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If the Device popup menu doesn’t already show “Roland SonicCell
[SonicCell’s current sample rate], select Roland SonicCell [SonicCell’s
current sample rate] from the menu.
To learn how to check and/or change SonicCell’s sample rate, see the
Using SonicCell with a DAW Workshop booklet.
Click Apply Changes—Logic Pro configures itself to use SonicCell as
its audio interface.
Creating a SonicCell Editor Track
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Open the project you want to work on, or create a new one.
Turn Off Software Monitoring
Click the + button above the track list to open the New Tracks sheet.
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Make sure Software Monitoring is unchecked.
Close the Preferences window.
Set the window’s parameters to create one new software instrument,
set Output to No Output, and uncheck Open Library. When you’re
done, the New Tracks sheet should look like this:
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As we said in the Using SonicCell with a DAW and the Using SonicCell as
an Audio Interface Workshop booklets, you can listen through Logic Pro
if you want to hear its effects as you record. Since you may encounter
latency, though, we recommend listening directly through SonicCell.
If you do decide to listen through Logic Pro, once you’ve check-marked
Software Monitoring, you can hear your live input even before arming a
track for recording by lighting the track’s Input (I) button.
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Click Create—the new software instrument track appears in the
Arrange window, selected by Logic Pro.
In the Inspector pane to the left, click and hold on the
first I/O slot and select the stereo SonicCell Editor AU
plug-in from the AU Instruments > Roland submenu.
Setting the Sample Rate
The SonicCell Editor opens and retrieves SonicCell’s
current settings.
Your Logic Pro project must be operating at the same sampling rate as
SonicCell to capture its audio. To change a project sample’s rate:
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Click and hold down the Settings button in the
Arrange window tool bar, and select Audio... to
open the Project Settings window. (If you prefer,
you can do the same thing from the File menu’s
Project Settings sub-menu.)
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Set the Sample Rate popup menu’s value to match SonicCell’s sample
rate.
Changes you make to SonicCell using the Editor affect SonicCell’s
current performance, or—if you’re in Patch mode—its current patch.
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To close the Editor window at any time, click its Close button in the
upper left-hand corner. To re-open it, double-click the I/O slot—
which now says “SonicCell”—in the Inspector pane.
You’ll find detailed instructions for using the SonicCell Editor in its manual,
which you can display by clicking the Help button in the SonicCell Editor
window. What follows here are some quick instructions to get you started.
Naming a Track
Everything you set up in the SonicCell Editor is automatically saved
in your Logic Pro project. When you reload the project, the Editor
automatically sets up the current performance in SonicCell to match.
To make it easier to get to the Editor, we recommend naming the track
something like “SonicCell Editor.”To display and change a track name:
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Control-click on the track’s currenty displayed name and select
Configure Track Header....
Selecting a Patch for a Part
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Set the Names popup to Track Name, and click Done.
You choose each patch you want to use in Logic Pro by selecting it for the
part that a Logic Pro MIDI track is configured to play. Here’s how:
This sheet provides lots of interesting track-header options, which are
explained in the Logic Pro documentation.
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Click the part’s number in the PARTS area of the Editor window.
Select a patch for the part using the controls in the patch-selection
area, circled in red to the left on this page. To select a patch by:
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Command-double-click a track’s current name, type in the desired
name, and press return on your keyboard.
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memory location—click the PATCH NAME parameter’s popup
arrow to reveal SonicCell’s patches organized by their memory
locations.
Using the SonicCell Editor
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category—click the CATEGORY parameter’s popup arrow to
reveal SonicCell’s patches divided into categories.
Part-selection area
Patch-selection area
You can select performances stored in SonicCell using the PERFORM
NAME popup located above the part-selection area.
Digging Deeper
The SonicCell Editor lets you change the current performance’s sounds in a
range of ways. The mode-selection buttons to the left of the Editor window
determine the parameters you see and can edit at any given time. They’re
divided into the following sections:
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SYSTEM—The buttons in this area allow you to set SonicCell’s global
behavior, and also get quick access to its input effect, a handy thing
when you’re recording live audio through SonicCell.
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PERFORM EFFECTS—These buttons edit the performance’s effect setup.
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PERFORM—These parameters allow you to control the way each part
plays its patch, and lets you add effects to the patch.
PERFORM PATCH—These parameters allow you to dig right inside a
part’s patch in order to edit it down to its most basic characteristics.
Before using the PERFORM PATCH buttons, be sure to select the part
that plays the patch you want to edit. You do this by clicking the part’s
number in the part-selection area at the top of the window.
Sequencing with SonicCell Patches
In this section, we’ll assume
Here we’ve set our tracks to show their track names, so we see MIDI Program
Change numbers displayed next to the MIDI channels in the Library. What you
see here depends on how you’ve configured your track headers.
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you’re using SonicCell in Performance mode—using SonicCell’s PRST 01
Seq: Template performance to start with.
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you’ve connected a MIDI controller to SonicCell’s MIDI IN jack—and turned
on SonicCell’s USB-MIDI THRU System parameter.
This is a case where Logic Pro 8 differs from Logic Pro 7. In Logic Pro 7,
go to the Environment and create a new multi-instrument. To assign a
track to a SonicCell part, select it from the track-header popup.
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Open the project you want to work on, or create a new one.
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Click the + button above the track list to open the New Tracks sheet.
Setthewindow’sparameterstocreateanewExternalMIDIinstrument,
and check Open Library—the New Tracks sheet should look like this:
If you haven’t yet selected a patch on SonicCell to play from this track,
use the SonicCell Editor’s track to assign the desired patch to the
part you want to use. Once you’ve done that, return to the MIDI track
you’ve been setting up.
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When you play your controller now, you should hear the desired
patch play in SonicCell.
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When you’re done, click Create.
The new track is created and selected, and the Library pane opens on
the right side of the Arrange window.
Record your SonicCell track as you would any other Logic Pro track—
when you play it back, you’ll hear its SonicCell patch play.
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In the Library pane, click SonicCell in the left-hand column—
SonicCell’s MIDI channels appear in the right-hand column.
Repeat Steps 2-8 for other SonicCell tracks you want to sequence.
Click the MIDI channel for the SonicCell part whose patch you want
to sequence.
At this point, your track is sequenced, and you’ll hear it each time you
play your project, including when you edit the track. However, the
sound is still coming from SonicCell itself—it hasn’t yet been recorded
as an audio track in Logic Pro. We’ll get to that in the next section.
In the following screenshot, we’ve selected MIDI Channel 1 because
we want to sequence with a patch being played by Part 1 in the
current SonicCell performance.
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Before Recording: SonicCell Audio-Recording Strategy
Recording Audio from SonicCell in Logic Pro
Since SonicCell can simultaneously be the source of synth sounds and your
live audio, a little thought needs to be given to making sure you’re only
recording exactly what you intend to record on any given track.
If you haven’t yet read the Using SonicCell as an Audio Interface
Workshop booklet, read it now before proceeding. SonicCell offers lots
of audio-interface options you’ll want to know about.
When you want, for example, to record a single SonicCell synth sound on its
own track, you don’t want another synth sound or live audio to find its way
onto the track. Likewise, if you’re recording a vocal or other live audio, you
don’t want your synths recorded on that same track. Here’s what to do.
Selecting Audio to Record
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Open the project you want to work on, or create a new one.
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When you want to record a single synth track as a Logic Pro audio track
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Click the + button above the track list to open the New Tracks
window.
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mute any other SonicCell synth tracks you have in the song by
clicking their Mute (M) buttons to light them, or mute their parts
in the SonicCell Editor.
If you’ve connected a mic, instrument, or other device to one of
SonicCell’s inputs, disconnect it until you’re ready to record its
audio onto a Logic Pro track.
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When you want to record live audio as a Logic Pro audio track, you can use
either of two methods:
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Set the window’s parameters to create a new audio track, and choose
the desired mono or stereo format for your track.
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If you need to hear your SonicCell synth tracks as you record—send
your live audio through SonicCell’s input effect, and then set the
TO COM parameter on the In/Out Routing screen to Input FX.
Select the desired SonicCell input from the Input menu. To record
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If you don’t need to hear SonicCell synth tracks as you record—
mute them in Logic Pro by clicking their Mute buttons to light
them, or mute their parts in the SonicCell Editor.
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a mic or instrument connected to SonicCell’s
Neutrik input jack—select Left Roland SonicCell
IN L.
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a stereo device connected to SonicCell’s Neutrik
and (LINE) R input jacks—select Stereo Roland SonicCell IN L.
Once you’ve got your audio coming from SonicCell the way you want, record
your audio track as you would any other Logic Pro track.
a SonicCell synth patch in stereo—select Stereo Roland SonicCell
IN L.
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Click Create.
If you already have a track you want to use, set its format and select
the desired SonicCell input in the Arrange window’s Inspector.
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Troubleshooting
If you experience problems recording or playing back audio, Logic Pro’s built-
in owner’s manual provides insights that can help you solve your problem.
Check out the “Configuring Your Audio Hardware” section of the “Setting Up
Your System” chapter. In addition to following these steps, raising the Audio
Buffer size in SonicCell’s control panel may also help, though it may also
increase latency if you’re working with soft synths in Logic Pro.
The End
We hope you’ve found this workshop helpful. Keep an eye out for other
SonicCell Workshop booklets available for downloading at www.RolandUS.
com.
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