Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

I'm new to Logic Express and have been doing quite a bit of online reading, trying to get 
things set up.  I have a PowerBook G4, Logic Express 7, and a Roland RD-700 piano.  The 
Roland keyboard has MIDI in/out and audio out which I've connected to my computer 
using a MOTU FastLane and M-Audio FireWire Solo respectively.  I realize the keyboard can 
function as a controller (using the sounds that come with LE) or as a sound generator 
(using the internal sounds).  What I'd like to do is to use Logic Express to compose, 
sequence, arrange, etc songs using the sounds from the keyboard.

Now, I know that I can change the sounds for each of my tracks by using the keyboard 
itself, but that gets kinda tedious - especially if I'm changing them often to see what 
works best.  What I'd like to be able to do is to use Logic to change the keyboard's 
sounds...  but how?!

I've done some online research, and here is the sum total of my knowledge:
- I know that my keyboard is a multi-instrument and that it appears in my Logic 
Environment
- Each multi-instrument has 16 sub-channels which share the 15 banks assigned to the 
MI instrument, and that each bank can have 128 preset names
- I know that each of the sounds in the Roland RD-700 keyboard is described by a unique 
combination of MSB, LSB, and Program Change numbers
- I've already copied from rolandus.com a list of all the sounds and their MSB, LSB, PC and 
I'm ready to paste it somewhere in Logic... but I'm not sure where/how.

And that's about all I've got.  I have a feeling that the answer involves using Define Custom 
Bank Messages somehow, but I haven't found any clear instructions on how to do so.

If you can kindly reply, please try to be as specific/detailed as you can to help the 
beginning Logic user.  Thanks so much!

Hmmm, I can't find find a "bank/patch" check box in the parameter window.  Do you mean 
the "program" box?  That one is checked, and when I click on the double arrow just to its 
right, it pulls up a list of 127 patches.  These however aren't the same patch names from 
my keyboard.  Besides there are hundreds more sounds in the keyboard.... where do I get 
those??


--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@a... wrote:

> 
> > Now, I know that I can change the sounds for each of my tracks by using the 
> > keyboard
> > itself, but that gets kinda tedious - especially if I'm changing them often 
> > to see what
> > works best.  What I'd like to be able to do is to use Logic to change the 
> > keyboard's
> > sounds...  but how?!
> > 
> 
> choose the midi track in the arrange page, and then look at the parameters at 
> left (if not visible, go to view > show parameters). then there is place to 
> change the bank/patch. click the check box to make it active. then it will be 
> there when you open that file. you can also change the patch from there.

Okay, I see what you mean.  Thanks for helping me out here!

But I'm still a touch confused.  How do I figure out what banks my Roland keyboard stores 
its sounds in?  The manual for the keyboard has a list of all the tones starting with 1 and 
going to 468.  These are grouped by MSB (87, 86, 121) and LSB (64 - 72, 000 - 004).  How 
do I divide these up into the Logic banks??

Thanks again for your help.  :)


--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@a... wrote:

> > Hmmm, I can't find find a "bank/patch" check box in the parameter window.  
> > Do you mean
> > the "program" box?  That one is checked, and when I click on the double 
> > arrow just to its
> > right, it pulls up a list of 127 patches.  These however aren't the same 
> > patch names from
> > my keyboard.  Besides there are hundreds more sounds in the keyboard.... 
> > where do I get
> > those??
> > 
> > 
> 
> Yeah, thats right. I don't have Logic in front of me now. the left number is 
> the bank and the right number is the patch. The patch names will not be right, 
> and it may show way more banks than your keyboard has. But it works. (They 
> could have built it in to have the patch names, but the idea was to make you buy 
> Sounddiver separately. Now Sounddiver is like Terry Schiavo when she was 
> unhooked from the machines but not dead yet.). Just go by the bank number and 
> patch number. 
> 
> It works fine, although there are few potential little issues. Some keyboards 
> start at 1 rather than 0 (or vice versa), so when you want patch 23 it will 
> say 24. And some synths have different bank numbers - like the Nova is only 
> bank 5 and 6. 
> 
> If you really want the patch names to be correct, you can get a friend to 
> read them off, and then type them in. It only takes a few minutes. Then save that 
> file as your autoload.

Sounds good.  Thanks again for your help.  Hopefully I'll sort this out!

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@a... wrote:

> 
> 
> > But I'm still a touch confused.  How do I figure out what banks my Roland 
> > keyboard stores
> > its sounds in?  The manual for the keyboard has a list of all the tones 
> > starting with 1 and
> > going to 468.  These are grouped by MSB (87, 86, 121) and LSB (64 - 72, 000 
> > - 004).  How
> > do I divide these up into the Logic banks??
> > 
> 
> it might be in the manual for the synth, but you can just experiment. change 
> some bank and patchs in Logic and see what it does to the synth. vice versa, 
> change some patches in the synth, and see how they turn up in Logic. there are 
> some weird things - for example some synths are numeric 000 to 999 but banks 
> hold 128 so bank 0 is 0..99 and bank 1 is 100...199. you'll quickly see the 
> pattern.