Melodyne in Logic Pro

On this tour, you will learn how to make efficient use of Melodyne within Logic Pro. This tour relates to Logic Pro X 10.

Please take note also of the information regarding the compatibility of Melodyne with Logic Pro on our website.

Loading the Melodyne plug-in

Insert Melodyne into one of the plug-in slots of the desired track. You will find Melodyne Plugin under Audio Units/Celemony Melodyne.

You are advised to insert Melodyne in the first plug-in slot – before the compressor, EQ or other effects. The reason is this: during the transfer, Melodyne records the input signal you intend to edit – and with it all effects ahead of it in the signal chain, which are then frozen into the signal and can no longer be adjusted. In order to use your compressor, EQ and other effects in the usual way, you need therefore to make sure they come after Melodyne Plugin in the signal chain.

Backing up and exchanging projects

During transfers, Melodyne records the track’s signal, making a copy of the passages transferred. The resulting audio files are stored in a folder named “Transfers”, which you create in Melodyne under Settings > File Manager. Ideally you should create a subfolder called “Transfers” for your current Logic Pro project within the project folder belonging to it. Now assign your transfers to this folder in the first instance of Melodyne you create by choosing Settings > File Manager > “Store transfers to” and navigating to it. To do this, click on the ellipsis (“…”) icon.

Now if you want to be sure, when archiving your project or passing it on to others, that all instances of Melodyne will be able subsequently to find the audio files they need, the only thing you need to archive or pass on is the project folder.

If you are making a copy of your project using the “Save Copy As ...” command, don’t forget to make a manual copy of the Transfers folder as well. As soon as you have done this, open the copy of your project.

Choose Settings > File Manager > “Store transfers to” and navigate as before to the newly copied Transfers folder to assign the path.

When archiving and passing on projects, you do not need to worry about Melodyne’s audio cache, the size and location of which can be selected from Melodyne’s Preferences dialog. Melodyne will automatically restore the parameters found there, so there is no need to archive or copy them separately.

Duplicating tracks

Sometimes you may want to copy a track including its Melodyne instance and Melodyne editing – in order, for instance, to generate a second voice. To do this, use either the “New Track with Duplicate Setting” icon or the keyboard shortcut CMD-D. Drag the audio material belonging to the original track into the new track in order to duplicate it.

Saving plug-in settings for Melodyne

Just as with an effects plug-in you can store different settings as presets, in Melodyne you can save different edits. You may wish to do this in order, for example, to allow a performer or artist to hear and choose between different edits of the same take. To save and reload Melodyne settings, follow the same procedures as for all other plug-ins.

Just click on the name of the current preset in the Melodyne Plugin window and select “Save As…” Then assign a name to the current Melodyne edit. You can store alternative edits as additional presets and switch between them using the preset selector.

Bouncing/printing Melodyne edits

When you are using Melodyne in a project and have finished editing, you have two choices:

You can allow the Melodyne instance(s) to remain active until the final mixdown. If you do this, you will retain access to your Melodyne editing and will be able to make further refinements until the very last moment. This is convenient, but as long as the plug-in remains active it is draining the resources of your system.

You can make your Melodyne editing permanent by ‘bouncing’ it – i.e. recording the edited track(s) or passage(s) to a new audio file (or files). This will deprive you of further access to your Melodyne editing but allow you to deactivate the plug-in and thereby free up resources. Bouncing your Melodyne edits has the further advantage of allowing you to pass the project on to colleagues who don’t have Melodyne.

To bounce the track containing Melodyne in Logic Pro and make your editing permanent, proceed as follows:

Deactivate the effects you do not wish the new track to contain by ALT-clicking on the corresponding plug-ins. The EQ and compression, for example, are things you will also wish to adjust on the new track, so these should not be included.

Automation is a similar case: decide whether it should be included in the transfer or whether you would prefer to copy the existing automation to the new track later, in order to retain access to it there. In that case, deactivate the automation in the left-hand track area of the edit window or in the mixer prior to the bounce. You can also deactivate automation when bouncing tracks (see below).

We recommend the following bounce procedure:

Select one or several regions. Right-click on the title bar of a region and select “Bounce to hard disk”. Now enter a name followed by the audio resolution parameters.

Under no circumstances check “Bypass Effect Plug-ins” as this would cause your Melodyne editing to be ignored.

Since Logic will automatically create a new track for the bounced material, you can decide now what you wish to do with the original track. If you select “Mute”, the old track will be retained but simply muted.

Once the bounce has been performed, to copy the automation data to the newly created track hold down the SHIFT key as you drag a selection within the automation data. Then choose Edit > Copy or use the shortcut CMD+C to copy the automation data onto the clipboard. After selecting the track with the bounced material, insert the data by choosing Edit > Paste (or the shortcut CMD+V). Now all that remains is to reactivate the automation in the channel.

To copy the plug-ins from the original track to the newly created one, drag them from the former to the latter, holding down the ALT key as you do so.

All that remains is to decide what to do with the original Melodyne tracks. You can either delete or else mute them, deactivating with the ALT key their Melodyne instances in order to spare resources. If you adopt the latter course, you will retain access to your original Melodyne editing and be able to make further refinements later simply by reactivating the tracks.

Rewire

Generally you will want to use Melodyne as a plug-in in Logic Pro. This is the most convenient way of working; it means, moreover, that all Melodyne data is stored within your project structure, making archiving and passing on your project easier. Occasionally, however, you may wish to integrate the stand-alone version of Melodyne into Logic Pro as a Rewire client.

This can be useful if, for example, you wish to adjust audio files swiftly to the project tempo. When the program is integrated via Rewire, this happens automatically as soon as you drag an audio file from the finder or explorer and drop it in the Melodyne window. You can then play back the audio files at the correct tempo via Rewire and make further use of them in Logic Pro, enhancing them there perhaps through the application of additional plug-ins.

To integrate Melodyne Stand-Alone into Logic Pro as a Rewire client, proceed as follows:

First launch Logic Pro. Then choose from the “Options” menu the command “Create New Auxiliary Channel Strip”.

A dedicated channel strip will be created automatically in the Logic Pro mixer. Now, from the input section of this channel strip, select as input “Melodyne singletrack > RW:Left/Right”.
You can open multiple Melodyne documents in this way and assign their audio output via separate channels to separate aux tracks in Logic Pro.

Now open Melodyne. This will launch Melodyne not as a plug-in but as a stand-alone application integrated via Rewire. The transport functions and tempo of the two programs will also be synchronized. The presence of an active Rewire connection is indicated by the fact that the two Rewire output channels can be selected from within the Melodyne user interface. If you are working with a single Melodyne document, select under Rewire “1-2”.

Now load or else drag & drop the desired audio files into Melodyne. These will then be analyzed and adapted to the project tempo. When you have finished editing the sample(s) in Melodyne, you can transfer the corresponding audio signals via Rewire from Melodyne to Logic Pro and record them there.

Please note that data from Melodyne is not automatically saved along with your Logic Pro project when the two programs are linked via Rewire. To make it possible to recreate an earlier work situation, you must save the Melodyne document manually in the form of an MPD file – ideally in your Logic Pro project folder. When saving, activate the option “Save Audio File(s)in Copy” to ensure Melodyne saves a copy of the sample in the session folder.

Miscellaneous notes

Buffer Size
Under Settings > Audio, we suggest an I/O buffer size of 1,024 samples Smaller values lead to a marked increase in the CPU load.

Should you require a smaller buffer, e.g. when adjusting the headphone mix directly in your computer and not via an external channel strip or mixer, switch all instances of Melodyne during the recording to bypass Reactivate Melodyne as soon as you begin editing your new track.

Mute and Solo
Melodyne continues to play back its audio signal even when the audio region in the same part of the arrangement has been muted. Whilst this is the behavior it exhibits in all other commonly used hosts, to users of older versions of Logic it will at first seem strange. Moreover it has other side effects: you hear the audio signals of all the Melodyne instances you are using regardless of whether particular regions were recorded in Solo (or Global Solo) modes. If you do, however, wish to mute Melodyne or solo it, use the appropriate buttons in the channel strip.

As an alternative to the channel strip buttons, you can also use the buttons in the track list, though they need, of course, to be configured in advance for the purpose:

Choose Preferences > Audio > General. In the Track Mute/Solo section, two options are available:

CPU-saving (Slow Response): if this option is selected, the Mute/Solo buttons act simultaneously on all regions within the track. Neither Melodyne editor nor Melodyne assistant are influenced by this.

Fast (Remote Channel Strips): if this option is selected, the Mute/Solo keys have exactly the same effect as the corresponding buttons in the channel strip; they therefore do affect Melodyne.

Notes regarding older versions

Bounce
If you are using Logic 8 or earlier, we recommend the following bounce procedure: create a new track using the shortcut ALT+CMD+N or choose Track > New from the menu.

In the following window, under “Input” select a free bus e.g. “Bus 64”. Assign a name to the track and confirm with “Create”. Next record-enable the new track by clicking the “R” button in the channel strip.

Then set the output of the track containing the Melodyne changes to “Bus 64”. Then, with recording enabled, you can record the entire track or isolated passages within it.

Next mute the original track with the Mute button, copy the plug-ins to the track containing the bounced material, and reactivate them by deactivating the bypass function.

Normal bounce procedure with older versions of Logic
Thus procedure is much used but we do not recommend it. We prefer the greater flexibility and convenience of bus routing. Since this method is so widespread in its use, however, we will describe it here:

To commence the bounce process, choose File > Bounce from the menu bar. Now enter a name followed by the requisite audio resolution parameters along with the bar coordinates of the beginning and end of the passage you wish to bounce. You can also decide whether the bounce should be performed offline or in realtime.

Under no circumstances check “Bypass Effect Plug-Ins” as this would cause your Melodyne editing to be ignored. Check the option "Add to Audio Bin"

Now click on Bounce. Logic Pro will perform the bounce and create a new track containing your Melodyne edits. You will find this file in the Logic Audio Bin (CMD-9).

Once you have performed the desired bounces, create a new track in Logic Pro and place the file there in the correct position. Drag the deactivated effects into the new track, holding down the CMD key as you do so, and reactivate them. You can transfer the automation data from the original Melodyne tracks to your new tracks using the copy and paste functions.

All that remains is to decide what to do with the original Melodyne tracks. You can either delete them or mute them, deactivating Melodyne as an effect with the ALT key. If you adopt the latter course, you will retain access to your original Melodyne editing and be able to make further refinements later simply by reactivating the tracks.