step sequencer Logic Pro X

This is long but will show you how to get started with Logic's step editor. You can mess around for 20-30 minutes trying everything out and then might never use it again, but it'll be in the back of your mind should you ever need it.

Go to "Preferences", click on "Advanced", check "Show Advanced Tools"

Now when you edit a region, in the bottom half of Logic, you'll see "Piano Roll", "Score", and click on the now appearing "Step Editor".

Two ways that I know of to set things up for drums:

Manual Way Go to "Lanes > New Lane Set for GM Drums". This creates a default drum setup.

Click on "Slap". Open Logic's inspector (click on the "i" icon top left of Logic). There should be a section that says "Lane: SLAP". Expand that. Click on "SLAP" to change the name to "Bass Drum". Then change the pitch to "C1" - or whatever note you have your BD on. Now you can use the pencil tool in the edit window to drop in kicks on whatever beats you like at whatever velocity

You can keep changing names/pitches until you have the drum kit set up how you like. Drag and drop to get the order you like. Delete instruments you're not using.

Nice things about this is it's easy to put in different note velocities. You can also set the grid to different note lengths for different instruments. So if you want some instruments snapping to a 16th note grid but others to 1/32 triplets you can do that. Useful for dubstep I think.

"New Lane Set for Current Events" Quicker way to set up is to record the notes you want in a track. (Play "C1" (kick), "D1" (snare), "D#1" Clap etc. Go to the event window in Logic. (Right hand side, click the first of four icons). Select all events (Ctrl+A)

In the step editor window, go to lanes, and click "New Lane Set for Current Events". Now you've got a lane for every note. You're still probably going to want to rename things but the instruments you want are all there.

For drum programming Geist is amazing. Would definitely recommend. It's been on sale for $100 and $50 in the past.

/r/edmproduction Thread