I just discovered that if you’re using Logic Pro, you don’t need a program like Transcribe!.
You can drag any mp3 or mp4 file into Logic to create an audio track. With mp3, it automatically creates the track. If you drag in an mp4 file, before it creates the track it asks if you want to 1) open the movie file or 2) extract the audio. Select 2, and your audio track is created.
Then, you can adjust the tempo up or down as you wish. And you can use the Cycle feature to select whatever part of the tune you wish to focus on. It’s a whole lot faster and easier than Transcribe! for me. And your instrument is there as well.
I’ve also been working on a “Basic practice” template to share with those new to Logic Pro. It’ll be ready in a day or two. I wasted so much time fretting about how to begin working with the program. Looking at all the controls is daunting. So I thought it might be useful if I gave you a very basic template that you could download and save to begin your Logic Pro journey. You’ll still have to figure out the various features, but this might lend a bit of focus.
I’m posting this here since the thread for Learning Logic Pro X I created a while ago seems to be languishing, largely due to some of the lame posts there–mine, not those of anyone who responded. I just wanted to make sure that those interested might see this information.
I just discovered that if you’re using Logic Pro, you don’t need a program like Transcribe!.
You can drag any mp3 or mp4 file into Logic to create an audio track. With mp3, it automatically creates the audio track. If you drag in an mp4 file, before it creates the track it asks if you want to 1) open the movie file or 2) extract the audio. Select 2, and your audio track is created.
Then, you can adjust the tempo up or down as you wish. And you can use the Cycle feature to select whatever part of the tune you wish to focus on.
It’s a whole lot faster and easier than Transcribe! once you get it set up.
HERE’S THE NEW BIT:
Adjusting the tempo requires a few more simple steps. First, you need to open Varispeed:
Click the down arrow to the right of the black control panel, then select “Customize Control Bar and Display.” From that window, under LCD options, select the Varispeed checkbox. Then save. It will add a “Speed Only” section. Click on the +0.00% and drag up or down to change the tempo.You can go from -50 to +200.
This sounds great @scott1 - I will have a play around with this later today.
One thing I do like about Transcribe is the ability to see an approximation of the harmony. This appears if you check the option for “Show Chord Guesses” in the “View” dropdown menu - screenshot here:
When you pause the playback Transcribe gives an approximation of the harmony at that exact point in the recording; often with 2 or 3 different options in that little box in the bottom right corner.
The guesses are computer generated and so sometimes they can look a little strange - if it’s rootless harmony for example the software perceives the lowest note to be the root but as long as you are aware of this it’s easy to see what’s going on.
I find this feature to be accurate and handy to quickly analyse a chord progression; particularly one that has been reharmonised.
You can see in the example above that the Transcribe software recognises the D13 chord with b9 and #11 tensions, and also gives the tritone (Ab7) as an alternative.
When I was just starting out with transcription I found this feature very useful to get an approximation of the harmony and I can then add the specific colours or tensions to find exactly what is being played and in what configuration on the piano keyboard.
