But it is easy to control a performance over time by using MIDI to control automation parameters. You can also take control of synthesis parameters in the Retro Synth on the screen while the track is running. You insert any type of automation with the mouse, like you did before with volume and panning. For the purpose of this post, I’m going to use filter cutoff frequency control, amp and filter envelope release times.

What you focus on will depend on the type of sound and its use in the piece - how it combines with other sounds.

autobend amount (for applying a pitch envelope to the attack of a note)Ĭhanging all of these parameters for every preset, all the time, is not necessary.

envelope parameters (both Amp and Filter), especially attack and release times.

As a general work habit, I tend to focus on You should think creatively about how you want sounds to change over time, over multiple notes. More interest can be achieved through the use of automation to change a parameter over the course of multiple notes. Even the modulation wheel, which is used to control LFO and Vibrato depth is really an automation tool. The only real variation you have comes from key velocity. You should create such changes through the control of synthesis parameters in your patch/program/preset, but keep in mind that your synthesis parameters will remain constant from note to note.

For the Retro Synth this means that you can control the oscillator wave shape, tuning, vibrato amount, filter frequency cutoff, LFO amount, all envelope parameters for both Amp and Filter, and many other things. Now we’re going to look at how we can apply automation to software instruments, and control that automation with a MIDI controller.Īny parameter in any plugin that can be adjusted with on-screen controls usually can be automated. We dealt with mix automation with our negative space and multitrack projects.

Automation logic pro x