Logic Pro X Quick Tips Using The Assign Tools

Speed up your workflow and work faster in Logic Pro X

Welcome to masteringinlogic.com’s quick tips.  No nonsense random tips that I think you might find useful? Maybe.

I recently responded to someone on Facebook asking about how to speed up their workflow using the Fade Tool.  I created a really quick video to show them how I do it and to date it’s one of the most liked responses I’ve had on Facebook and it got me thinking that maybe something that is obvious to me might not be to others.

So I thought for this LPX Quick Tips I’d go over the very useful Click Zones that have literally saved me hours in time, I’ll show you how to set them up, how to use them and how easy it is.

So the first thing to look at before I get to click zones is Logic’s general Assign Tools.

At the top of the arrange window is the left assign and command assign options. Selecting the left assign tool allows you to choose a tool that you need, do what ever it is you need to do and then to get back to the pointer you can simply press the T key twice.

The command assign on the right allows you to select a tool that is activated when you pressing the CMD key.  This is useful for a tool that you use the most after the pointer.

Click Zones

Click Zones allow you set how the pointer behaves when around Track areas in the arrange page, especially around regions.

So we have the regular zones such as changing the region length by clicking the bottom left and right corners of the region and dragging it the to the desired length.

Ghost copies are created by hovering the pointer tool around the right edge of a region so that you can easily drag out duplicate copies of the region you’re working with.

Now I’m sure you know this but by going to Preferences>General>Editing allows you to select the mouse click and track pad behaviours but I want to show you the additional click zones that you can set up.

By ticking the Fade Tool click zones and Marquee Tool click zones in the preferences panel you can change how the pointer behaves further when in the arrange page.

So let’s go ahead tick the boxes and check out how this can help save you time.

Saving time in Logic Pro

For the video I created guitar part but wanted to create fade in, fade out and a cross fade between the two regions.

Rather than using the assign menu at the top of the arrange page or right clicking if you have “right click, Opens Tool Menu” selected from preferences I can simply go to the top left corner of the region and draw my fade in and then go to the next region and from the top right corner draw in my fade out.

As is normal with the fade tool I can change the length by clicking and dragging from the fade end and change the curve of the fade by clicking inside the fade area.  If you need to you can even use the click zones to create a cross fade between two regions, which is pretty cool.

Let’s next look at the marquee tool click zones.

For the video I dragged a vocal part into the arrange page from the Library and I wanted to edit the imported region just like you might if you were editing a recorded vocal part.

When I move to the bottom half of the audio region with the mouse the pointer automatically switches to the marquee tool.  This allows me to quickly make Logic edits without having to reach for any tool menus or even use key commands.  I can quickly do what ever marquee tool editing I need to do along with any fade tool work and move on saving a huge amount of time.

Using click zones allows you to quickly edit out silence, create a cut change the region length and add fades and crossfades or make copies by highlighting a section with the marquee tool and then copying it to wherever.  You can even highlight multiple regions and copy, cut move, whatever it is you need to do.

It allows you to quickly work with regions and move around a project fast allowing you to focus on the most important musical aspect of all. Writing great music!

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