How do I use PLAY as a Multi Channel instrumet in Logic 8?

Use of PLAY as a Multi Instrument in Logic will require you to modify Logic’s Environment. If you’ve never modified Logic’s Environment, we HIGHLY recommend that you look at Chapter 39 (page 857) in the Logic User Manual for information on using the Environment before you attempt the procedure below. The Environment is a custom programming window that allows you to get “under the hood” and modify the way Logic works…as such, it is very complicated and there is a lot to know and understand before you make changes.

To use PLAY as a Multi in Logic, follow these steps:

1. In Logic’s Arrange window, select an empty Instrument track (“Inst 1,” for example). Locate the channel strip on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Under ‘I/O,’ select: Multi Channel -> AU Instruments -> East West -> Play. Set the MIDI channel to ‘All’.

2. Go to Logic’s Environment window, click on the “New” menu and choose Multi Instrument. Select the number of MIDI channels you wish to use by clicking the buttons on the Multi Instrument, (there is a total of 16). Connect the output of the Multi Instrument to the Instrument track with PLAY.

3. Go back to the Arrange or Mixer window and create an Aux track. Set the input of the Aux track to a PLAY output. Make sure to select the appropriate output in PLAY as well.

4. Create a MIDI track from the Multi Inst object. There should be as many MIDI tracks available as ones created in step 2. If you created the Multi Inst object in the ‘MIDI Inst’ layer, the MIDI track will appear under : MIDI Instr -> (Multi Instr.) -> MIDI channel.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for as many additional MIDI tracks/Audio outputs you wish to create.

Please note:

Using multiple instances in a host will provide better performance than using multiple instruments in an instance.

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