Unit 1 · Lesson 1 of 9

From Soundboard to Logic

Create your first project and find every soundboard control inside Logic's channel strip.

Warm-up 5 minLearn 15 minTry it in Logic 27 minCheck + exit 10 min

Learning targets

I can create a new Logic Pro project with a software instrument track and save it with a clear name.
I can name the five main areas of the Logic Pro window and open each one.
I can match each part of a soundboard channel to the part of a Logic channel strip that does the same job.

Warm-up: draw one channel

Without looking at your notes, sketch one channel of the soundboard you used in weeks 1–4, from top to bottom. Label every knob, button, and slider you remember. Then compare with a partner and add anything you missed.

Keep your sketch. You'll use it in the Try It section to find the same controls in Logic.

What is a DAW?

DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): Software for recording, creating, editing, and mixing music on a computer. Logic Pro is a DAW.

Everything you learned on the soundboard still applies. A DAW does the same jobs as a board, plus recording and editing, and all of it happens inside the computer. Sound still flows top to bottom through each channel and ends up at one main output, just like on the board.

Project: One Logic file that holds everything for one song: its tracks, recordings, settings, and mix.

Track: One horizontal lane in a project that holds one instrument or one sound source. Each track has its own channel strip.

Software instrument: A virtual instrument that lives inside Logic, such as a piano, synth, or drum kit. You play it with a MIDI keyboard.

The five main areas of the window

Area	Where it is	What it does	Show / hide
Control Bar	Top strip	Play, stop, record, tempo, and song position	Always visible
Tracks area	Big middle section	Your song laid out left (start) to right (end), one track per lane	Always visible
Library	Left side	Choose the sound for the selected track	`Y`
Inspector	Left side, next to the Library	Settings for the selected track, including its channel strip	`I`
Mixer	Bottom	Every channel strip side by side, like a soundboard	`X`

The keys in the last column are shortcuts. Press the key once to show that area and again to hide it. The Shortcuts page lists every shortcut in the course.

The channel strip is your soundboard channel

Channel strip: The vertical column of controls for one track in Logic. It does the same job as one channel on a soundboard.

Plug-in: A piece of software that adds a sound or an effect to a channel strip, such as an EQ, a compressor, or an instrument.

Stereo Out: The main output channel strip in Logic. Every track ends up here. It works like the main mix fader on a soundboard.

Bus: A path inside Logic that carries sound from one channel strip to another. Sends travel on buses, the same way aux sends travel to an effect on a board.

Soundboard connection

On the soundboard	In a Logic channel strip	Notes
Gain / trim knob	No gain knob at the top	For software instruments, the level is set inside the instrument. For recorded audio, gain is set before the sound reaches Logic, or with the Gain plug-in.
EQ knobs	EQ box (small graph near the top)	Click it to open Channel EQ. You'll learn it fully in the Mixing unit.
Insert (if your board has one)	Audio FX slots	Each slot holds one effect plug-in.
Aux send knobs	Sends	A send routes some of the signal to a bus.
Pan knob	Pan knob	Same job: moves the sound left or right.
Mute / Solo buttons	M and S buttons	Same job.
Channel fader	Volume fader	Same job: sets the track's level in the mix.
Meter LEDs	Level meter	Green is safe, yellow is loud, red means clipping (distortion).
Main mix fader	Stereo Out channel strip	Every track flows into it.

Try it in Logic

Create and save your project

Open Logic Pro. If the Project Chooser appears, choose New Project, then Empty Project. If Logic opens an old project instead, choose File › New.
In the New Tracks window, choose Software Instrument, then click Create. One track appears in the Tracks area.
Save right away: choose File › Save As… and name it LastName_Unit1_Beat. Save it in the class folder your teacher gives you.
Press Y to open the Library. Click a few different sounds and notice that the track's name changes to match.
Press I to open the Inspector. Find the channel strip on the left edge of the window.
Press X to open the Mixer. Your one track has a channel strip, and next to it is the Stereo Out.
Press ⌘K to turn on Musical Typing, which lets you play notes on your computer keyboard. Play a few notes and watch the level meter move on both the track and the Stereo Out. That's signal flow: track → Stereo Out.
Press ⌘S to save. Save often, every time you make a change you'd hate to lose.

Musical Typing: A Logic feature that turns your computer keyboard into a small piano keyboard. Useful when a MIDI keyboard isn't handy.

Practice

Open your warm-up sketch next to the Mixer. For each control you drew, find the matching control on your Logic channel strip and write where it is. If a board control has no match in Logic (like gain on a software instrument), write down where that job happens instead.

Then do these with Musical Typing on:

Pan the track hard left, then hard right. Listen in your headphones.
Solo the track, then mute it. Turn both back off.
Pull the fader down until the meter stays green while you play.
Switch between three sounds in the Library and save the project.

Check your understanding

Quick check: On a soundboard, the aux send sends part of a channel to an effect. What does the same job in Logic?

Quick check: Every track in Logic flows into which channel strip?

Exit ticket

Name one soundboard control and its Logic match. Then name one soundboard control that has no exact match in a Logic software-instrument channel strip, and explain where that job happens instead.