Using HyperDraw

HyperDraw is a system for automating MIDI-controller values, such as volume, pitch, modulation, or any of the 127 controller values that are part of the MIDI specification. The thing that makes HyperDraw appealing is that controllers are drawn in as lines between nodes. You can freely edit nodes, and even draw curves between them to make swooping changes in automation. With a bit of practice, HyperDraw allows you to make incredibly detailed evolving ambiences in your songs.

HyperDraw is located in the Matrix Editor, Score Editor, and Arrange window. It works exactly the same way in each editor, so for the purpose of experimenting, we'll explore HyperDraw in the Matrix Editor. But before we do so, a quick word of advice: As you experiment with editing HyperDraw information, remember Cmd-Z (undo)! It's easy to make mistakes when editing HyperDraw information, so Cmd-Z can be a real lifesaver.

1.

From the Matrix Editor's local menus, choose View > Hyper Draw, and take a look at the choices presented in the HyperDraw menu. The HyperDraw menu lists all of the standard control-change or MIDI-controller types you will commonly use while editing your sequences, including Volume, Pan, and Modulation. NOTE If you need a MIDI controller that's not displayed in the HyperDraw menu's main list, choose the Other option, and a dialog will open to let you enter any controller you need.

2.

From the HyperDraw menu, choose Pan. The blue HyperDraw area appears at the bottom of the Matrix Editor and displays the sequence's pan data (or lack of pan datayou'll add some in a minute).

Creating Nodes with the Pencil Tool

HyperDraw, as its name suggests, is an area used to draw MIDI-controller values. While recorded MIDI-controller values also show up here, the chief benefit of HyperDraw is that you can quickly and conveniently draw in controller curves. In the following exercises you'll use a couple of different techniques to draw in HyperDraw information. First, let's look at using the Pencil tool.

1.	From the Matrix toolbox, grab the Pencil tool.
2.	Draw a curve through the first bar of the Matrix's HyperDraw area. Notice that Logic draws a series of nodes, and the nodes are all connected by a line. You should still have a one-bar cycle enabled (if you don't, enable one now), so let's see how this HyperDraw data affects panning.
3.	Press the spacebar to start playback.
4.	In the Arrange window, make sure that the Audio Instrument track that plays the Drum Kits instrument is selected.
5.	Watch the Pan control in the Arrange channel strip. As the cycle plays, the Pan control moves to follow the HyperDraw data.

NOTE

Logic displays values next to some nodes.

Selecting and Moving Nodes

Logic is very intelligent in the way it deals with nodes, and in most cases you'll find node editing to be an intuitive process. For example, to move a node, just grab it and drag it around the HyperDraw area. However, there are still a few tricks to keep in mind, so let's practice moving a few nodes.

1.	From the Matrix Editor's toolbox, grab the Arrow tool.
2.	Click and hold the last node in the HyperDraw area. Let's move the selected node around the HyperDraw area. TIP If you quickly click a node, it is deleted! To select a node without deleting it, either click and hold the node, or slowly click the node with a long press of the mouse button.
3.	Drag the node up or down. TIP To restrict node movement either horizontally or vertically, hold down Shift as you drag the node. The node's movement will be restricted to whichever axis you first begin dragging along. The node follows the pointer movements. You can also move multiple nodes together.
4.	Hold down Shift and click several alternating nodes in the line. This is a good exercise, because by selecting alternating nodes, you can see how intuitively HyperDraw works.
5.	Grab any of the selected nodes and drag up. As you might expect, the selected nodes rise, while the other ones remain right where they were.
6.	Hold Shift and then click the HyperDraw area's background to deselect all nodes.
7.	Grab any line between two nodes, and drag it up or down (make sure you grab directly on the line). The line turns white, and the nodes at either end move in unison.

Deleting Nodes

Logic provides three different ways to delete nodes, so let's try out each one and learn how it works. The first method is one you may have learned earlierthe hard wayif you clicked a node too quickly during a previous exercise.

1.	Quickly click a few nodes. They are instantly deleted.
2.	Select the node at the far right side of the HyperDraw area, and drag it to the left (don't release the Arrow tool). As you drag the node, each time you pass another node, the passed node disappears. However, these nodes are not gone for good, and as long as you continue to hold down the mouse button, you can backtrack this edit.
3.	Drag the selected node back toward the right. The erased nodes reappear!
4.	Hold down Shift and rubber-band select all nodes in the HyperDraw area. NOTE To rubber-band select nodes, you must hold down the Shift key. If you don't, trying to rubber-band select nodes instead creates new nodes, as you'll learn in the following exercise.
5.	Press Delete. All nodes are erased from the HyperDraw area.

Creating and Copying Nodes with the Arrow Tool

A bit earlier in the lesson you used the Pencil tool to draw in a line of nodes. You can create single nodes without using the Pencil tool, by simply clicking the Arrow tool in the HyperDraw area. Logic automatically interpolates a line between the new node and the nodes immediately to its left and right.

1.	With the Arrow tool, click in the HyperDraw area to create three nodes over the first two beats of the bar, as pictured in the following figure: TIP If an extra node is created right at the beginning of the HyperDraw area, just give it a quick click to delete it. With a little practice, creating nodes becomes a quick and intuitive process. Copying nodes is easy as well. The following steps show you how to copy several nodes at the same time, though you can also use these techniques to copy single nodes.
2.	Hold down Shift and rubber-band select all three nodes.
3.	Hold down Option, click and hold any selected node (or any line between the selected nodes), and then drag to the right until your HyperDraw area looks like that shown in the following figure. (Be sure to keep the Option key held down until after you release the mouse button.) Holding down Option is a great way to copy nodes, and indeed it's a method you'll often use because it's convenient. However, you can also copy and paste nodes in the HyperDraw area.
4.	Press Cmd-Z to undo the last edit. The copied nodes disappear, and the first three nodes are reselected (if they are not, press Shift and rubber-band select them now).
5.	Press Cmd-C to copy the selected nodes. The selected nodes are copied to the Clipboard. You'll paste these nodes back into the HyperDraw area in a second, but first you have to move the SPL to the place where you want the first node to be pasted, because Logic always pastes copied nodes beginning at the SPL's position in the song.
6.	In the Bar Ruler at the top of the Matrix Editor, click the beginning of the third beat in the bar to move the SPL.
7.	Press Cmd-V to paste the copied nodes back into the HyperDraw area.

Creating Curves

NOTE

The following feature works only in Logic Pro.

Curves are arguably the coolest feature of Logic's HyperDraw area, because they let you quickly create complex automation sweeps such as customized volume fades or, for the purpose of this example, smooth pan sweeps from one side of the stereo spectrum to the other.

1.	Hold down Ctrl-Option and drag down the line between the first two nodes. A sweeping automation curve is created. There are four different types of automation curves, each of which you create by holding down Ctrl-Option and dragging a line in one of the following four directions: down (to create a concave curve), up (convex curve), right (horizontal S-curve), or left (vertical S-curve). Let's try creating one of each.
2.	Hold down Ctrl-Option, and then drag the first of the remaining three lines up, the second right, and the last one left. If you decide that a curve isn't exactly what you want, you can revert to the straight line by using the following trick.
3.	Hold down Ctrl-Option and quickly click one of the curves. The curve reverts to a straight line.

Using the HyperDraw Menu

On the left edge of the HyperDraw area sits a small downward-pointing arrow button that serves as a shortcut to the HyperDraw menu.

1.	Click and hold the HyperDraw menu button to open the menu, and take a look at the options. This menu lists all the same options as the HyperDraw menu that's accessible from the Matrix Editor's View menu.
2.	At the top of the menu, choose Off. The HyperDraw area is hidden.
3.	Close the Matrix Editor.

Using HyperDraw in the Arrange Window

HyperDraw is also available in the Arrange window, and HyperDraw works exactly the same way here as it does in the Matrix Editorwith an extra benefit: Opening HyperDraw in the Arrange window saves you from opening the Matrix Editor, which conserves screen real estate. As an added bonus, you can open HyperDraw for several different sequences and then compare their settings.

Let's see how to access HyperDraw in the Arrange window.

1.	Select the MIDI Region in the Drum Kits Audio Instrument track.
2.	Zoom horizontally so that you can clearly see the MIDI Region. Notice that the pan controller information is already visible as vertical bars in the sequence.
3.	From the Arrange window's local menu, choose View > HyperDraw > Pan. The selected MIDI Region turns blue, and the pan data entered in the Matrix Editor's HyperDraw area is displayed. The following figure shows a close-up of the sequence in the Arrange window:
4.	To edit this HyperDraw data, use the techniques you learned in the earlier sections of this lesson. That's all there is to it!