Logic Pro: MIDI Transform & Humanize

Screen 1: The MIDI Transform menu offers a range of treatments for your MIDI data.

Add a human touch to your MIDI parts with Logic’s MIDI Transform.

Logic Pro seems to acquire amazing new features in every update, and its bundled plug‑ins have been thoroughly modernised. However, there is one feature that has remained untouched for over a decade, and that is MIDI Transform. Yes, its user interface is rudimentary at best and, yes, the workflow if encapsulates is dated, but if you do a lot of work with MIDI, it can still prove an indispensible feature.

Transformers

The aims of MIDI Transform are twofold. First, it offers a much faster way to edit MIDI data than manually altering each note, and second, it allows us to bring randomisation, or more importantly humanisation, into our often rigid productions.

Let’s start by taking any MIDI region and double‑clicking it so the piano roll pops up. As seen in Screen 1 above, there is a menu to the left‑hand side called Functions that leads to a drop‑down list with the item MIDI Transform on it. As you hover over, you can see that there are various things we can do to Transform our MIDI.

Here, we will look into the Humanize function, as shown in Screen 2. This is a particularly exciting one for composers because, as it says on the tin, it introduces randomisation to your MIDI data to bring about a more ‘human’ feel. This can be crucial to creating parts that sound realistic.

Screen 2: The Humanize window lets you apply randomisation to your notes’ onsets, durations and velocities.

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