Using Audio Objects

The channels listed in the Audio Configuration window are always available and ready for usebut first you have to assign them to Audio Objects. The Audio Object itself initializes the channel and then acts as a virtual channel strip that you can use to control the channel's sound. Audio Objects are the last link that connects Logic to your audio interface, and their primary function is to show Logic where and how to send audio signals.

Creating and Populating an Audio Layer

In Lesson 11 you created a couple of new Environment layers to hold MIDI Instrument Objects. Now, it's time to make a new Environment layer for Audio Objects and create your first one.

1.	Press Cmd-8 to open the Environment window. The Environment window opens and displays the layer that was onscreen the last time you used the Environment.
2.	From the Environment's Layer menu, choose **Create!** An unnamed layer is created.
3.	On the Layer menu, double-click the word (unnamed) to open a text box, then name the layer Audio.
4.	From the Environment's local menu bar, choose New > Audio Object. TIP You can (and should!) assign a key command to create new Audio Objects. Check out the Environment Window section of the Key Commands window. Cmd-Ctrl-A (A for "Audio Object") is a good choice. An unnamed Audio Object appears in the Environment's Audio layer. This Object looks like a little rectangular icon.
5.	Double-click the new Audio Object icon. The Object expands into a channel strip! This is called the channel view, and it looks just like a channel strip on a standard hardware mixing console. The channel view provides an interface to control and manipulate a channel's sound by boosting or attenuating (lowering) the volume, changing a sound's pan position, and inserting digital signal processing (DSP) effects. TIP Audio Objects can be reduced by double-clicking the top left corner of an Object that is in channel view.