| Logic 7 has become a virtual production studio, complete with many software instruments (called Audio Instruments) that generate nothing short of awesome sounds. Indeed, with 32-bit floating-point internal processing and support for sampling rates of up to 192 kHz (hardware permitting), Logic's internal instruments sound as good as, or better than, most of the hardware synthesizers on the market. These days you need little more than a laptop, a MIDI controller keyboard, and Logic to create songs of the highest caliber. Logic's Audio Instruments are assigned as inputs to a special type of track, called an Audio Instrument track. A hybrid between MIDI and audio tracks, Audio Instrument tracks use MIDI to trigger sounds from the inserted instrument. If you take a quick look at the Arrange window, you'll notice that two of the song's tracks use MIDI Regions instead of Audio Regions. These are Audio Instrument tracks.  Playing Audio Instruments The song you are currently working on uses two Audio Instruments. One is a Drum Kit instrument, while the second is an Analog Pad instrument. Let's play them now to hear what they sound like. 1. | In the Arrange window's Track List, select the Inst 2 (Jazz Kit) track.
The Arrange window channel strip updates to show the track's settings. Furthermore, in Logic Pro, the R button to the left of the track's name turns red. This is the track's Record Enable button. When this button is activated, all incoming MIDI signals are passed to the track's instrument, which in turn allows you to play the track's instrument from an external MIDI controller. However, Audio Instrument tracks in Logic Express do not have Record Enable buttons; to prepare a track for recording, simply select it.
Playing the Caps Lock Keyboard If you don't have a MIDI controller keyboard, Logic 7 has a great new feature for you: the Caps Lock Keyboard. If you press the Caps Lock key on your computer's keyboard, a small MIDI controller appears on your screen. You can now play your computer keyboard as if you had a MIDI controller attached to your system. The Caps Lock Keyboard is polyphonic (you can play more than one note at a time) and you can select different velocity values using the letter keys on the keyboard's bottom row. You can even adjust the transparency of the Caps Lock Keyboard using the slider in its top right corner. Now doesn't that come in handy for those times when you need to program beats on the bus ride home? 
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| 2. | Play your MIDI controller.
You hear a drum kit.
| 3. | In the Arrange window Track List, select the Pad track.
| 4. | Play your MIDI controller.
You hear a pad sound.
| 5. | In the Arrange window channel strip's I/O area, double-click the Insert slot (the slot that says AnPad).
 The analog pad Audio Instrument opens in a plug-in window.
| 6. | From the plug-in window's Settings menu, choose a new setting.
| 7. | Play your MIDI controller.
The Audio Instrument's sound changes. As you can see, the Settings menu in Audio Instruments is used to select new sounds (also called patches) for the instrument. This is a very valuable concept to understand, because all of Logic's instruments come with preset soundssome Audio Instruments, like the ES2, have hundreds of them!
| 8. | Close the Analog Pad instrument.
| 9. | Play your song, and use the Arrange window channel strip's volume fader and pan control to adjust the Pad track's sound so it properly sits in the mix.
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Creating a New Audio Instrument Track To play a different Audio Instrument, you must first create a new Audio Instrument track. Here's the technique: 1. | Under the Out 1-2 track at the bottom of Logic's Track List, double-click the empty track slot.
 A new track is created. By default, this track is assigned to the same instrument as the last track selected in the Track List.
| 2. | Click and hold the new track's name.
 A hierarchical menu appears.
| 3. | Choose Audio > Audio Instrument > Inst 3.
 The track is now assigned to Audio Instrument 3.
 However, it does not make sound yet. This is because the channel's Input slot is empty. Read on to the next section to find out how to assign an Audio Instrument as the channel's input.
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Inserting Audio Instruments Audio Instruments are always inserted into the Input slot of an Audio Instrument track. In essence, the Audio Instrument is creating the sound that goes into the track, so it just makes sense to insert it via the Input. 1. | Click and hold the Arrange window channel strip's Input slot.
A hierarchical menu appears.
| 2. | Choose Stereo > Logic > EFM1.
 NOTE If you have any Audio Unitscompatible third-party software instruments installed on your computer, they are accessible from the Stereo > AU Instruments submenu. The EFM synthesizer opens.
| 3. | Play your MIDI controller.
You hear the EFM.
| 4. | Experiment with the preset sounds contained in the EFM's Settings menu.
Want to hear some of Logic's other Audio Instruments? Bet you do . . .
| 5. | In the Arrange window channel strip, click and hold the Input slot and assign a new instrument.
| 6. | When you're done experimenting, close the plug-in window.
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