| When editing, it is often necessary to work with material down to a highly detailed level. Zooming is the act of moving in and out of your arrangement, magnifying your working area to focus on individual aspects of a song. In this exercise you will use various zoom techniques that improve your ability to view and edit material. Understanding Zoom Positioning Before you begin, it is important to understand how Logic uses positioning to determine what visual material is magnified. The goal is to keep the area you are concentrating on viewable in the window during zooming. This is dictated by either the song position or the selected material. You can see this when executing basic zoom commands such as those controlled by the Zoom sliders. 1. | Click the background of the Arrange window (where there isn't a Region or Object) to make sure that nothing is selected.
| 2. | Position the SPL at the beginning of the Chorus marker by Cmd-clicking on it.
The song locates to the beginning of the Chorus section.
| 3. | Grab the horizontal Zoom slider located at the bottom left of the Arrange window, and slowly drag it to the right.
The song zooms in lengthwise, spreading out in both directions, but always keeping the SPL in roughly the same place within the window.
| 4. | Bring up Screenset 1 again to return to the original zoom level.
| 5. | Select the Triangle Region in Track 7.
| 6. | Grab the horizontal Zoom slider again, slowly dragging to the right to zoom in.
The song zooms in, spreading out in both directions, but this time keeping the left edge of the Region in roughly the same place within the window.
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What does this mean, and why is this important? In effect, the window view while zooming is justified either to the current song position or to a selected Region. When you want to zoom in to a given song position, you must make sure that nothing is selected before performing the action. If you want to zoom in on an individual Region, you need to select it first. This is important to keep in mind while using Zoom because you may find yourself losing the area that you intend to work with unless you actively choose one of these methods. Saving and Recalling Zoom Settings Using Zoom in Logic can be thought of as navigating up and down in levels of magnification. Each magnification level can be accessed with the Zoom sliders or a key command and saved for recall. These zoom steps can also be saved and recalled dynamically (similar to screensets) while you're working, allowing you to return to desired levels of magnification when necessary. Let's explore this technique when using basic zooming, by assigning a few key commands. 1. | Choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands to open the Key Commands window.
| 2. | In the search field, type zoom.
All commands that have zoom in the name are listed in the Command column.
Note the series of functions relating to saving and recalling zoom settings, labeled Save as Zoom 13 and Recall Zoom 13.
Once they're assigned, you will use these key-command-only functions to save and recall zoom "snapshots" of different levels of magnification.
| 3. | Choose •Save as Zoom 1 in the Command column.
| 4. | Click the Learn by Key Label button.
| 5. | Press Cmd-F1 to assign this function.
NOTE The function keys aren't assigned in the default key commands, and they work especially well for Zoom settings. | 6. | Choose •Save as Zoom 2 in the Command column.
| 7. | Press Cmd-F2 to assign this function.
| 8. | Choose •Save as Zoom 3 in the Command column.
| 9. | Press Cmd-F3 to assign this function.
Now that you have assigned keys to save zoom snapshots, let's assign related keys to recall them.
| 10. | Assign •Recall Zoom 1 through 3 to F1, F2, and F3, respectively.
NOTE While you're in the Key Commands window, check that you have the basic zoom commands assigned. If not, assign them to the keys of your choice. By default, these are set to the Ctrl-arrow keys. | 11. | Close the Key Commands window.
With this arrangement, the Command key works as a "memory" toggle, storing settings when used in conjunction with the function keys. When the keys are depressed without the modifier, they recall the last zoom level that was saved.
| 12. | Return to the beginning of the song, and select the Rhythm Guitar track (Track 1).
| 13. | Press Cmd-F1 to save this starting zoom level to the first memory location (Save as Zoom 1).
| 14. | Use the basic Zoom key commands (Ctrlright arrow and Ctrldown arrow) to zoom in four steps vertically and four steps horizontally (press each key combination four times).
The song zooms in a modest amount, showing the Audio Region in Track 1 in more detail.
 | 15. | Press Cmd-F2 to save to the second zoom memory location (Save as Zoom 2).
| 16. | Use the basic Zoom key commands again to zoom in four more steps vertically and four more steps horizontally (press each key combination four times).
| 17. | Press Cmd-F3 to save to the third zoom memory location (Save as Zoom 3).
You now have three different zoom settings with varying degrees of magnification memorized and ready for use.
| 18. | Try pressing F1 through F3 to test the different zoom snapshots.
These settings work effectively in conjunction with the zoom positioning techniques discussed earlier, allowing you to quickly view elements of the song at multiple magnification levels.
| 19. | Press F1 to return to the first zoom snapshot.
| 20. | Cmd-click the Verse 3 marker to locate to the beginning of the section.
| 21. | Press F1 through F3, recalling the zoom snapshots we set earlier.
The selected Region (Rhythm Guitar) zooms in, keeping the SPL position within the window.
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Zooming In on Objects Zooming in on specific Regions is useful when you need to focus on a particular element in a song. It provides a quick way to adapt the viewable work area to encompass the entire Region or Regions. There are several useful key commands for zooming in on Regions, including "Zoom to fit Selection vertically & horizontally, store Navigation Snapshot," which you assigned in Lesson 1 (see "Changing Key Assignments"). This function automatically employs the correct zoom settings to best fit your selection within the window. The command is also dynamic, using small zoom levels for large Regions and large zoom levels for small ones. Since this has already been assigned to a key combination (Ctrl-Z), let's give it a try within the song. 1. | Bring up Screenset 1 to return to our original view.
| 2. | Select the Maracas Region on Track 8.
| 3. | Press Shift-Z to activate the "Zoom to fit Selection vertically & horizontally, store Navigation Snapshot" command.
The screen adapts to fit the entire selected Region, justifying the selection to the top left corner of the work area.
 | 4. | Ctrl-click the background to return to the original zoom level.
| 5. | Select the Rhythm Guitar Region in Track 1.
| 6. | Press Shift-Z to activate the "Zoom to fit Selection vertically & horizontally, store Navigation Snapshot" command.
The work area adapts to fit the entire Region, shrinking the horizontal view while zooming in vertically.
 A similar zooming effect can be achieved based on locators rather than Objects. You need to assign a key command to utilize this.
| 7. | Choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands to open the Key Commands window.
The search field should still have zoom typed in it, with the Command list displaying all commands with zoom in the name.
| 8. | Choose "Zoom to fit Locators, Store Navigation Snapshot" in the Command list.
| 9. | Click the Learn by Key Label button.
| 10. | Press Ctrl-Shift-Z to assign this function.
| 11. | Close the Key Commands window.
Remember how the locators automatically changed to fit the marker when you used the Goto Next/Previous marker commands? You can use this in conjunction with the key command you just set, adapting the view to only display the selected section.
| 12. | Use the Goto Next/Previous marker commands to locate to the Intro marker.
| 13. | Press Ctrl-Shift-Z.
The work area adapts horizontally to fit the entire Intro section in the window.
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Magnifying the Waveform Without Zooming the Region Audio is displayed in the Arrange window as waveforms that are constantly being redrawn for every zoom level, all the way to single sample resolution. When signal level is low, the waveform displayed is quite small and can be difficult to edit. A good example of this would be the Rhythm Guitar Region at measure 4. A small waveform is barely visible.  To fix this, the waveform can be zoomed vertically independent of the Region, allowing precise edits. Like other zoom functions you have explored in this lesson, these specialized zoom functions can be accessed only via key commands. 1. | Choose Logic Pro > Preferences > Key Commands to open the Key Commands window.
The search field should still have zoom typed in it, with the Command list displaying all commands with zoom in the name.
| 2. | In the Command list, choose "Waveform vertical zoom out" (under the Arrange Window heading).
| 3. | Click the Learn by Key Label button.
| 4. | Press CtrlShiftdown arrow to assign this function.
| 5. | In the Command list choose "Waveform vertical zoom in."
| 6. | Press CtrlShiftup arrow to assign this function.
| 7. | Close the Key Commands window.
| 8. | Press CtrlShiftup arrow repeatedly until the small waveform in the Rhythm Guitar Region becomes easily viewable.
The waveform itself becomes magnified, while the Region size stays the same.
 This makes the waveform much easier to edit without changing the viewable area.
| 9. | Bring up Screenset 1 to return to the original view.
The waveform retains its magnification value.
The waveform vertical zoom is independent of the screenset or zoom level. This is especially helpful when working with low-signal passages, where you might want the waveform continually displayed in a magnified state. This can, of course, be changed at any time using the "Waveform vertical zoom out" command.
| 10. | Press CtrlShiftdown arrow until the waveform returns to its normal display magnification (keep pressing until it no longer has an effect).
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