How to Use Babya Logic Pro
Babya Logic Pro is a free, easy-to-use MIDI composition program. Users paint notes on a grid, creating multi-track compositions without the need to read musical notation. Multiple instruments are available, including a good selection of percussion instruments. While the program does have some limitations (for instance, you need to use multiple tracks to compose a chord on a single instrument) it does provide an intuitive introduction to digital music composition -- and the price is certainly right.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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1
Open Babya Logic Pro by double-clicking on its icon on the desktop. You'll see a grid divided horizontally by four-beat measures and vertically by notes of the musical scale.
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2
Select a track to edit by clicking its number at the top of the screen. Select an instrument by dropping down the Instruments menu and clicking on an instrument name.
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3
Compose a note by clicking in one of the measures, in the row of a note you'd like to play. For instance, if you want your first note to be middle C, click on the row marked "C4." You'll hear the instrument you selected play a quarter note (one beat). To substitute a different note, click the same place in the measure, but at a higher or lower row.
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4
Make a two-beat half note by clicking in a measure and dragging the color bar across two boxes in the row. Dragging across all four boxes in a measure produces a whole note. You can create more sustained notes by dragging the color bar across several measures.
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5
Delete any note by right-clicking on it.
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Play your composition at any point by clicking on the green arrow button at the top left of the screen.
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7
Add simultaneous notes by selecting a different track number. The notes you draw for that track will be color coded for that track. You can add notes from the same instrument or different instruments.
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Add percussion by selecting a percussion instrument and painting notes anywhere on the grid.
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1
Tips & Warnings
You can speed the tempo of your playback by sliding the "Tempo" slighter to the right; the number below the slider indicates the beats per minute.
You can transpose your entire composition by clicking the up and down arrow keys under the word "Transpose." Each click raises or lowers all the notes in the composition by a half-step.
Babya Logic Pro also includes a virtual programmable synthesizer that lets you create your own instruments. You can find it under the Extra menu by clicking "Synths."
The notes on the side of the grid cover 10 full octaves, but not all instruments are programmed to play at all octives. A grand piano note at C1, for instance, will sound like meaningless noise.
Babya Logic Pro saves only to its own proprietary file structure and allows compositions to be exported only as MIDI files. To burn your composition to a CD or hear it on your iPod, you'll need to load the MIDI file into a program that can convert it to MP3.
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- Photo Credit listening to music. image by Anna Chelnokova from Fotolia.com
