Live Set Preparation: Organising ‘Lose My Hope’ in Logic Pro

Today I finished planning my second live set song, ‘Lose My Hope’, and tackled the live set preparation process in Logic Pro. I focused on balancing the elements I’ll perform live, triggering audio files, and streamlining the setup to ensure a polished and entertaining performance. Here’s how I approached it.

Choosing What to Play Live vs Triggering Audio

When preparing a live set, I want to keep the performance simple and effective rather than overly complex and messy. I revisited the original Logic Pro project, listened to all the elements, and selected the ones I’d play live on a MIDI keyboard (piano, bass, synth) and those that would be triggered during the performance (drum kits, sound FX, some backing vocals).

I chose fun sound effects that are easy to trigger but visually engaging, ensuring the performance remains entertaining.
Guitar elements were left out as they don’t translate well to a MIDI keyboard.

Original Logic Project with chosen live elements selected in purple — Original project - purple sections are the chosen elements to play live

Splitting and Importing Audio Files

For the elements I wanted to trigger live, I broke the audio files into song sections like verse, chorus, and bridge. Some sections were further split into smaller parts to give me more control over timing when triggering the audio in Logic Pro’s Live Loops view.

I bounced out the groups of instruments (minus the live-played elements) and imported them into my live set project.
I moved the files to the Live Loops page as a series of scenes, each representing a different section of the song.

Logic Pro Live Loops view of audio files broken down into song sections placed into scenes — Live Loops view of audio files broken down into song sections

Triggering Elements with Drum Kit Designer

To trigger specific elements like drum kits, sound FX, and backing vocals, I exported their individual audio files and added them into Logic Pro’s Drum Kit Designer. This allows me to trigger these elements during the performance using a MIDI pad or controller.

I haven’t finalised the exact mapping yet—today’s session was about adding everything into the layout. In a future session, I’ll experiment with different mappings to find what works best.

Logic Pro's drum kit designer interface showing each trigger sample on a different drum pad — Trigger elements imported into Drum Kit Designer

Setting Up Instruments for Live Performance

For the elements I’ll play on the MIDI keyboard (piano, bass, and synth), I used Logic Pro’s channel strip settings to streamline the process:

I saved the channel strip settings for each instrument in a folder.
These were easily imported into the live set project, saving time and ensuring consistent sounds.

Logic Pro's folder system for saving channel strip settings — Logic's saved channel strip settings

While working on this, I also discovered Logic’s ‘Performance’ feature, which allows quick switching between instruments using a MIDI program change message. My current controller doesn’t support program changes, but this feature could simplify live set preparation in the future by reducing the number of channel strips needed. For example:

I could have just 4 channel strips for the entire live set and use program changes to switch between instruments for each song, reducing the need for controller assignment mode changes.

Reflections on Live Set Preparation

This session was all about creating a clean, effective setup for ‘Lose My Hope’. By carefully balancing live playing with triggered audio elements, I’m ensuring the performance will look and sound polished without overcomplicating things. My focus on Logic Pro live loops setup and MIDI keyboard live performance has helped create a flexible workflow I can build on for future songs.

Next steps include refining the layout, experimenting with mapping, and exploring the ‘Performance’ feature to streamline the setup further.