User guide

Chapter 4 Setting Up Your System 85
Hard Drives and Storage Locations
Music production generates a huge number of large files. These include samples for
audio instruments, loop libraries, audio recordings, video files, and more.
Consider buying a separate, large capacity hard drive (or several) for your audio files
and sample libraries.
You should also look at a reliable, high-capacity backup system, and should automate
your backup routine, preferably as a daily occurrence.
Audio and MIDI Interfaces
An audio interface is required—to get sound signals into, and out of, your computer. A
MIDI interface is required for MIDI input and output signals.
When using optional audio and MIDI interfaces, you should install their drivers before
starting Logic Express. This will allow Logic Express to find and use these devices at
startup.
Audio interfaces should be supported by a Core Audio driver and MIDI interfaces
should be supported by a Core MIDI driver. Check with the manufacturer of your
equipment for details on Mac OS X support.
Audio Interface
When an analog audio signal arrives at the inputs of your audio interface, it must be
converted into digital information before the computer can deal with it. This process is
called analog to digital conversion and is handled by the analog to digital converter of
the audio interface.
There are countless optional audio interfaces available, and at least as many ways that
they can be set up and used with Logic Express and external audio gear. Given the
differing requirements and working methods of people across the world, there is no
one size fits all audio interface solution. In the simplest scenario, you would use the
internal audio interface of your computer to monitor and record audio.
When choosing an audio interface, ensure that it is certified to run on Macintosh
hardware. If the device requires a driver, check that it is compatible with the Mac OS X
version required by Logic Express.
Logic Express supports input from digital audio interfaces up to a maximum sample
rate of 192 kHz, and a maximum bit depth of 24 bits.
Full details on setting up your audio interface hardware, including information on
optimizations, drivers, and more can be found in “Configuring Your Audio Hardware” on
page 99, and the topic areas that follow this section.