Guide · Logic Pro

How to get MIDI from audio in Logic Pro

Beatloo · 5 min read · All articles

Logic Pro can turn audio into MIDI in several ways, but each one works only for a certain kind of audio: a single melody, a drum hit or the chords of a song.

This guide shows which tool to use for which audio, step by step, as in Logic Pro 12. And what to do when you need every note of a chord or a whole mix, which Logic cannot do on its own.

Which method for which audio

Your audio	Use
A vocal, a bass line, a lead synth: one note at a time	Flex Pitch
A kick, a snare or a tom on its own track	Replace or Double Drum Track
The chord changes of a song	Chord ID
A full mix you want one part from	Stem Splitter, then one of the above
Piano, guitar or pads with every note of every chord	Beatloo Audio to MIDI

A melody or a bass line: Flex Pitch

Flex Pitch finds the pitch of every note in an audio region, and Logic can write those notes into a new MIDI track.

01Open the editorDouble-click the audio region to open the Audio Track Editor.

02Turn on Flex PitchClick the Show/Hide Flex button, then choose Flex Pitch in the Flex Mode pop-up menu.

03Fix wrong notesDrag any note that landed on the wrong pitch to the right one. It is easier to fix here than in MIDI later.

04Create the MIDIIn the Audio Track Editor’s own menu bar, choose Edit › Create MIDI Track from Flex Pitch Data.

Figure 1. Flex Pitch to MIDI in four steps.

Logic adds a software instrument track under the audio track, with a MIDI region for each audio region.

The limit: Flex Pitch follows one note at a time. Apple says it works best with monophonic material and that chords can be read wrong. A vocal, a bass line or a whistled idea converts well; a piano or a strummed guitar does not.

Drums: Replace or Double Drum Track

This tool turns the hits of one drum into MIDI notes that trigger a sample.

Select a track with a single drum, like the kick, and choose Track › Replace or Double Drum Track.
In the window that opens, choose the instrument: kick, snare or tom.
Move the Relative Threshold until every real hit is marked and nothing else is.

Logic creates a software instrument track with Sampler and a MIDI region with a note for every hit. Swap the sample, or keep only the MIDI. It is made for one drum per track, so a whole kit on one track gives mixed results.

Another way: Control-click a drum region and choose Convert › Convert to new Sampler Track, with zones made from transient markers. You get a Sampler track whose MIDI region triggers each slice.

Chords: Chord ID

Logic Pro 12 can find the chords in an audio region. Drag the region onto the Chord track, or Control-click it and choose Chords › Analyze Chords. Chords › Apply Region Chords to Chord Track writes the result to the Chord track.

There is no direct command that turns those chords into MIDI. A Keyboard or Bass Session Player follows the Chord track, and Control-click › Convert › Convert to MIDI Region turns its region into ordinary MIDI.

Keep in mind what you get: the Session Player’s own performance of the detected chords, not the notes the original pianist or guitarist played.

Isolate a part first: Stem Splitter

All the tools above work best on a clean part. If the part you want is inside a full mix, split it first: Control-click the region and choose Processing › Stem Splitter.

Logic separates vocals, drums, bass and other, and since Logic Pro 11.2 also guitar and piano. Stem Splitter needs a Mac with Apple silicon. Then convert the vocal or bass stem with Flex Pitch, as above.

Every note of chords and full mixes

Logic has no built-in way to turn polyphonic audio, like a piano part, a strummed guitar or pads, into MIDI note for note. Flex Pitch reads one note at a time, and Chord ID gives chord names, not the voicings that were played.

This is what Beatloo Audio to MIDI is for. It is free and works in the browser:

01Bounce the audioExport the part you want as a WAV, or use the MP3 you have. Up to 10 minutes.

02Drop it inBeatloo finds every note, including each note of a chord, plus the tempo and the key.

03Check and downloadCompare the MIDI with the audio, quantize it if you want, and download the .mid file.

04Back to LogicDrag the .mid file onto a software instrument track.

Figure 2. Chords and full parts to MIDI with Beatloo.

How the model behind it was trained, and how it compares with Spotify’s Basic Pitch, is in our article about the MIDI extractor.

Tips for cleaner MIDI

One instrument at a time. Every method gets better when the part is alone, so split the mix first.
Dry beats wet. Long reverb and delay add notes that were never played. Convert the dry recording if you have it.
Set the tempo first. Match the project tempo to the audio, with Smart Tempo for example, so the MIDI lines up with the bars.
Check the octaves. A common mistake is a ghost note an octave above or below the real one. Delete it in the Piano Roll.
Quantize last. Keep the timing as played until the notes are right, then quantize as much as the style needs.

Need sounds for the new MIDI? Beatloo has loops and one-shots you can search by key and tempo.

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