Customize the Logic Pro for Mac control bar

The control bar offers a default set of buttons and other controls, providing commonly used options. In the center of the control bar is the LCD, which shows the playhead position and the project tempo, key, and time signature.

When Enable Complete Features is selected in Logic Pro > Settings > Advanced, you can customize the control bar in the following ways:

You can show or hide the entire control bar to maximize the amount of available space in the main window.
You can show or hide individual buttons and other controls in the control bar.
You can open one or more giant beats display or giant time display as a floating window.
You can change it to show SMPTE time with or without SMPTE view offset.
You can customize the time, tempo, and clock format in View settings.

Open a giant beats display or giant time display

In Logic Pro, do one of the following:

To open a giant beats display: Click the triangle on the right side of the LCD, then choose Open Giant Beats Display from the pop-up menu.
To open a giant time display: Click the triangle on the right side of the LCD, then choose Open Giant Time Display from the pop-up menu.

You can open multiple giant beats and time display windows, and resize and reposition each one independently.

Turn the Use SMPTE View Offset setting on or off

You can set a SMPTE offset for the project. As songs don’t always need to start precisely at bar 1, you can select any bar position to be played at the set SMPTE time.

In Logic Pro, click the triangle on the right side of the LCD, then choose Use SMPTE View Offset from the pop-up menu.

Change the time, tempo, and clock format

Choose Logic Pro > Settings > View > General (or use the Open View Settings key command).
Choose one of the following settings in the Display Time as pop-up menu:
- With Bits: Subframes (SMPTE bits 0 to 79) are shown.
- Without Bits: Subframes are not shown.
- With Quarter Frames: Quarter frames are shown.
- As Feet Frames, 35 mm film: The display is displayed in feet and frames, for 35mm film.
- As Feet Frames, 16 mm film: The display is displayed in feet and frames, for 16mm film.
- With Milliseconds: The frame fractions are displayed in milliseconds instead of SMPTE bits (also called subframes). Remember that this value is dependent on the frame rate: at 25 fps, a frame is 40 milliseconds long, at 30 fps, approximately 33 ms.
- With Samples: Frame fractions are shown as sample values.
- With Frames and Samples: Both fractional frame and sample values are shown.
Select the “Zeros as spaces” checkbox if you want zero values to appear as blank spaces, rather than the number 0 in SMPTE time displays.
Choose one of the following settings in the Display Tempo as pop-up menu:
- Beats Per Minute (BPM, Maelzel): Beats per minute, to four individually adjustable decimal places.
- BPM without Decimals: Beats per minute, with no decimal places.
- Frames Per Click with Eighths: Frames per beat with eighths. After the value, you will see fpc.
- Frames Per Click with Decimals: Frames per beat, to four decimal places. Take care, as this display can easily be confused with the bpm display.
Choose a clock format from the Clock Format pop-up menu.

Change the controls on the control bar

In Logic Pro, Control-click the control bar, then choose Customize Control Bar and Display from the menu.
Add or remove a control by selecting its checkbox in the dialog.
Do one of the following:
- Click the Apply Defaults button to return to the default control layout.
- Click the Save As Default button to save your current layout as the default, which is then applied whenever you create an empty new project or open a new main window.
- Click the Revert button to return to previous control layout.

Download the guides:

Logic Pro User Guide: PDF

Logic Pro Instruments: PDF

Logic Pro Effects: PDF

Control Surfaces Support Guide: PDF

Helpful?

Logic Pro User Guide for Mac

Customize the Logic Pro for Mac control bar

Open a giant beats display or giant time display

Turn the Use SMPTE View Offset setting on or off

Change the time, tempo, and clock format

Change the controls on the control bar