Set up the Mac

The Mac app

The Mac app is the part that talks to Logic. It keeps the band’s setlists, pairs the phones and sends Logic its MIDI notes. It runs on Intel and Apple silicon Macs with macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Install

1. Download the zip from the download page and double-click it to unpack it.

2. Drag Setlist Remote into Applications.

3. Open it. macOS may say the app can’t be opened because it’s from an unidentified developer. If it does, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway.

   If macOS instead says the app is damaged, open Terminal and run this once, then open the app again:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Setlist Remote.app"

   That removes the “downloaded from the internet” flag macOS adds to the file.

4. When macOS asks whether Setlist Remote can find devices on your Local Network, click Allow. That’s how phones find the Mac.

The app now lives in the menu bar as a ▶︎ in a circle.

What’s in the menu

• Which phones are connected, and whether Logic is open.
• Show pairing code… opens a window with two QR codes: one for the app, and one for phones using the browser.
• Paired phones, each with Remove.
• Open Logic or Bring Logic to the front, Fix Logic, and the default project that Open Logic uses.
• Keep Mac awake while running (on by default) and Open at login.
• Show logs, for when something goes wrong at a gig.

Let it fix Logic

To read and answer Logic’s dialogs, macOS needs you to allow it once:

1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility.
2. Turn on Setlist Remote. If it isn’t listed, click + and choose it from Applications.
3. The first time, macOS may also ask whether Setlist Remote can control System Events. Click Allow.

Until then the phones say the Mac needs permission to fix Logic, and the menu has a shortcut to the right page in Settings. Everything else works without it.

Updating

Download the new zip and replace the app in Applications. Your setlists and paired phones are kept. If macOS asks about the app again, repeat step 3 above.

Moving to another Mac

Each Mac keeps its own setlists and paired phones. To bring the setlists across, quit Setlist Remote on both Macs, then copy this file from the old Mac to the same place on the new one:

~/Library/Application Support/Setlist Remote/data.json

Then pair each phone with the new Mac, and teach Logic the controls on that Mac too.

Logic Pro

You do this once per Mac. It takes about ten minutes, and you’ll need a paired phone for the Teach Logic screen (see the Android or browser guide).

How it works

The Mac app creates a virtual MIDI input called Setlist Remote. Each button on a phone sends one MIDI note on channel 16, and Logic’s Controller Assignments turn each note into a key command. Logic responds even when it isn’t the frontmost app.

Tapping a song sends Stop, then its marker, then Play if the song is set to auto-play.

Logic only has “Go to Marker Number” key commands for markers 1 to 20, so one backing-track project can hold up to 20 songs.

Steps

1. Make sure Setlist Remote is running in the menu bar.
2. Open your backing-track project in Logic.
3. Open Logic Pro › Control Surfaces › Controller Assignments… and switch to Expert View.
4. For each row in the table:
   1. Select or create a zone and mode, for example zone “Setlist Remote”, mode “Transport”.
   2. Turn on Learn Mode (⌘L), then choose the command in the Key Commands browser, for example “Go to Marker Number 1”.
   3. Send that one note. On a phone, open Mac connection › Teach Logic the controls and tap that command’s Send button.
   4. Turn Learn Mode off.
5. Check the input port is Setlist Remote, the channel is 16, and the value is Note, not CC.
6. Save the project.

Don’t teach Logic by tapping songs. A tap sends Stop and the marker together, and Learn Mode records both as one combined trigger. That trigger never matches in normal use, so the jump does nothing. If it’s happened, Expert View shows two messages in that assignment’s input. Delete them and teach it again from the Teach Logic screen.

Check it works

• Click another app on the Mac, or let a notification appear, then press Play on a phone. Logic should still play.
• Close Logic, then press Open Logic on a phone. It should open, along with the default project if you’ve set one in the menu.

Point songs at markers

In your project, put a marker at the start of each song, numbered in any order you like. On a phone, add each song to a setlist and pick its marker number. The setlist order and the marker order don’t need to match: that’s the point.

Gig checklist

At home, once

• Give the Mac a fixed address on the band’s router. In the router’s settings this is usually called a DHCP reservation. Phones then always find the Mac at the same place.
• Set Open at login in the Setlist Remote menu, and set the default project so Open Logic opens the right show.
• Allow Accessibility for Setlist Remote, so it can clear Logic’s dialogs.

At the venue

1. Mac and phones on the band’s router, not the venue’s Wi-Fi.
2. Setlist Remote running on the Mac, and the backing-track project open in Logic. A phone can do the second part with Open Logic.
3. On each phone, open the night’s setlist and switch to Perform.
4. Tap the first song and check Logic jumps to it before the doors open.
5. Playing from an Apple Watch? Open Setlist Remote on the watch and set it to stay on screen for the set (see keep it on screen during a gig).

If something goes wrong mid-set

• Logic doesn’t respond. Tap Fix Logic in Perform mode. It opens Logic if it’s closed, clears what it can and brings it to the front.
• A red banner appears. Logic is showing a dialog. Read it and tap the button you want.
• A phone shows “Connecting to the Mac…”. Check it’s on the band’s Wi-Fi. Any other phone can keep the show going meanwhile.
• Afterwards, Show logs in the menu has the details of what happened.