Built a grid overlay for Logic Pro after getting tired of waiting for Apple

[first_crack_audio_lab]

Long time lurker, first time poster

I've used Logic Pro as my primary DAW for 15 years and the lack of a grid displayed over audio regions drives me crazy. I hate working in Pro Tools but every time I have to use it, I come back to Logic missing the grid. I have no idea why Apple won't implement one, and I finally stopped waiting and taught myself to code in Swift (I have a background in coding just not for Mac).

It turned out to be a really challenging undertaking, because of course Logic's code is locked up tight and about all you can grab from it is it's AX tree. And on top of that, it turns out zoom level is completely dynamic project to project based on the tempo and number of bars, and the placement of the playhead. The only option was to analyze the ruler visually...but the ruler can have a cycle region (active or inactive), region markers, numbers all over the place...

The first version of "LogicGrid" I completed was basically a proof of concept, a full grid drawn over the tracks area that proved it was possible but wasn't particularly useful in practice. You'd turn it on, think "ok cool but this hurts my eyes" and turn it off. I actually began to appreciate how uncluttered Logic looks compared to other DAWs, once I saw it with a full grid drawn over the tracks.

The beta testing group is what made this into something worth actually using. I gathered a group of 30 logic users from all over the world from Reddit, and they began telling me how they actually wanted to work with a grid in Logic. It turns out, people use Logic for a lot of different things! I mostly use mine for producing and tracking live instruments, so I made a lot of assumptions that proved false. By the end, we had:

Four display modes: Full Grid, Spotlight Vertical Band, Spotlight Circle, and Selected Tracks Only
Scrub line that follows your mouse independently from the grid
Customizable colors, Opacity, and subdivision density
Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Little video preview here:

The absolute floor for stability ended up being macOS 14 and Logic Pro 11. There are some small limitations (LP Colorizer is a big no no) and full screen mode probably won't ever be supported, but overall this has been a really rewarding experience, I've created a tool I'm using every day, and I'm excited to finally be sharing it with everyone and to keep developing it.

Happy to answer anything!