The internet is a vast source of third-party custom icons. Do a search for
‘music icons’ or similar and see what you can find!
Step-by-step Creating Custom Track icons
1
Source image
For best results, images used as custom
track icons should have a transparent
background so the grey of the track header
surrounds them. First, find your source image.
2
Open Pages
We’re using a photo of a hardware device
that we’ve taken specially for the job. To make
it transparent, open up Pages and copy and
paste the image file into an empty document.
3
Alpha male
Go to Format>Image and choose Instant
Alpha. This is a tool that easily removes the
background from an image, as long as it’s
mostly one colour, as it is here.
4
It’s a drag
Position the cursor over an area of the
background colour you want to remove, then
click and drag outwards until all the unwanted
area is highlighted blue.
7
Icon do it
In Logic, Control-click on the track icon
you want to change. This will open up the
Track Icon selector palette. In the list on the left,
click the Custom Icons tab.
5
Edited highlights
You can continue to add to the selection
by clicking and dragging multiple areas until all
the unwanted background area is highlighted.
Click ‘Done’ when ready.
8
Fast paste
Hit the Command-V keyboard shortcut to
paste the edited image into the window. This
not only adds it to the palette but also changes
the track icon to the new image.
6
Copy that
With the now transparent image selected
in Pages, go to Edit>Copy, or press the
Command-C keyboard shortcut, to copy the
pic to your computer’s clipboard.
9
Library storage
User-created icons are saved in User>
Library>Application Support>Logic>Custom
Icons. If you export a project, custom icons
may be replaced by stock versions.