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.