Apple Logic Studio Music Production Software (Macintosh)
No longer available at zZounds
With over 200 new features and enhancements, the new Logic Studio delivers everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac.
Overview
New in Logic Studio 9
For guitar players, live performers, and all musicians who record, edit, and mix their own music, the new Logic Studio is a huge leap forward. Advanced production tools take the work out of editing timing and tempo. An expansive collection of vintage and modern amps, cabinets, and stompboxes make you sound like you're playing through legendary gear. And new live performance plug-ins let you record loops and trigger backing tracks when you're on stage.
With over 200 new features and enhancements, the new Logic Studio delivers everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac. The center of Logic Studio is Logic Pro 9, which makes it easier than ever to create your own compositions. Produce and play nearly any sound imaginable with a huge collection of effects, instruments, and loops, including the new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins. Use MainStage 2 to perform live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds you used to make your tracks. Logic Studio also comes with applications and utilities that expand your creative options into audio post-production and mastering, including Soundtrack Pro 3, WaveBurner 1.6, and more.
Features
- Everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac
- Logic Pro 9 for do-it-yourself musicians to write, edit, record, and mix their own compositions
- More than 80 studio-quality effect plug-ins, including vintage and modern compressors, delays, reverbs, and more
- New… read more Amp Designer to help you re-create the sound of 25 legendary amps and 25 speaker cabinets
- New Pedalboard with an assortment of 30 virtual stompbox pedals inspired by the classics
- 20,000 royalty-free Apple Loops from all the Jam Pack collections
- MainStage 2 for performing live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds from Logic Pro 9
- Soundtrack Pro 3, a streamlined audio post-production application for film and video
Flex Time
Flex Time is a new collection of features that lets you manipulate timing and tempo quickly and creatively. Experience editing without all the cutting.
Flex Tool
The new Flex Tool lets you push audio around with your mouse by clicking and dragging anywhere on the waveform -- forget all that tedious splicing and editing.
Audio Quantize
It's not just for MIDI anymore. Now you can conform the timing of an audio region to a musical grid, or to the feel of another track, instantly correcting a performance.
Editing drum tracks
Use Slicing Mode with drums and you won't compromise a single attack. Edit across a set of grouped multitrack drums and everything stays locked perfectly in phase.
Varispeed
Slow down or speed up an entire multitrack project effortlessly, whether you want to try out different tempos or take it slow while you play a difficult solo.
Flex Modes
Whether you're editing a solo vocal, a rhythm guitar, or multitrack drums, Flex Time has a mode designed to give you the best results.
Speed Fades
Get creative by adding turntable-style starts or stops with the kind of precision that would impress even the best DJs.
Tempo Import/Export
Now the audio you import can automatically conform to the tempo of a project you're working on. (And the other way around.)
Production Tools
New production tools allow musicians to tackle any part of the recording, editing, and mixing process they want -- and get it done in a fraction of the time.
Selective Track Import
To transfer setups and track content between projects, simply select the individual components you want to import on a track-by-track basis.
Expanded take folder editing
Logic Pro 9 gives you access to your important edit tools and Flex Time features -- right alongside Quick Swipe comping.
Drum Replacer
Now you can replace or double less-than-perfect drum tracks with triggered samples in just a few clicks. No more headaches. No more hassles.
Convert to Sampler Track
In one step, turn an audio region into a sampler instrument with a MIDI track to trigger it. Then you can modify and resequence the part.
Bounce-in-Place
The new Bounce-in-Place feature makes effects rendering much quicker and easier, whether you're bouncing a single region or an entire track.
Notation and chord grids
Create guitar tablature or detailed scores using a library of more than 4000 chord grids (or your own custom grids) and new ornaments for hammer-ons, bends, and more.
Jam Pack: Voices
Build your song with a lead vocal, rappers, backup singers, an entire choir, or even software instruments based on the human voice and body.
Warped Effects for Space Designer
More than 450 warped impulse responses radically transform what Space Designer can do, allowing you to give ordinary sounds a bizarre, other-worldly quality.
Guitar Gear
Now you can mix and match amp heads, EQs, reverbs, speaker cabinets and mics--then creatively route your signal through an impressive new collection of stompboxes.
Amp Designer
Build your dream rig by mixing and matching 25 amps, 25 speaker cabinets, and 3 mics you can position freely around the speaker cone.
Pedalboard
Fire up 30 stompboxes that deliver lush effects like Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, Treble Boost, and Wah.
Classic tones
Hundreds of presets give you Amp Designer and Pedalboard sounds that are ready to go. Start exploring with classic tones, genres, or characteristics like clean, crunch, and distorted.
Apogee GiO support
This new USB audio interface and control device lets you operate Pedalboard hands-free and works with Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 right out of the box.
Live Performance
MainStage 2 lets you hit the stage with all the same instruments and effects you used on your recording, and adds a backing track player and live loop recorder.
Playback
With this new plug-in, your Mac becomes a flexible, reliable backing track player. Fill out your sound with a simple stereo track or a set of separate, mixable stems.
Loopback
This live loop recorder lets you create spontaneous arrangements onstage. And it's instantly familiar, since it's modeled after the tape-based devices you know and love.
Multimapping of controls
Set things up so that one knob controls multiple plug-in parameters. Then you can dramatically change your sound with the turn of a single knob.
Grouped controls
Drag and drop entire sets of knobs, dials, faders, meters, and more into your layout. From there, you can easily customize the type, size, and color.
Full ReWire support
Run MainStage with applications like Reason and Live. Trigger and sequence your instruments from MainStage, and route your signals straight into the mixer.
Record performances
Route your audio to a designated stereo output and choose from all the standard file formats, including Apple CAF for concerts of almost any length. read less
For guitar players, live performers, and all musicians who record, edit, and mix their own music, the new Logic Studio is a huge leap forward. Advanced production tools take the work out of editing timing and tempo. An expansive collection of vintage and modern amps, cabinets, and stompboxes make you sound like you're playing through legendary gear. And new live performance plug-ins let you record loops and trigger backing tracks when you're on stage.
With over 200 new features and enhancements, the new Logic Studio delivers everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac. The center of Logic Studio is Logic Pro 9, which makes it easier than ever to create your own compositions. Produce and play nearly any sound imaginable with a huge collection of effects, instruments, and loops, including the new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins. Use MainStage 2 to perform live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds you used to make your tracks. Logic Studio also comes with applications and utilities that expand your creative options into audio post-production and mastering, including Soundtrack Pro 3, WaveBurner 1.6, and more.
Features
- Everything musicians need to write, record, produce, and perform on a Mac
- Logic Pro 9 for do-it-yourself musicians to write, edit, record, and mix their own compositions
- More than 80 studio-quality effect plug-ins, including vintage and modern compressors, delays, reverbs, and more
- New… read more Amp Designer to help you re-create the sound of 25 legendary amps and 25 speaker cabinets
- New Pedalboard with an assortment of 30 virtual stompbox pedals inspired by the classics
- 20,000 royalty-free Apple Loops from all the Jam Pack collections
- MainStage 2 for performing live with the instruments, amps, effects, and sounds from Logic Pro 9
- Soundtrack Pro 3, a streamlined audio post-production application for film and video
Flex Time
Flex Time is a new collection of features that lets you manipulate timing and tempo quickly and creatively. Experience editing without all the cutting.
Flex Tool
The new Flex Tool lets you push audio around with your mouse by clicking and dragging anywhere on the waveform -- forget all that tedious splicing and editing.
Audio Quantize
It's not just for MIDI anymore. Now you can conform the timing of an audio region to a musical grid, or to the feel of another track, instantly correcting a performance.
Editing drum tracks
Use Slicing Mode with drums and you won't compromise a single attack. Edit across a set of grouped multitrack drums and everything stays locked perfectly in phase.
Varispeed
Slow down or speed up an entire multitrack project effortlessly, whether you want to try out different tempos or take it slow while you play a difficult solo.
Flex Modes
Whether you're editing a solo vocal, a rhythm guitar, or multitrack drums, Flex Time has a mode designed to give you the best results.
Speed Fades
Get creative by adding turntable-style starts or stops with the kind of precision that would impress even the best DJs.
Tempo Import/Export
Now the audio you import can automatically conform to the tempo of a project you're working on. (And the other way around.)
Production Tools
New production tools allow musicians to tackle any part of the recording, editing, and mixing process they want -- and get it done in a fraction of the time.
Selective Track Import
To transfer setups and track content between projects, simply select the individual components you want to import on a track-by-track basis.
Expanded take folder editing
Logic Pro 9 gives you access to your important edit tools and Flex Time features -- right alongside Quick Swipe comping.
Drum Replacer
Now you can replace or double less-than-perfect drum tracks with triggered samples in just a few clicks. No more headaches. No more hassles.
Convert to Sampler Track
In one step, turn an audio region into a sampler instrument with a MIDI track to trigger it. Then you can modify and resequence the part.
Bounce-in-Place
The new Bounce-in-Place feature makes effects rendering much quicker and easier, whether you're bouncing a single region or an entire track.
Notation and chord grids
Create guitar tablature or detailed scores using a library of more than 4000 chord grids (or your own custom grids) and new ornaments for hammer-ons, bends, and more.
Jam Pack: Voices
Build your song with a lead vocal, rappers, backup singers, an entire choir, or even software instruments based on the human voice and body.
Warped Effects for Space Designer
More than 450 warped impulse responses radically transform what Space Designer can do, allowing you to give ordinary sounds a bizarre, other-worldly quality.
Guitar Gear
Now you can mix and match amp heads, EQs, reverbs, speaker cabinets and mics--then creatively route your signal through an impressive new collection of stompboxes.
Amp Designer
Build your dream rig by mixing and matching 25 amps, 25 speaker cabinets, and 3 mics you can position freely around the speaker cone.
Pedalboard
Fire up 30 stompboxes that deliver lush effects like Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, Treble Boost, and Wah.
Classic tones
Hundreds of presets give you Amp Designer and Pedalboard sounds that are ready to go. Start exploring with classic tones, genres, or characteristics like clean, crunch, and distorted.
Apogee GiO support
This new USB audio interface and control device lets you operate Pedalboard hands-free and works with Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 right out of the box.
Live Performance
MainStage 2 lets you hit the stage with all the same instruments and effects you used on your recording, and adds a backing track player and live loop recorder.
Playback
With this new plug-in, your Mac becomes a flexible, reliable backing track player. Fill out your sound with a simple stereo track or a set of separate, mixable stems.
Loopback
This live loop recorder lets you create spontaneous arrangements onstage. And it's instantly familiar, since it's modeled after the tape-based devices you know and love.
Multimapping of controls
Set things up so that one knob controls multiple plug-in parameters. Then you can dramatically change your sound with the turn of a single knob.
Grouped controls
Drag and drop entire sets of knobs, dials, faders, meters, and more into your layout. From there, you can easily customize the type, size, and color.
Full ReWire support
Run MainStage with applications like Reason and Live. Trigger and sequence your instruments from MainStage, and route your signals straight into the mixer.
Record performances
Route your audio to a designated stereo output and choose from all the standard file formats, including Apple CAF for concerts of almost any length. read less
Specs
Minimum requirements to install all applications
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of RAM (2GB or more highly recommended)
Display with 1280-by-800 or higher resolution
Mac OS X v10.5.7 or later
QuickTime 7.6 or later
DVD drive for installation
PCI Express, ExpressCard/34, USB, or FireWire-based audio interface recommended
Additional recommendations for Logic Pro 9
At least 2GB of RAM for large EXS instruments
USB musical keyboard (or suitable MIDI keyboard and interface) for instruments
Logic Node requires a Mac computer with an Intel Core processor
Available disk space:
9GB to install all applications and required content
Additional 38GB to install all optional content (large content packages can be installed on separate disk):
- 10GB for Jam Pack collections
- 16GB for sound effects
- 6GB for surround music beds
- 6GB for other optional content
Contents
DVD containing Logic Pro 9, MainStage 2, Soundtrack Pro 3, Studio Instruments, Studio Effects, WaveBurner 1.6, Compressor 3.5, Impulse Response Utility, Apple Loops Utility, QuickTime 7 Pro, and required contents
Six content DVDs containing Jam Pack collections, sound effects, surround music beds, EXS24 samples, and impulse response files
Demo Content DVD
Printed and electronic documentation
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of RAM (2GB or more highly recommended)
Display with 1280-by-800 or higher resolution
Mac OS X v10.5.7 or later
QuickTime 7.6 or later
DVD drive for installation
PCI Express, ExpressCard/34, USB, or FireWire-based audio interface recommended
Additional recommendations for Logic Pro 9
At least 2GB of RAM for large EXS instruments
USB musical keyboard (or suitable MIDI keyboard and interface) for instruments
Logic Node requires a Mac computer with an Intel Core processor
Available disk space:
9GB to install all applications and required content
Additional 38GB to install all optional content (large content packages can be installed on separate disk):
- 10GB for Jam Pack collections
- 16GB for sound effects
- 6GB for surround music beds
- 6GB for other optional content
Contents
DVD containing Logic Pro 9, MainStage 2, Soundtrack Pro 3, Studio Instruments, Studio Effects, WaveBurner 1.6, Compressor 3.5, Impulse Response Utility, Apple Loops Utility, QuickTime 7 Pro, and required contents
Six content DVDs containing Jam Pack collections, sound effects, surround music beds, EXS24 samples, and impulse response files
Demo Content DVD
Printed and electronic documentation
Reviews
Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars.
(29 ratings)
Submitted May 10, 2009 by a customer from mac.com
Apple Logic Studio Customer Review
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
The only piece of software that I would begin to consider using instead of Logic would be Ableton Live, and even that can be ReWired to work as a slave to Logic. For the kind of work I do, Logic is more practical, but Ableton's instruments and capabilities when it comes to creating electronic music have caught my eye on multiple occasions.
However, I'm in no rush whatsoever. I haven't yet run into a single situation in which I wished I had something better. I plan on continuing to purchase future iterations of Logic, especially given the way that the program's been headed recently.
Logic does it all, and will support most plug-ins you would ever want. In conjunction with my Native Instruments Kore and Komplete, I can't imagine using anything else.
Sound
Logic does damn near anything you want it to. By purchasing Logic Pro, you don't just get the program, you get the sound library, which is over 40GB on its own. It contains over 18,000 high-quality, royalty-free loops as well as over a hundred very convincing digital instruments, including some exclusives that you can't get with Logic Express unless you upgrade. The software is capable of handling sound files up to 24-bit/96khz quality, which is the highest available at the moment. The sounds that the included instruments produce are pretty fantastic, although a bit basic when you stick to the more basic instruments (i.e. EFM1, EF P, etc). This includes Waveburner, a program for producing album… read more masters, which allows you to get everything exactly as you like. Mainstage allows you to use any plug-ins and presets you've made in Logic in a live environment, including third-party plug-ins. Nine Inch Nails uses this onstage. I don't think I can give a much better example of the quality than that.
Features
There are plenty of fantastic plug-ins and synths that come with Logic, but I'm just going to do a rundown of the most advanced ones and my favorites: Channel EQ - A paragraphic equalizer with four notch filters, two shelving filters, and two cutoff filters. Aside from having a built-in analyzer, you can manipulate the points by actually grabbing onto them on the graph, a feature that I now can't live without unless I absolutely have to. Pro Tools' EQ can sit in a corner and rot, for all I care. Delay Designer - Allows you to add up to thirty-two delay points, timed to the millisecond as you please, each with easily customizable cutoff, volume, pan, resolution, and transposition. Unbelievably powerful. Space Designer - Incredibly realistic and powerful reverb designer. The preset list is all I use, and it has hundreds of environments waiting for you to stick your music into. I have yet to find one that doesn't sound fantastically convincing. Guitar Amp Pro - Choose from multiple cabinet styles and even choose between off-center and centered microphone positioning. ES2 - Still one of the fattest, most versatile, and delicious synths you can imagine. Three oscillators, two filters capable of parallel or series processing (and blending), ten modulation sources, two LFOs, three envelopes, and a vector modulator. There's more, but the big thing about it is the sounds it can make and its ease of use (once you learn it). Sculpture - Quite possibly one of the most sophisticated instrument creators on the market (until Omnisphere came around, anyway). This beast of a synth is more of an instrument modeler than anything else, with a "string" that can be made to mimic nylon, wood, steel, or glass (or a mix between them). With different ways to excite and disturb the "string" and a bunch of different ways to customize this instrument, you're going to need some tutorials, but Sculpture is a stunning piece of work. Ultrabeat - An unconventional and brilliantly designed drum machine. Every single sample has a set of controls that you'd expect on a two hundred dollar synthesizer. With the ability to mix and match and customize your own drum sets with drag and drop ease (as well as powerful step modulation), this is a serious beat creation tool. EXS24 - Almost forgot my favorite little sample. Deceptively simple-looking, this instrument not only works with any EXS patch, but lets you build your own EXS sample-based instrument, layers and all. You'll be hard-pressed to find any DAW that includes a set of tools like this, especially for this price. Also, if you've gotten a MobileMe account through Apple (which I recommend; twenty gigs of online space and synchronized system settings across computers is indispensable), you can actually synchronize your plug-in settings from Logic to your multiple machines! This is truly brilliant, and definitely a good idea. Aside from that, you can share your library of sounds and resources on your wifi network using Bonjour; again, very important if you have a laptop and a desktop. Apple has put a lot of consideration into many different aspects of this program, and you're only going to find more as you take more time to explore. The only downside that I can think of off of the top of my head is that there's no native VST support. After purchasing Kore, I can route any VSTs I want through that, but native support would be nice. Despite this, I never found it to be that big of a deal because most software supports AU as well as VST.
Ease of Use
Version 7 would have gotten a 7 from me in this category, but that's been blown away. Version 8 features a full revamp of the interface for much more easily accessible and easy to use functionality. The mixer, sample editor, piano roll, and score (and the hyper editor, which I'm not familiar with) are all easily accessible at the bottom of your arrange window, brought up and tucked away with a keystroke or a click. The inspector on the left shows the basic parameters of the sample you've chosen, the track it's on, and the mixing channel for the track and its output channel. Mixing is smooth and easy, with auxiliary buses and channels being easy to set up and reroute. Color coding is a cinch as well. Essentially, you have everything you need to make the mixing experience as easy as you want it to be. The only complaint I still have is the Environment window, which feels archaic given how the rest of the program is set up. I shouldn't have to work this hard to get a functioning arpeggiator. However, if you learn it, you can do some truly neat stuff (like capturing the arpeggiators output as MIDI notes!).
Quality
I use this on my Mac Pro at home and on my Macbook Pro on the go. It doesn't work with the in-computer mic or any USB microphones, but I don't mind. The program is polished and clean, and it's rarely crashed, and the last time that happened to me was a couple of updates (and over a year and a half) ago. If you're trying to do some intensive things, don't be surprised if the program overloads. If it does, though, it'll just stop playing and let you know there's too much going on. Usually, I can just hit play again, though. It seems that it's just the system realizing that Logic needs more of its power. I've been using it since two months after its released, and I have yet to find a bug.
Value
This is a complete set of programs that's going to take care of all of your pre-production, recording/production, and post-production needs. Nothing else out there includes the kinds of plug-ins this has, although Ableton's latest is pretty intense. At the moment, it's a bit unfair to compare this to other tools on the market since several have just released new versions this year and Logic 8 came out in October of '07. Logic 9 is on the way, though, so I recommend waiting for anybody who's eyeing this gem. If you need something NOW, though, you can't go wrong with Logic, and the upgrade won't be nearly as much as the suite anyway. At this price, it's still a mind-blowing deal.
Manufacturer Support
Apple is genuinely helpful and has some of the best support out there. A particular problem I had was upgrading to my Mac Pro last year; I had to re-authorize my installation and I had lost my serial number since I'd bought Logic. I called Apple and let them know my problem. They asked for my receipt number, and since they'd e-mailed me my receipt, I just looked it up and gave it to them. They confirmed my purchase, then immediately e-mailed me a replacement serial number. Very cool, very easy, very friendly service, and I wasn't on hold for more than two minutes the entire time. They really do aim to please.
The Wow Factor
It's a sexy interface, and the first time I opened Sculpture my jaw dropped (literally, my eyes and mouth went wide). The tools are all practically designed but still beautiful, and the color schemes and aesthetics give the illusion of a real piece of hardware quite regularly. The ES2, Sculpture, and Ultrabeat are the best examples of this when it comes to the instruments, but even when it comes to the interface, it's very clean and professional-looking while still being stylish.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist turned Electronic Musician/Recording Engineer/Producer/Sound Engineer
Musical Style:
My own. It's hard to categorize, but I guess "techno" would be closest. read less
Sound
Logic does damn near anything you want it to. By purchasing Logic Pro, you don't just get the program, you get the sound library, which is over 40GB on its own. It contains over 18,000 high-quality, royalty-free loops as well as over a hundred very convincing digital instruments, including some exclusives that you can't get with Logic Express unless you upgrade. The software is capable of handling sound files up to 24-bit/96khz quality, which is the highest available at the moment. The sounds that the included instruments produce are pretty fantastic, although a bit basic when you stick to the more basic instruments (i.e. EFM1, EF P, etc). This includes Waveburner, a program for producing album… read more masters, which allows you to get everything exactly as you like. Mainstage allows you to use any plug-ins and presets you've made in Logic in a live environment, including third-party plug-ins. Nine Inch Nails uses this onstage. I don't think I can give a much better example of the quality than that.
Features
There are plenty of fantastic plug-ins and synths that come with Logic, but I'm just going to do a rundown of the most advanced ones and my favorites: Channel EQ - A paragraphic equalizer with four notch filters, two shelving filters, and two cutoff filters. Aside from having a built-in analyzer, you can manipulate the points by actually grabbing onto them on the graph, a feature that I now can't live without unless I absolutely have to. Pro Tools' EQ can sit in a corner and rot, for all I care. Delay Designer - Allows you to add up to thirty-two delay points, timed to the millisecond as you please, each with easily customizable cutoff, volume, pan, resolution, and transposition. Unbelievably powerful. Space Designer - Incredibly realistic and powerful reverb designer. The preset list is all I use, and it has hundreds of environments waiting for you to stick your music into. I have yet to find one that doesn't sound fantastically convincing. Guitar Amp Pro - Choose from multiple cabinet styles and even choose between off-center and centered microphone positioning. ES2 - Still one of the fattest, most versatile, and delicious synths you can imagine. Three oscillators, two filters capable of parallel or series processing (and blending), ten modulation sources, two LFOs, three envelopes, and a vector modulator. There's more, but the big thing about it is the sounds it can make and its ease of use (once you learn it). Sculpture - Quite possibly one of the most sophisticated instrument creators on the market (until Omnisphere came around, anyway). This beast of a synth is more of an instrument modeler than anything else, with a "string" that can be made to mimic nylon, wood, steel, or glass (or a mix between them). With different ways to excite and disturb the "string" and a bunch of different ways to customize this instrument, you're going to need some tutorials, but Sculpture is a stunning piece of work. Ultrabeat - An unconventional and brilliantly designed drum machine. Every single sample has a set of controls that you'd expect on a two hundred dollar synthesizer. With the ability to mix and match and customize your own drum sets with drag and drop ease (as well as powerful step modulation), this is a serious beat creation tool. EXS24 - Almost forgot my favorite little sample. Deceptively simple-looking, this instrument not only works with any EXS patch, but lets you build your own EXS sample-based instrument, layers and all. You'll be hard-pressed to find any DAW that includes a set of tools like this, especially for this price. Also, if you've gotten a MobileMe account through Apple (which I recommend; twenty gigs of online space and synchronized system settings across computers is indispensable), you can actually synchronize your plug-in settings from Logic to your multiple machines! This is truly brilliant, and definitely a good idea. Aside from that, you can share your library of sounds and resources on your wifi network using Bonjour; again, very important if you have a laptop and a desktop. Apple has put a lot of consideration into many different aspects of this program, and you're only going to find more as you take more time to explore. The only downside that I can think of off of the top of my head is that there's no native VST support. After purchasing Kore, I can route any VSTs I want through that, but native support would be nice. Despite this, I never found it to be that big of a deal because most software supports AU as well as VST.
Ease of Use
Version 7 would have gotten a 7 from me in this category, but that's been blown away. Version 8 features a full revamp of the interface for much more easily accessible and easy to use functionality. The mixer, sample editor, piano roll, and score (and the hyper editor, which I'm not familiar with) are all easily accessible at the bottom of your arrange window, brought up and tucked away with a keystroke or a click. The inspector on the left shows the basic parameters of the sample you've chosen, the track it's on, and the mixing channel for the track and its output channel. Mixing is smooth and easy, with auxiliary buses and channels being easy to set up and reroute. Color coding is a cinch as well. Essentially, you have everything you need to make the mixing experience as easy as you want it to be. The only complaint I still have is the Environment window, which feels archaic given how the rest of the program is set up. I shouldn't have to work this hard to get a functioning arpeggiator. However, if you learn it, you can do some truly neat stuff (like capturing the arpeggiators output as MIDI notes!).
Quality
I use this on my Mac Pro at home and on my Macbook Pro on the go. It doesn't work with the in-computer mic or any USB microphones, but I don't mind. The program is polished and clean, and it's rarely crashed, and the last time that happened to me was a couple of updates (and over a year and a half) ago. If you're trying to do some intensive things, don't be surprised if the program overloads. If it does, though, it'll just stop playing and let you know there's too much going on. Usually, I can just hit play again, though. It seems that it's just the system realizing that Logic needs more of its power. I've been using it since two months after its released, and I have yet to find a bug.
Value
This is a complete set of programs that's going to take care of all of your pre-production, recording/production, and post-production needs. Nothing else out there includes the kinds of plug-ins this has, although Ableton's latest is pretty intense. At the moment, it's a bit unfair to compare this to other tools on the market since several have just released new versions this year and Logic 8 came out in October of '07. Logic 9 is on the way, though, so I recommend waiting for anybody who's eyeing this gem. If you need something NOW, though, you can't go wrong with Logic, and the upgrade won't be nearly as much as the suite anyway. At this price, it's still a mind-blowing deal.
Manufacturer Support
Apple is genuinely helpful and has some of the best support out there. A particular problem I had was upgrading to my Mac Pro last year; I had to re-authorize my installation and I had lost my serial number since I'd bought Logic. I called Apple and let them know my problem. They asked for my receipt number, and since they'd e-mailed me my receipt, I just looked it up and gave it to them. They confirmed my purchase, then immediately e-mailed me a replacement serial number. Very cool, very easy, very friendly service, and I wasn't on hold for more than two minutes the entire time. They really do aim to please.
The Wow Factor
It's a sexy interface, and the first time I opened Sculpture my jaw dropped (literally, my eyes and mouth went wide). The tools are all practically designed but still beautiful, and the color schemes and aesthetics give the illusion of a real piece of hardware quite regularly. The ES2, Sculpture, and Ultrabeat are the best examples of this when it comes to the instruments, but even when it comes to the interface, it's very clean and professional-looking while still being stylish.
Musical Background:
Hobbyist turned Electronic Musician/Recording Engineer/Producer/Sound Engineer
Musical Style:
My own. It's hard to categorize, but I guess "techno" would be closest. read less
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- 12 x$166.58
- 8 x$249.88
Neumann TLM 102 Studio Microphone
$749.00
- 12 x$62.42
- 8 x$93.63
- No Credit Check6 x$124.83
- No Credit Check4 x$187.25
Sony C-80 Uni-Directional Condenser Microphone
$499.99
- 8 x$62.50
- No Credit Check6 x$83.33
- No Credit Check4 x$125.00
Yamaha HS8 Active Studio Monitor
$398.99
- 8 x$49.87
- No Credit Check6 x$66.50
- No Credit Check4 x$99.75