Digital audio workstation ( DAWs ) have to do a lot : they typically enter , mixture , and edit audio , host legal instrument and effects , record and edit MIDI , arrange music , score TV , print notation , slice and stretch healthy loops , and even provide programmable tympan machines , acoustic simulator , and surround sound . It ’s easy to get engulf in all those features and miss track of actually making euphony . With young features constantly being added , is anyone clean house ? Apple is . With Logic Studio , Apple has transform Logic from a deep but hard programme into one of the most streamlined and graceful music environments of its kind .
Like Logic Pro 7 ( ) , Logic Studio ( with Logic Pro 8 as the Congress of Racial Equality app ) bundles the main sequenator / editor in chief with powerful medicine and audio tools . It ’s packed with the same extended lineup of audio effects and sound tools that were bump in previous interpretation , including a guitar amp simulator and naturalistic reverb , organ and keyboard , various synthesizers , the Ultrabeat drumfish machine , the Sculpture instrument , the EXS24 mkII sampler , and even a candle authoring and mastering utility called WaveBurner . That , arguably , was more putz than any other single packet . But Logic Studio now add a hard private road - bust collection of Apple ’s music bed , Jam Packs , sound effects , and other content ; the Soundtrack Pro audio editor program ( ) ; and a Modern app called MainStage . To describe the new compact apps and the breadth of the package in general , Apple has changed the packet name to Logic Studio ( the Logic Pro app retains the old nickname ) .
In a move likely to please users , Apple has also done off with the hardware dongle , the small USB Francis Scott Key that was required to operate the program ; now only a serial figure is needed when you first set up the software . But the big difference in Logic may be not howmuchis in the package , but howeasyit is to get at those dick .
New look, new view
Logic Pro 8 , the heart of the studio , has undergo an all-inclusive user interface redesign . There are cosmetic improvement throughout , but this is n’t just a skin - deep climb : integral redaction facilities have been streamlined or supplant , and a lot of Logic ’s unusual language has been translated into standardized lyric . That may go like bad news to be users , but signally , Apple has managed to avoid sacrifice the app ’s core structure and functionality . Even long - time users may find themselves discovering subsist characteristic , merely because they ’re easier to access . Most significantly , this imply you ’ll be make medicine when you launch , not half an hour later on .
The most profound change in Logic Pro 8 is an entirely new Arrange window , a one - screen display of all the major recording , redaction , commixture , and single file and setting direction feature of Logic . you’re able to still open separate windows if you like , but you now have admission to most of the functionality of the platform without worrying about switching position or dragging windows around . Tabs at the bottom of the screenland blow up redaction pane for mix , editing audio files , and viewing and blue-pencil MIDI selective information in Piano Roll , Score , or graphical scene . A tabbed battery-acid on the right furnish access code to the Audio Bin , Loop browser app , the file and project web browser app , and a Library Lucy in the sky with diamonds for sail presets for epithelial duct strip , instruments , gist , and other features .
There ’s a GarageBand - stylus templet sorcerer , but you may not need it . Choose a vacuous template , and you’re able to set up everything from round-eyed to complex intermixture setups with just a few mouse click . As each track is sum , Logic automatically displays appropriate channel presets in the Library , so you’re able to fall upon the program ’s deep solidifying of reasoned peter and instruments , or get prompt access to your own favorite configurations . canonical instrument creation was n’t too difficult in Logic Pro 7 , but using aux send line ( for effects and other processing ) and ReWire ( for mix other applications , like Ableton Live [ ] or Propellerhead ’s Reason [ ] ) has never been well-fixed . Logic can now synchronise the Library with your other Macs or collaborator , using .Mac or Bonjour , a first for this kind of lotion .
Logic Pro 8 maintains the Environment , an under - the - hood facility for creating custom , modular audio and MIDI frame-up . But you no longer have to use the Environment to perform unsubdivided mixing and configuration undertaking that are handled more efficiently by a standard interface .
Takes and editing
It ’s not just the interface that ’s different in Logic : Apple has reworked its redaction features as well . you may now perform sample - accurate edits in the main Arrange window , with correct Snap tools and a reworked Bar Ruler to assist everything from audio edits to automation . New punch and multi - take facilities make recording audio and MIDI much easier , as well . you’re able to easy merge multiple MIDI or audio academic term into a take ; the interface is actually good integrated than the like feature in Soundtrack Pro . Other Snap improvement , plus a new Junction facility for adjacent clips , make editing more exact .
Logic is deep , but there are still some rummy imbalances abstracted in other daw . Aside from basic , non - destructive quantize ( for tighten timing of MIDI tracks ) , there ’s no arpeggiator or real - time , non - destructive musical instrument digital interface editing usable unless you dive into the Environment . While the Transform windowpane is capable of some brawny operation , it ’s foxy to apply and performs only destructive edits .
Stage-ready rigs
If you want to play Logic ’s instrument and effects survive onstage , you ’ll love MainStage , an app for host usage virtual rack of cat’s-paw and effect that ’s especially suited to keyboardists , guitarist , vocalists , and other musicians . rather of working with Logic Pro onstage , this disjoined pecker allows you to lay out up custom outfit for live use of goods and services . As with the OnStage feature in Rax 2.0 ( ) , there ’s a full - screen door mode that you could reckon without hunching over your monitoring gadget , with shortcuts for switch sounds via the keyboard , MIDI , or an Apple Remote . you could use preset screen layout and channel cartoon strip or build your own .
epithelial duct back up essence and instruments from Logic Pro and Audio Unit plug - In . All of these features are perfectly geared for performance . Guitarists can bring up a full - filmdom tuner and easily tap through effects units ; keyboardist can set up sophisticated splits and layer and substitution and sculpt sounds . you could move from one preset to another with silky - smooth , no - glitch segue , even if you ’re holding down bank bill as you do so . That ’s something a heap of jackdaw ca n’t do . Combined with the collection of instrument and core already in Logic , it ’s a great bargain .
If you just need a room to play instruments and effects , MainStage could be perfect . But it does have some limitation . There ’s inadequate functionality for people want to act backing tracks ; you could use AppleScripts to spark songs , but that requires a lot of manual apparatus , and wo n’t permit robotlike synchronisation of tempo - dependent effects and instrument , or jumping around within a song . There ’s no ReWire support , which entail that you ca n’t apply it with other software tools , and you ca n’t really desegregate it with Logic project beyond simple presets , either . And Apple did n’t piece up on some of Rax ’s clever features , like exhibit lyrics and notes for different birdsong .
More advanced users may desire to consider tools like Ableton Live for their interactive clip - triggering features , or Native Instruments ’ KORE for a more sophisticated rack of instruments and result with ReWire support . For everyone else , the profundity of the instrumental role and burden set here , commingle with an elegant interface for configuring and accessing those tools , makes MainStage a warm selection .
Surrounded by Studio improvements
There are too many improvements in Logic Studio to mention , and rather than being “ me - too ” features or bug fixes , they really do seem part of a clear defined strategy to polish the software . The surround features , thread from the work done on Soundtrack Pro , make yield for surround sound far more powerful . Surround tools are desegregate throughout the app , in Indian file moment , recording , bouncing ( including unmediated leaping to DVD - A ) , mixing and metering , channel strip , an intuitive new Surround Panner , and integrated encoding via Apple ’s Compressor . Many legal instrument and effect also get the Surround treatment , which is peculiarly fun when work with the ES2 and Sculpture synths , Space Designer reverb , and new Delay Designer multi - tap delay .
While the instruments at first appear to be identical to those in Logic Pro 7 , there are many little improvements , as well . The EXS24 mkII finally has a functional instrument editor program ; it ’s stark - off-white in comparability to standalone samplers like Native Instruments ’ Kontakt , but it does make the EXS24 easier to redact . The Ultrabeat drum political machine , while it keep its strange interface , has a new full - view sequencer gridiron and stone’s throw mechanisation , plus funding for EXS24 samples , have it far more utile . in conclusion , while the Delay Designer is also present in Soundtrack Pro , it really shines here ; it ’s an extraordinary tool for creating multi - tap or custom delays that can change pitch and bulk for all sorts of unique consequence , from basic to far - out sound .
Logic Express
Logic Express 8 is Apple ’s budget version of Logic Studio ( for $ 199 ) , and just as Logic Studio adds additional tool that Logic Pro did n’t have , Logic Express 8 also has more out of the corner than earlier versions . The Logic Express program has the same single - window intent , editing and transcription , picture playback and marking , music notational system , and Mobile River sync features as Logic Pro . It also include more official document and effects than the premature release , with the full - blown EXS24 sampler , ES2 and EFM1 synths , Ultrabeat drum political machine , and Guitar Amp Pro amp modeller , along with most of the essence include with Logic Studio .
What you ’ll miss are Logic Pro ’s surround capabilities and some of its more sophisticated tools , like the Sculpture synth and Space Designer and Delay Designer consequence . More significantly , you wo n’t get any of Logic Studio ’s bundled items , like the Jam Packs , MainStage carrying out app , Soundtrack Pro audio editor in chief , and WaveBurner burning and control shaft . If the main draw of Logic is the editing facility and you do n’t demand all of those extra , or if you ’re on a budget , Express is a solid choice . But with Logic Pro at half its original Leontyne Price , the Studio upgrade may be worth it — peculiarly if you require to form with surround sound or flirt hot onstage .
Macworld’s buying advice
Logic Studio is super efficacious at providing an extensive tool outfit and then generate out of your creative way . There are still some dated musical instrument digital interface editing tools , and MainStage ’s lack of integration with Logic or ReWire restrict its use to some users . But the streamlined , few mouse click - to - medicine philosophy throughout , combined with more exact tools for audio editing and surround , make this a watershed release . Logic Pro 7 already had more in one box than other sound composition tools ; now it has still more with a 50 percent price reduction . But ultimately , have more is n’t nearly as important as being more playable , and that ’s what Logic 8 does most successfully .
[ Peter Kirn is a metier creative person and educator base in New York . He launch the on-line music tech web log and communityCreate Digital Music . ]
