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Logic Pro

Sequencer / Multitrack by Apple
MyKVRFAVORITE238WANT24
$199.99

Logic Pro has an average user rating of 4.43 from 7 reviews

Rate & Review Logic Pro

User Reviews by KVR Members for Logic Pro

Logic Pro

Reviewed By stardustmedia [all]
September 24th, 2014
Version reviewed: 10.0.7 on Mac

Introduction
*******************
Logic X is a comprehensive DAW shipping with everything you need as a starter. Record audio, play your MIDI gear, mix your tracks. And even mastering is possible. It comes with a huge sound, loop and plugin library and Logic X now also includes a live drummer.

Features
*******************
Where to start... way too many features ;)
I will just list some of them off the top of my head
-) "Endless" no. of tracks (depending on your CPU power - and there is some max count, but never reached it)
-) Tracks can be audio, auxiliaries software instruments, MIDI, folders, and others
-) Each track supports plugins, MIDI plugins, sends
-) Insert Apple Loops and they automatically match key and tempo
-) Arrangement track that improves arranging (some features follow that track)
-) Track stacks groups instruments, so they can be played together from one track and summed together
-) Region aliases that point to the original. When you change the original region, the aliases in the arrangement change too
-) Full automation possibilities
-) Automation can be put into regions, then be looped or arranged with aliases
-) A lot of basic built in synths, worth mentioning is the the vintage synth that is good for starters
-) Mixing is fast and easy (compared to Ableton)
-) Complexe routing possibilities with the 64 busses
-) Customisable GUI. Just load the theme (found everywhere in the web). If you know how to program and create graphics, you can do it easily yourself.
-) Thousands of presets implemented, whether for audio or instrument channels, auxiliaries, plugins, MIDI files
-) New to Logic X is that channel settings can also include routing
-) Import complete channel settings plus regions from other sessions.

Sound
*******************
Sound is very good. From a certain point on, where your experience and requirement grow, you'll need to get 3rd party plugins. Most of the shipped plugins are ok or good, but there are way better developers of plugins. Does a DAW have its own sound? Have fun reading thru the gazillions of threads and webpages. I never compared "scientifically" the DAW sound. But then I make my own sound with the right plugins and the analog gear.

I noticed a sound change when upgrading to LX thought. I must say however, I also had to get a new converter at the same time, that features Thunderbolt. So I'd say the sound change derives from that.

Whatever you believe. If you're songs don't sound good in Logic, they won't sound good in any other DAW. Logic has definitely the capability of sounding astonishing. So it's up to you ;)

GUI & Usability
*******************
GUI is a matter of taste. Logic X became more modern, but the color palette is "muddy" and "toyish" (yes, there are ways to change that, but not to the full extent of RGB/CMYK). GUI can be customized with the thousands of available themes. As always with these themes, most of them are just experimental crap that hurt your eyes. A few are nice. I still prefer the default.

Logic X is easy to use. It's simplicity got better, which is neat for beginners. As a experienced user, it was somewhat tough, to go from L8 or L8 to LX. A little example: Changed standard short cuts! Again!! ... or how MIDI is recorded in loop and/or punch mode.

There are some GUI and usability issues. See below under cons.

Presets
*******************
Thousands of them, which is (again) great for beginners. Pretty much useless for me. Sometimes, here and there, I look them up and rarely I find something that I like. Most of the times, the "Logic sound" just doesn't fit my needs (I produce and mix electronic music).

Stability
*******************
Well, here are a lot of different experiences. I'm not at all satisfied with its stability. I waited almost one year before I upgraded to LX. And now I have at least a couple of crashes almost every day. That rarely happend with L9 and L8 before. I got the feeling, that there are more bugs than ever before. After almost one year it's still not on a pro level, although I don't expect a bug free software, because it is impossible. Crashes mostly happens due to plugins. You may now say, they should deliver an update, it's not Logic's fault. But when I can work with same plugin version crash free with L8 & L9, I wonder, what Logic X is doing wrong ;)

At least the automatic saving during a crash works fine and never let me down *phew*.

Cons
*******************
There are still a lot of bugs (not feature requests). Search the web and you'll see yourself. Here is a list of my experienced bugs, and also some features that could be done better.
-) Enhance color palette to full RGB/CMYK, so we can have more colors and also black, white and grey
-) Drawing automation graphs sometimes doesn't react in realtime, so you don't see where you are (can't read the value, until you let go of the mouse)
-) Window positions are not remembered. I think that happens especially when running a multiple screen setup. Dear reader: No it also doesn't work when the logic screen is locked ;)
-) In certain situations, the big time counter and the time line in the main window don't show the same (I experienced gaps up to 60 seconds)
-) Show in aliases to which region they point to (as it was in L8 & L9)
-) The difference between the region and its loops must be more clear. The arrangement overview is messier than it was before
-) The I/O labeling got worse and less understandable. I cannot use the long names properly. So why having the possibility of having long and short names. At the moment I have to use short abreviations for long and short names. And why are there I/Os that cannot be labelled as I want?
-) LX is still not as customisable as other DAWs. Especially when it comes to sizes of channel strips in the mixer window. And still it's not possible to change the order of the mix channels.
-) Still way behind other DAWs, like: region effects and region freeze, channel inbuilt gain staging possibilities, bounce in place is still not how it should be (best test: do a revers reverb effect in Pro Tools and then in Logic. With Logic you still have to time the effect manually), independent mixer and arrange window (see reaper), .

Conclusion
*******************
Logic X is a good piece of software. No matter what I wrote, you MUST have to make your own experience with it. LX is pro and will sound pro, as long as you know what you're doing.

If the learning curves for a new DAW wouldn't be that steep and would take less time, I'd be changing instantly to another DAW. Because with that update I got the feeling, that Apple isn't taking pro audio seriously any more. They can be innovative with phones, but not with DAWs it seems. I don't whine, but as long as I try to live with LX, it's not as fun using it as it was before. At the moment, I fear the day when I have attended sessions. That shouldn't be like this.

So I cannot give more than a 6/10, because of the reasons mentioned above. If it runs, it's a 8/10. Maybe you are lucky and won't be bothered with a lot of crashes.

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Comments & Discussion for Apple Logic Pro

Discussion
Discussion: Active
Conslaw
Conslaw
10 March 2012 at 6:55am

Nobody has anything to say about Apple Logic Pro? I'm incredulous. For $199.99, there's a LOT of stuff here. You have a pro-level DAW, with a full suite of effects including a convolution reverb, custom amps and roll-your-own guitar pedals. You get a sampler with gigabytes of content (EXS-24). You get a very nice jack-of-all-trades synth, ES-2. You get a physically modelled synth, electric piano and clav. There's a drum machine (Ultrabeat), and more loops than you'll want to sort through. There are only two things that I don't like about Logic. (1) It doesn't import General MIDI files well. (2) You don't have all the fun freeware VST instruments that are available for Windows.

rocketpower
rocketpower
7 March 2016 at 4:55am

There are various VST-in-an-AU Audio Units.

https://www.fxpansion.com/products/vst-au-adapter/.

They all cost about $100 or so.

drtimwaters
drtimwaters
20 May 2012 at 4:37pm

Conslaw, I agree with your 2 complaints about Logic. However, I have found some good workarounds:

1. I use energyXT on a PC to get samples, loops, etc. from certain PC VSTs, then convert those audio files into things Logic can use (EXS24, Apple Loops, etc.).

2. ReWire seems to be a good option for running Logic along with other DAWs at the same time.

Tim Waters

mastertrackspro
mastertrackspro
9 August 2012 at 4:59am

Love Logic, have used it since v6 after moving from Nuendo when that studio closed.

I also recommend Reason to be used alongside Logic. Low on CPU usage and great sound design possibilities.

tommym
tommym
16 July 2013 at 4:41pm

The download queue's will probably be pretty slow for a few days. I remember upgrading Mainstage to v.2 was multi-gigabyte, counting the 'Additional Software" - which was well worth it! Does anyone know if Logic X requires OS 10.8.4 minimum, like Apple says (the new) Mainstage 3 does? I'm a big fan of Mainstage 2.2. But I'm still running 10.6.8 OS X because of compatibility with other apps I use occasionally. I just upgraded MOTU's Flagship DAW, Digital Performer, which gives you great control, less instruments for sure though.. . and now works on PC's too, to v. 8. So I need Logic even less. DP has had pitch correction for a long time, and it works great. Not automatically like Auto-Tune. You draw it in. There are plenty of ways to make music these days. Is one best? Maybe...but it depends on which feature set you use most, and what you've already built your workflow and rig around. Different for everyone. Enjoy.

musiktro123
musiktro123
8 August 2014 at 2:33pm

Just a quick question. Is it possible to develop your own MIDI FXs to Logic Pro X, such as an arpeggiator that can export MIDI to the track?

pboy
pboy
8 August 2014 at 6:44pm

Yes by scripting, but someone has already done it so why "invent the wheel a second time"? It is an AU MIDI plugin called "MIDI FX Freeze" from the company Audio CR. http://www.audiocr.com/index.php

You just slap it on the MIDI signal path where you want to record MIDI and then you run the piece and drag the captured MIDI onto a new MIDI arrange track. I'm finding it super easy and it actually stopped me wishing for that function in Logic.

tommym
tommym
8 August 2014 at 2:59pm

I'd like to add to my last post about Mainstage 2 vs. Mainstage 3. I have heard that, while in Mainstage 2 you can hold keys down making a sound, then switch the Patch to a different sound, and the sound of the previous Patch keeps sounding, in Mainstage 3, this very useful feature doesn't work. Is that true? Thanks.

outofspace
outofspace
21 February 2015 at 5:07pm

best daw for $ 200.

murnau
murnau
30 August 2015 at 3:28pm

0 of 10 from me because it's not available on Win. :-P.

fizzicist
fizzicist
31 August 2015 at 4:07am

Actually, the problem is your PC hardware. If you had a Mac, you could run Windows on it, and you could also run Logic Pro in OS X. I'm not saying anything negative about Windows, so this isn't about that. It's simply a question of what hardware gives you the option to run both Windows and Mac software. So far, the Mac is it.

murnau
murnau
31 August 2015 at 6:44pm

The problem is not the PC Hardware since you can hackintosh it this is obvious. The problem is Apple they don't want that people run OS X on a windows PC. You don't seem to get that many people running OS X on PC hardware by installing OS X (as hackintosh). So there you goes your theory about the hardware.

fizzicist
fizzicist
1 September 2015 at 6:12am

Let me see if I've got this straight. Your first post whined because you couldn't run Logic on Windows, and then you claim it's not a problem after all because you can hack OS X. So which is it?

It didn't occur to me that I was dealing with someone who would openly admit to violating the user agreement and hack (steal) OS X. I stand corrected. Thanks for making that clear to everyone.

EdgarRothermich
EdgarRothermich
30 August 2015 at 11:39pm

0 of 10 for Windows, because it can't run Logic Pro X.

murnau
murnau
31 August 2015 at 6:44pm

Yeah it can't run Logic because Apple don't want it. Smart reply..

THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED

Role Router
Role Router
5 September 2015 at 7:10pm

I've tried to use Logic 5.5.3 for years, but it has not showed the functionality it presents as the Original, about those times I was not able to buy those kind of software. So it only has caused errors to my expectations, but the possibilities was so big and the future was so possible. But I lost all the challenge when eMagic got out of the line from PC to be only available in Mac. Macintosh seems to be a great promise to the great response it have in Hardware, but PC still are the Joy for Windows, and I am believing in a better future since them for what I have lost many times before and today just the faith.

I'm not believing anymore that will be available for PC again, and I'm not inquired to Install OS X emulated for PC. But they say that is a great Idea! I see that as a dangerous way only, who knows about a MAC Laptop/desktop in the future for the additional, but that is the way. Maybe the future will can bring OS X to PC also, but in that is another cause which costs for the Ideas I have as own.

fizzicist
fizzicist
5 September 2015 at 7:59pm

That's the best post I've read on KVR in a long time.

rocketpower
rocketpower
7 March 2016 at 5:01am

It's very clearly been google translated.

jemjem
jemjem
4 December 2023 at 7:34am

I use Logic since the 90's Atari time. since the manager became Apple the evolution is incredible, but through the years, I also noticed less and less attention from Apple about the health of the composers/customers... The last update of the OS is a giant mess (my Logic is quite sick now). Between the updates of the OS and updates of Logic each year my time to fix the backhand, bug, instabilities, plugins troubles growing up. Also the difficulty to secure a session through the years is more and more difficult and short viability. Yes Logic is not so expensive but please remind the money we spend to follow with the Apple computers and devices. I know that's not only the responsibility of Apple, there is also the delay between updates and third parties dev' and updates BUT, because Logic is at the highest point of the pyramid it's its responsibility to make all this universe working, efficient and secure.
Don't forget too the actual sade state of the music market too. Less and less money in the musician's pockets. I think a brainstorming in the Apple office about its philosophy could be welcome for the future of everybody.

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