Many moons passed, it was winter, it was summer, it was winter again. The Logic users stared up at the constellation of the big apple in vain while other DAWs received one update after the other. Now it’s here: Logic Pro X.
As soon as the press release on Logic Pro X appeared, one could read in the relevant forums that the most important new functions in Cubase or Studio One had long been available. Okay – but should Logic users do without it? Some functions have only become possible in the past few years thanks to more powerful computers. It doesn’t matter who got it first, but the quality of the implementation. In my tests, I would like to examine how the programmers used the long development time. Is the new logic a better logic? If you also want to examine the Logic Pro X, you can directly download it from this link: https://lisanilssonart.com/download-logic-pro-x-for-windows
What’s next
First things first, new features:
• Flex Pitch (pitch correction similar to Melodyne)
• Drummer, Drum Kit Designer
• Arpeggiator and other MIDI plug-ins
• Track stacks (combine tracks)
• Retro synth and improved vintage keyboards
• Bass amp designer and new stompboxes
• Smart controls
• Logic Remote ( iPad remote control)
• Mixer (revised)
• Notation editor (revised)
• New sound library and loops
• Export functions (to Soundcloud, Final Cut Pro etc.)
and many small changes that will only be noticed gradually (or never.)
What is missing?
• Support of older operating systems than Mountain Lion 10.8.4
• 32-bit mode
• 32-bit bridge for AU plug-ins
Pro:
I’ve been annoyed about the 32-bit bridge for years now. Too often it was “terminated unexpectedly”, only 1 plug-in window was displayed at a time and this constantly disappeared from the visible area.
Cons:
“Watt nu?” As they say in the north. A personal selection of the plug-ins that I have to do without (hopefully only temporarily):
• Sampling instruments from IK Multimedia
• Instruments from AAS
• Waldorf PPG Wave
• Antares Auto Tune, Harmony Engine
• Ircam Verb
Should Apple be accused of having once again caused incompatibility?
Or is it a sign from Cupertino to software developers to finally get their asses up and adapt their products to the 64-bit age? Some time ago someone from a well-known company wrote to me that 64-bit would not be of any benefit to their product. Maybe he’s thinking about it again now?
Purchase
As expected, the program is only available for download from the App Store. € 179.99 is the new price and the update price at the same time. New buyers get an absolute bargain with the functionality of Logic Pro X, as an update price I find it normal.
I think it’s nice that you can redeem your iTunes credit when buying, also in combination with credit card payments. iTunes cards are always available in supermarkets and technology stores at a special price, usually with a 20% discount, in exceptional cases even cheaper.
Installation
The program installs itself automatically during the download, there is no installation file in the download folder.
When starting for the first time, a message appears that additional content is now being downloaded. This takes some time because these are mostly sampling libraries and loops. Those who have already installed Logic Pro 9 only get the new content and have correspondingly shorter loading times. For me it took about half an hour. Logic 9 is not overwritten by X and can still be used without restrictions. You will also need this for older projects!
The first impression
At first glance you can see that everything that was once white or light gray has now become dark. I once wrote “Black is the new white” as a comment on a Cubase article.
Was it copied there? No, this is more about an adaptation to software from in-house, because Final Cut Pro X has had the same look for two years. Everyone has their own opinion, but I think it looks really great.
Obituary
For many years it did its job in silence, now it is no longer with us: the “Ampelmännchen”.
I never quite understood when it made sense to click it, it appeared here and there. Only in the audio editor, because it reliably scrolled the waveform and was often used by me. The function itself is still there: “Scrolling during playback”, a tick serves as a symbol. Downsizing again!
Flood of functions
Who counts the menus, names the functions? Apple has apparently learned from the protests of the users when Final Cut X was released and omitted nothing or hardly anything in terms of functions. Maybe that’s why it took Logic Pro X so long to finish. How do you make something clearer when a lot of new things are being added at the same time?
A fold-out toolbar shows additional tools and with “Hide advanced tools” in the “Settings” menu you can make a lot of things disappear. Then there are no longer any flex functions, but some people will not need them either.
Flex pitch
With Logic Pro 9, Flex Time made it possible to move, compress and stretch audio and, with the help of transient detection, to quantize audio files that were “fragmented” like MIDI data.
“Hit the right note. No matter if you met him. ”This is how Apple is promoting the new Flex Pitch function.
At this point I would like to take a little excursion into the past. The year was 19soundso, music computers were still called Atari ST and updates for Logic (or was it still called Notator?) Were sent on floppy disks from Hamburg, from Emagic and for free! Likewise, supplementary sheets to the manual (ring binder). Users were kindly asked to submit suggestions for improvement. There was already a function with which one could generate MIDI data from unanimous audio files. I thought to myself: Isn’t it possible the other way around? Couldn’t MIDI data manipulate the pitch of an audio track according to a musical scale? Hardware samplers were also able to pitch shift. I submitted the idea (since then, I’ve considered myself to be the actual inventor of AutoTune). The answer was
The Times They Are a-Changin ‘(Bob Dylan).
Conclusion first day
After a few hours of “trial test” I have to say that I really like everything I have seen and tried. Time will tell whether I’ll still be very annoyed about the missing 32-bit bridge or whether the third-party companies will follow suit quickly.
The first time I opened an older song that contains 32-bit plug-ins (almost everyone), the program – let me put the bad word – crashed. On the second attempt the song opened (32-bit plug-ins disabled) and worked perfectly.
64-bit AU plug-ins from third-party manufacturers did not cause any problems.
In the second part of my test report I will deal with “Flex Pitch” and make a comparison with Melodyne (with audio examples).