Cubase/PC guy who got a Macbook Pro - worth switching to Logic/MBP?

[keyman_sam]

So, I learned and love Cubase v7.5. I made the switch from Reaper a few years back and I like the workflow. However I do have my fair share of crashes with 32-bit plugins and stuff running in jBridge (Rubberfilter). The CPU usage is still fairly high and I run into dropouts and stuff.

I recently got a MBP Retina and bought Logic. Question is, is it worth switching to Logic now or should I stick with Cubase? Is the learning curve high for someone coming from Cubase? My impression is that Logic X is more stable compared to Cubase on Mac.

[Zexila]

Is the learning curve high for someone coming from Cubase?

Not that much, talking as someone who is coming from Logic, just learn new shortcuts obviously, but they aren't that much apart, as Live is for example, which is like another world coming from Logic/Cubase.

[jancivil]

It's different, I wouldn't say it amounts to a steep learning curve; the lay of the land is easy to sort, as was said already it's remembering command-3 vs command-1 and so forth. It's 'docked'. I don't know if C7.5 had gone there yet, seems like no. I actually prefer a freer workspace.

If you like multiple controller lanes editable in the same window & in the piano roll you're SOL with Logic. What's your cores situation with that machine? I will say that if you have a duo core Logic will probably perform better overall, if it's virtual instruments.

For VE Pro users, Logic is convoluted as fvck while Cubase is practically their default to connect to.
If you like to look at something in notation, Logic makes sense of things while Cubase has a big brain for it yet lacking intelligence, so to speak.

[sin night]

[...]Rubberfilter[...]

Great sounding plugin (I loved it back in the days), but unfortunately it was really unstable on my system, to the point I had to give up. Remove that plugin (and maybe JBridge) and the stability should improve a lot.


Logic is not hard to learn if you're coming from Cubase, of course there are some differences but the general way of thinking is roughly the same. In my opinion the biggest differences can be found in the mixer routing (aux busses, the way sidechain is handled, the lack of post fader inserts - at least on Logic 9, I don't know if this changed on Logic X because I went back to Cubase) and the Environment (that's something pretty unique and it may force you to think something in a different way - but you pretty much don't need to go into it for "basic" recording and "simple" setups).
Then you have to learn the different commands/shortcuts, but both the apps have more or less the same paradigm so once you know one it shouldn't be that hard to learn the other.


I've been using Cubase on my Mac for years without significant problems, but it improved over time, especially with version 9 (I can't speak about 9.5 because I didn't spent enough time with it yet), when they dropped 32 bit support and introduced a validation system for plugins. Cubase 7.5 should work pretty fine too, if it's compatible with your version of OSX.


Since you already bought Logic, I think it's worth learning it (maybe not inside out, but enough for "standard" works)... then choose what you prefer between Logic and Cubase.

Regardless of your choice, stick to solid plugins only, because that's a huge source of problems with any daw.

[pdxindy]

Since you already purchased Logic, you may as well start exploring it. Alchemy and Sculpture are both excellent! And you are likely to get years of updates at no cost.

[J-909]

Just to let you know my experience, I did exactly the same as you, had to buy a macbook for professional reasons and decided to try Logic. In 3 years I haven't been able to get used to it.
There are just a few things I consider are better in Logic (were, cause Cubase 9 introduced the down and right working panes) but the general usability I find it very limited. It's little things like mousewheel zooming and view panning that make me go mad, since the behaviour is totally different. Besides, bus management is messy (Cubase just has group tracks which in Logic are a combination of bus and audio track). Finally, in Logic it is difficult to send midi to a particular vst effect outside a track. You have to create a virtual instrument with the effect itself and send audio to it: really messy!

Sorry for my criticism but that has been my experience, maybe if you are more flexible in terms of adapting to different workflow you'll be ok. I have to say that I purchased Bitwig and in just 2 days I was able to work perfectly on it, so I think it's a matter of Apple's intention to make you work their "perfect and comfortable" way.

[keyman_sam]

Yeah, I might have to try C7.5/C9 on a Mac to see if it's stable enough to work on. Now that I've got a serious machine I'd like to move away from Desktop and towards mobile.

[Jace-BeOS]

My musical productivity improved greatly after switching to Mac/Logic from Windows/Sonar. I never liked Cubase (location of things in the GUI being a huge part, the dongle being the other part), and yes, I found it far less stable on Mac than on Windows. It actually never crashed on me on Windows, but crashed repeatedly on my Mac. Dumped it.

I'm happy with Logic 9.x on Snow Leopard, and will move to Logic X eventually when i have a new Mac and am forced out of Snow Leopard. I'm not confident in Apple anymore, though. Their leadership is piss poor anymore. They're obsessed with consumer bullshit, luxury products, "minimalism", flatness, low contrast, and are basically wrecking everything they have. Their content-creation tools are either gutted in moves to iOS, abandoned, or left with infrequent maintenance. Logic still gets updates, and if you don't mind the ugly GUI, it's reportedly still an awesome product in its current version.

[jancivil]

Another difference which is kind of strange, is Logic uses CC7 for volume of instrument tracks (unless they revised that whole thinking since I had it). Cubase does not use MIDI anything for that, ie., the result of an instrument, instrument channel is separate than the MIDI track, more like the audio channel. And yeah, the aux thing is too convoluted. The Environment is powerful but I never got into Logic to where I did that kind of conceptualization at all because a couple things are deal-killers for me.

[Jace-BeOS]

Logic's Environment is indeed powerful... and indeed utterly non-intuitive. Apple hasn't spent any time or effort even updating the GUI elements in it, let alone making it intuitive.

[Michael L]

I learned and love Cubase v7.5

That counts for a lot! Love is not Logical.

[monnett]

I switched from Cakewalk (V1 for DOS - Sonar 3) to Cubase Pro (v7-v9) to Logic Pro X.
The changes are not that difficult to adapt to if you have the proper attitude. Soon your muscle memory will have you flying through the Logic interface.

Concerning stability, the worst was Cakewalk , Cubase gave me some dropouts and other infrequent problems. Logic is rock solid.

Concerning the UI, in Cubase 9+ they improved the UI and copied some of the docking style from Logic. I liked that but there are so may bad ideas lurking in the UI that would make you wonder why. Some were fixed in 9.5 like the control room. Both Cubase and Logic are slowly improving the look of their plugins. Logic keeps making subtle changes to the UI with every free release they provide.

I like Cubase but since Logic does everything I need, I don't see the need to continue to update my Cubase year after year. It really depends on your needs. For example if there is some Piano roll feature you use in CB that is not available in Logic - then either adapt or stick with CB.

I initially was motivated to move from Cubase to Logic because of having to move the dongle back and forth from my laptop to my desktop. With Logic, I can install on any of my systems (MacOS) and just run the program. In fact anyone in my family can use the same license. I realize that the Mac system is more expensive but the low cost of Logic and the free updates of the years has helped somewhat lower the overall DAW system expense.

Good Luck