Is Logic Pro a good idea considering Cubase 10.5 Pro runs on M1 big sur

[Crholdin]

Im a metal and rock musician. I had a Win 10 x64 i7 laptop so I purchased Cubase 10.5 Pro during summer.

Fast forward to holidays, and I now own an m1 big sur mac.

Logic is a perfect DAW for M1 macs but I already bought a $500 DAW and dongle only 6 months ago, and oddly, Cubase 10.5 (being their best version to date) works on Big Sur, [unlike Cubase 11].

Logics biggest issue is the audio unit, or VSTs. Not only does Big Sur have issues with a lot of third party plug ins, but it seems Logic is even more discriminatory than Steinberg is with 3rd party. Most plug ins work with Cubase ...not so with Logic and in particular I use virtual drum or drummer apps, so that is essential As I literally play all my instrumental (guitar, bass, keyboard /synth) parts so drums are important above all

Anyway Air Strike 2, XLN Addictive Drums 2, and BFD3 aren’t big sur compatible yet, but Toontrack EZ2/SD2, Steven slate 4, and Rayzoon Jamstix do work, which are most important to me, and they all run in Cubase 10.5 Pro on both win 10 and Mac m1 - most crash or don’t load in logic yet


So , as the VSTs are updated for m1, is Logic a good replacement for Cubase 10.5 Pro, which I thought was not only the best windows DAW to date in 30 years of digital audio, but the best all around DAW over all, despite pro tools 8 being the final gold standard as digidesign sold to avid and proprietary hardware was left behind

Does anyone have experience with M1, drum VSTs with big sur or Logic, and does anyone use Cubase 10.5 with their M1?

(Honestly it’s just as stable as Windows 10)

Thanks !

[pdxindy]

I don't have an M1 Mac yet... waiting for the next iteration and the 16" MBP. I also haven't updated my computer to Big Sur as I am waiting a bit longer for stuff to be compatible.

Obviously you would be benefited when the plugins you use are updated for Native M1 support. You are currently running in Rosetta which has a significant CPU hit. Cubase is not yet M1 native and 10.5 never will be. Logic is already M1 native and I guess that is why the plugins running in Rosetta aren't working so well... but that is just a guess.

[Crholdin]

Great reply . Answer is: buy Logic Pro, as it is the best Mac DAW And m1 optimized/native with future update free (unlike Cubase which as you said is running through rosetta2)


Was my purchase premature? Perhaps but not truly - I was trading in an iPad Pro 10.5”(I paid $275) and Apple gave me $300 for it - then I had a teacher discount brining the total to $700: I had a $50 gift card so I ended up buying the new, best (albeit untested) Mac for less than $300 cash/out of pocket which I thought would be a nice Christmas present

Maybe I should have waited , kept the $300 credit, and bought the m1 or m2 next year, but I thought the offer was great, the product perfect and the future bright

It seems there is a huge focus for m1/big sur by many developers , from this forum alone , besides independent announcements like from XLN for example....so I think I did alright


I just hope someone realizes my offer for Cubase 10.5 Pro with the dongle, and metal essential ad on for $250 shipped via PayPal , or $225 via Cash app, Apple Pay or chase/citi / money order was the deal of the year - who knows, offer me [NO LESS] than $200, or a $50 Apple Card and $150 cash app...... I mean it’s such a deal with flexibility in payment I don’t get how no one offered me the right amount! Honestly, Cubase 10.5 Pro is the BEST DAW , not only for windows x64 but overall (except for m1 macs lol)

Thanks for the reply pdxindy

[pdxindy]

Yeah... Logic is unbeatable as far as price/performance. The upgrades are top notch and free.

Logic is great for drums. The new Drum Machine Designer is impressive... as are the Quick Sampler and Sampler. The new Step Sequencer is solid. And the Drummer tracks are really fast to work with. Add in the excellent groove tools and Logic is right there with the best VST/AU's for Drums.

[Crholdin]

Yeah... Logic is unbeatable as far as price/performance. The upgrades are top notch and free.

Logic is great for drums. The new Drum Machine Designer is impressive... as are the Quick Sampler and Sampler. The new Step Sequencer is solid. And the Drummer tracks are really fast to work with. Add in the excellent groove tools and Logic is right there with the best VST/AU's for Drums.

So funny you mention that - I was just watching a tutorial on the drummer, and you are right, the “drummer” AU in Logic is right up there with Cubase groove agent 5.... I really look forward to attempting the transition, and see what new creativity it might bring

I hope Logic Pro eventually offers in app metal add ons, like GA5.

Btw, do you know if there is a way to “import “ a groove or midi clip to “influence “ the Drummer? I mean they have good hard rock And metal drums, but how do you get them to “change” or adapt to your guitar riffs? Or is that better let to another section ?

Thanks again pdxindy

[kovacs]

The Drummer player has a «Follow» setting.

https://support.apple.com/no-no/guide/l ... 310225/mac

[Bombadil]

Re: 3rd party plugins...have you started Logic in Intel mode? Or will xln's installer not run on your m1 at all? ADD and ADK are 2 of the 3rd party stuff I'd like to work on this machine, Hive 2 and TrackS and I'll be satisfied for the moment.

[pdxindy]

Btw, do you know if there is a way to “import “ a groove or midi clip to “influence “ the Drummer? I mean they have good hard rock And metal drums, but how do you get them to “change” or adapt to your guitar riffs? Or is that better let to another section ?

Thanks again pdxindy

You can set Drummer so the Kick and Snare follow a track (or track stack) like a bass or rhythm guitar or whatever.

You can also extract grooves and apply them... and set a track to be the groove master and any other tracks including the Drummer track can be selected to follow it.

If you use the arranger track and define different sections as intro, chorus, verse etc, Drummer will respond to that too.

Each Drummer region can have its own settings. You can convert the Drummer region to a midi region and back.

It's pretty capable... more than the simple interface first appears.

[uOpt]

The big problem I have with Logic Pro is them cutting off "old" OSes too early.

Logic 10.6 requires Catalina, which is a too aggressive schedule for my taste. Many people are still one OSX earlier because of various reasons all caused by Apple in the first place.

[v1o]

You need to be aware that if you run the ARM native version of Logic you won't be able to run 3rd party plugins that require Rosetta. And the vast majority of 3rd party plugins are not yet available as universal binaries yet. Many people with M1 Macs are choosing to run Logic Pro user Rosetta so that they can still run their old plugins and projects. I see no reason not to run Cubase under Rosetta if you're getting useable performance. The M1 has been shown to outperform older Macs at running x86 code even with the Rosetta layer.

[Jolaff]

You need to be aware that if you run the ARM native version of Logic you won't be able to run 3rd party plugins that require Rosetta. And the vast majority of 3rd party plugins are not yet available as universal binaries yet. Many people with M1 Macs are choosing to run Logic Pro user Rosetta so that they can still run their old plugins and projects. I see no reason not to run Cubase under Rosetta if you're getting useable performance. The M1 has been shown to outperform older Macs at running x86 code even with the Rosetta layer.

You can run 3rd party plugins even if you don't load Logic with Rosetta. It's just that each time you will load a new plugin there will be a small delay.

[v1o]

You need to be aware that if you run the ARM native version of Logic you won't be able to run 3rd party plugins that require Rosetta. And the vast majority of 3rd party plugins are not yet available as universal binaries yet. Many people with M1 Macs are choosing to run Logic Pro user Rosetta so that they can still run their old plugins and projects. I see no reason not to run Cubase under Rosetta if you're getting useable performance. The M1 has been shown to outperform older Macs at running x86 code even with the Rosetta layer.

You can run 3rd party plugins even if you don't load Logic with Rosetta. It's just that each time you will load a new plugin there will be a small delay.

Many people have reported instability and crashes when running x86 plugins (Waves, Serum, Arturia etc etc) in the AS native version of Logic Pro. It's recommended to run the Rosetta version when using x86 plugins.

[Kypresso]

Many people have reported instability and crashes when running x86 plugins (Waves, Serum, Arturia etc etc) in the AS native version of Logic Pro. It's recommended to run the Rosetta version when using x86 plugins.

How exactly do i get logic to run the rosetta version rather than the native one.

I just bought a mac mini m1 the other day and i'm still a bit lost doing things the apple way.

[kovacs]

How exactly do i get logic to run the rosetta version rather than the native one.

I just bought a mac mini m1 the other day and i'm still a bit lost doing things the apple way.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211907

[Jolaff]

Many people have reported instability and crashes when running x86 plugins (Waves, Serum, Arturia etc etc) in the AS native version of Logic Pro. It's recommended to run the Rosetta version when using x86 plugins.

How exactly do i get logic to run the rosetta version rather than the native one.

I just bought a mac mini m1 the other day and i'm still a bit lost doing things the apple way.

In Finder, go to your "Applications" folder. Right click on Logic Pro app and then choose "Get Info". In "general" section of the info windows you have an option that you can check "Open using Rosetta".

With that option selected, each time you will open LP, it will open with Rosetta.