Apple Logic Pro

[samdean]

Hi Experts here,

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been thinking about trying Apple Logic Pro. But the need to buy an Apple machine bothers me for a long time. It is not cheap and I have no need to use Apple desktop or laptop for daily work.

I may have to try Apple logic, I guess. Just to see what is going on with Logic. If it has some good instruments, I will be happy. Some people say it is buggy, some other people say it is almost industry standard.

Can experts here kindly give me some advice, regarding particularly the instruments and sounds in Apple Logic Pro?

I have GarageBand on iPad and I like it.

Thanks a lot!

[BKSchatzki]

Do you already have a Mac? If so, you can trial it anytime. If not, and you wouldn't be thinking of buying a computer otherwise, I'd think twice.

Logic wasn't my first DAW, but I think that it excels at being a first DAW. It comes with so much stuff (instruments, effects, loops/samples), and it can be really simple to use. I think a lot of the workflow is a little bit "legacy" though. A lot of DAWs feel much snappier than Logic in their editing, navigation, etc.

[MissOptimyst]

If you don’t love or already have a Mac, I wouldn’t bother. That is also coming from someone who uses Logic as their primary DAW and has been using Mac 10+ years. There are so many other DAWs on the market that are cross platform and I am even considering leaving the Apple ecosystem as a whole as it has become less reliable over the years especially if you use third party plugins and tons of hardware. Their yearly OS updates has caused the industry to force paid updates of almost every software each year and its starting to price me out.

[BKSchatzki]

I am even considering leaving the Apple ecosystem as a whole as it has become less reliable over the years especially if you use third party plugins and tons of hardware. Their yearly OS updates has caused the industry to force paid updates of almost every software each year and its starting to price me out.

This is a very, very good point. Apple's updates keep breaking things, and software needs to be constantly updated just to keep it working. I assume OP is new to production, so let me mention a well-known example they might have not yet heard: the Waves Update Plan. After you purchase the plugins, you have to pay yearly to keep them updated. Windows users can afford to just not bother, but if you've run the time out on your upgrade on a Mac and Apple releases an OS update, you're SOL.

[BBFG#]

Apple Solutions = "Child Size Nets". Haven't been able to get past that.

[MissOptimyst]

I am even considering leaving the Apple ecosystem as a whole as it has become less reliable over the years especially if you use third party plugins and tons of hardware. Their yearly OS updates has caused the industry to force paid updates of almost every software each year and its starting to price me out.

This is a very, very good point. Apple's updates keep breaking things, and software needs to be constantly updated just to keep it working. I assume OP is new to production, so let me mention a well-known example they might have not yet heard: the Waves Update Plan. After you purchase the plugins, you have to pay yearly to keep them updated. Windows users can afford to just not bother, but if you've run the time out on your upgrade on a Mac and Apple releases an OS update, you're SOL.

Exactly. If I upgrade my OS on Mac I would have to pay for WUP on all of my Waves plugins, Arturia V Collection upgrade, and apparently now also Antares Autotune as of late. I can imagine Ozone 9 and some of my older Izotope plugins may be next now that they moved on to newer versions and there are others I haven’t even checked into yet I fear will be the same. It’s a mess. I can’t blame developers for not supporting older OSes once they make the jump but I can’t afford to pay for perpetual licenses like subscription models each year either!

[roman.i]

Can’t say that it’s expensive for what you get. Logic costs only $200 and rarely requires a paid update. Comes with sounds and usable plugins. Then the Mac computer with M1 or M2 is quite powerful. I actually think to get that amount of performance from a windows computer you’ll have to pay more. Downsides as people mentioned above…

[Bombadil]

I haven't paid for any updates since I bought it in 2013. Since I'm a Mac guy anyway, Logic is an absolute no-brainer. I've (yes) tried Reaper and Cubase. Logic performs better than the latter and I prefer the GUI to the former.
The included instruments range from excellent to mediocre. I could easily work with what's ITB with an audio interface for guitars and vox.
YMMV.

[FapFilter]

Logic‘s paid upgrades come in the form of a new Mac, that’s required at a certain point.
Though by that time, many would have upgraded their computer anyway. i should have retired my last laptop that i was using for almost 12 years, at least 3 years earlier aswell

[cryophonik]

I'm primarily a Mac/Logic user as of about 5-6 years ago, but I use/have used a lot of different DAWs on both Macs and PCs. Buying a Mac to try Logic seems a bit like the tail wagging the dog. My advice would be to decide if the Mac ecosystem is for you first and consider what you may gain or lose by switching to a new OS, unless perhaps you plan to stay current on both, which is what I've done (but music and photography/videography is done almost completely on my Mac these days). Take a look at your current software and hardware and make sure that it's all cross-OS compatible, compare performance and stability for your hardware and any peripherals, etc. All that said, Logic is an incredible value and despite any future changes that Apple may make to the OS, you can rest assured that Logic and all of its bundled plugins and content will be continuously updated to maintain compatibility and stability.

[Bombadil]

Logic‘s paid upgrades come in the form of a new Mac, that’s required at a certain point.
Though by that time, many would have upgraded their computer anyway. i should have retired my last laptop that i was using for almost 12 years, at least 3 years earlier aswell

I'm on the 2nd computer in the 9 years since LPX came out. And this one, the M1 Mini, is faster and more powerful than the 27" iMac 4ghz 32gb RAM it replaced. At half the cost. So, that criticism isn't exactly valid, ime. This computer should also have another 3-4 years shelf life, minimum. So, that would be 13 years, 2 computers, and a 1 time purchase for Logic.

[FapFilter]

It wasn‘t even a criticism, just a fact that you will have to purchase a new Mac, if you still want to be able to update to the newest versions at one point.

[Bombadil]

No, but some people do use it like that. There are Mac haters out there, after all. Gotta buy a new computer ever few years and Macs are expensive. That's the main criticism against using Logic, but it isn't entirely valid, as I pointed out from my own experience.

[AsgardBS]

[lets take a macbook pro for example, analysis may be slightly different on a mac mini or mac studio]
A Macbook price is justfied by the featureset it offer, but if one don't everything it has to offer, yes it can be pricey.

Thats the issue with Apple product ; its a no compromise vision. Either you take the full package at a respectable price, or you go somewhere else. They don't make much compromise, they don't have a huge lineup. Thats why people think they are pricy. You can't just shop and say, I will just take a regular display, the cpu and the ram and not take the rest of the package

With Macbook Pro you get ;
- High res display, with 100% P4 color gamut (the standard used for video editing/mastering), and about >98% adobe RGB (standard for photo editing). Just such display alone is expansive
- You get a M1/M2 CPU that is an ARM architecture with a superscalar microarchitecture that goes toes to toes against flagship CPU of intel and AMD when it come to single core performance, while at the same time is more low power, more battery life
- Full metal body
- The best touchpad/trackpad
- Backlight keyboard
- Up to 64 GB RAM
- Some of the best quality speaker you can find on a laptop ever, meaning that if you don't have your headphone with you, you still get a decent experience, for quick audio production on the go

Thats for the hardware side... find a laptop that can match that, that is cheaper

In addition when it come to software side;
- You get a Unix based OS, quite stable, with all the advantage of proper UNIX networking and other stuff
- You get a robust audio core that is low latency
- You get a journaled file system (thus it can repair itself and avoid file corruption... windows is still in the prehistoric age with its NTFS)
- Robust filesystem level snapshot with time machine
- You can save money on your DAW by getting Logic Pro, for only 200$... Logic Pro is in the big boys league, with Cubase, Pro tools and Nuendo when it come to big recording studio (from hollywood to many of the biggest hits)... Basically, you get a A+++ daw for 200$ when its worth around >800$. Logic come with some of the best stock plugin for mixing/mastering (everyone jealous of Logic included compressor and reverb). Whatsmore, Logic come with Alchemy, a synth that is equivalent of omnisphere/uvi falcon, Alchemy alone used to be sold for >500$.
- You can save money on your video editing software by getting final cut for only 200$... Yet again, Final cut is in the top 3 best video editor
- If you are a student, can get both, Logic pro and Final cut for 200$

Is a Macook pro overpriced for what it offer? [Yes and No]. For the RAM and SSD, you pay an Apple tax. For everything else, it follow the same price as competition. When you consider everything on the hardware side, no. Try to find another computer with similar specs cheaper (Display + top of the line CPU + metal body...).
Of course, if one don't care about display, don't care about a metal body, don't care about a backlight keyboard, etc... Its possible to find a laptop cheaper with good performance.

Buying a new computer for Logic? Is an Apple product make sense ? Yes, and no.
If you are serious about using Logic, and will fully use it, it may make sense, and come at similar price point to other computer on the market. Will pay more for the hardware, because maybe you didn't need that 100% P4 display for example, and just wanted the computer, but then save many hundred on the software side.

However, if you buy a Macbook Pro and suddenly decide that finally, either Music is not for you, or you decide to switch DAW... it make less sense.

An Apple product is only worth it if you can dive into the ecosystem as much as possible (Logic, Final Cut, iWork, iCloud, etc...) so you can get the most out of the software ecosystem for cheap, or if you wanted a computer with exactly the same hardware specs, where such machine would cost the same amount at Lenovo, and Dell anyway (just look at XPS price).

[AsgardBS]

Hi Experts here,

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been thinking about trying Apple Logic Pro. But the need to buy an Apple machine bothers me for a long time. It is not cheap and I have no need to use Apple desktop or laptop for daily work.

I may have to try Apple logic, I guess. Just to see what is going on with Logic. If it has some good instruments, I will be happy. Some people say it is buggy, some other people say it is almost industry standard.

Can experts here kindly give me some advice, regarding particularly the instruments and sounds in Apple Logic Pro?

I have GarageBand on iPad and I like it.

Thanks a lot!

However, as you pointed out in your initial post, you are not fully diving in an Apple ecosystem. So the computer would be just for Logic... Its a hard call for buying a machine for one software if you are not interested in other stuff it has to offer. By the way you formulate it, would only use Logic, and won't even use the computer as a regular machine, thus let alone fully use the photo/video editing grade display it has to offer.

So you just want some RAW power and One software, and Apple won't sell you that, they will sell you their nice big package. Like I said previously, cannot choose or build your computer you want that much, and they don't have many line up, thus why their machine can get pricey. (And yes, I have to admit that one place where Apple have a tax, its the RAM and SSD, where its more expensive)