i've been a PC user for years but seen the light!

just got a MacBook Pro 13" and am itching to get making tunes and recording onto it.

is it worth splashing out on the full price Logic or are the cheaper versions ok?

any recommendations for a soundcard? jack and xlr inputs a must but i'm not to bothered about a million channels or anything. in fact a couple would do.

sorry for my grovelling lack of knowledge!

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There is a house in New Orleans...

I think we're expecting a new version of Logic fairly soon, so bear that in mind before purchasing - especially as it's likely that the "cheaper" version is going away, and Logic Pro will be AppStored and probably cheaper than Logic Studio is now.

It's conjecture, but worth bearing in mind.

Welcome to Mac!

I've been using Logic Express 8....upgraded to 9 for a while now and it does everything that I want in a home studio environment......the full version will have additional facilitates whether you need them is up to you....I'd look round for good deal on the Express version....

Quote valves4ever:

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I've been using Logic Express 8....upgraded to 9 for a while now and it does everything that I want in a home studio environment......the full version will have additional facilitates whether you need them is up to you....I'd look round for good deal on the Express version....

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The Pro version can actually be quite good value depending on your needs. I myself believe the extra mark up is more than justified by Space Designer and the pro versions of the Guitar Amp Modellers, which I use constantly all the time. There are supposed to be some excellent synths in the Pro version which many swear by.

If you have a need for some of these I would go for the Pro version if not Express is more than a powerful tool, but if you are looking towards Logic I would taken Desmond's words (the professor of Logic) and wait a little bit of time til the next version comes out.

Til then you could cut your teeth on Garageband or use a different DAW eg Reaper (which is free to try and use, and not that expensive to buy) or Ableton (demos on their website). If you haven't used Logic before as intuitive as some may find it, many find it to have a very steep learning curve....

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http://soundcloud.com/earwighoney

Using logic express 9 in my home studio - it's great and i think it was only about £160 brand new. There are a few features missing such as sculpture, delay designer etc but as far as everything else goes it's great.

Also have an M-Audio Fast Track, got it from my local maplins for £79, not a bad interface for the price.

What DAW did you use before on PC?

Logic is excellent value, when you bear in mind the synths and sample content that's bundled with it. Sculpture is an amazing modelling synth, and the others are no slouch either. Some are better than other offerings, some aren't quite as good. It depends on what sort of music you want to create!

If you have a load of plugins which work on mac that you already like the sound of, you might want to wait for the new version and see if it's a standalone appstore sale instead of the pro package.

As far as audio interface, I can highly recommend the Apogee Duet or One interfaces, but it depends on your budget!

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

Logic is very good value for money, what with all the excellent bundled loops, instruments, fx and so on. It integrates well into the Mac environment as well, so it shares the operating system's software update feature.

On the other hand, Ableton is my personal favourite ....

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Instant gratification is actually pretty good. It's fast as well.

... and if you are using Logic, you may want to use an additional screen: 13" is not a lot of real estate for the Logic UI.

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Instant gratification is actually pretty good. It's fast as well.

thanks for the reply's.

to answer your Q's on pc i use FLstudio and Cubase with Waves VST's and i have about 20 gig of samples.

i make techno, jungle, hiphop and industrial metal stuff.

another screen??? this is turning into a headache!

any other soundcard suggestions? something portable would be good. i assume most soundcards work on mac and pc?

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There is a house in New Orleans...

Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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on pc i use FLstudio and Cubase with Waves VST's and i have about 20 gig of samples.

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Cubase on your mac might be a good way to go?

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Cubase, guitars.

Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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thanks for the reply's.

to answer your Q's on pc i use FLstudio and Cubase with Waves VST's and i have about 20 gig of samples.

i make techno, jungle, hiphop and industrial metal stuff.

another screen??? this is turning into a headache!

any other soundcard suggestions? something portable would be good. i assume most soundcards work on mac and pc?

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Here's a link http://forum.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php/topic/43936-differences-betw een-logic-expresspro-9/

Take a look at Iced Audio's Audiofinder http://www.icedaudio.com I use it to edit and organize all audio on my system.

I have a 15 inch quad, most of the time it sits closed on an Arc stand, connected to my 22 inch LG LCD.

At times I may use both screens, putting plugins on the laptop screen.

You can even connect to a HDTV via HDMI




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G-Dub
Studio G-fx 15inch quad-core i7 Macbook Pro Logic913

Edited by G-Doubleyou (14/09/11 01:49 PM)

Quote SecretSam:

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... and if you are using Logic, you may want to use an additional screen: 13" is not a lot of real estate for the Logic UI.

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I would second that!

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Sound Effects

Quote Kwackman:

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Cubase on your mac might be a good way to go?

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+1

What version of cubase do you currently have?

Just so you're aware, if you like cubase and want to continue using it, there will probably be a Mac install version on the cubase discs you already have. The only problem you might have is the plugins you used on the PC might not have Mac versions without a cost to crossgrade.

Of course, if you want a change, then I like logic but pro-tools is also a good option right now.

A second monitor is not essential. Don't worry about it. Only consider it if you feel like it, but use the MBP for a while before making a decision.

Almost any portable soundcard/interface will work with macs. They generally all do mac drivers. What is your budget for it?

Have a look at:
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/one.php

and

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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Mac Virgin. help!

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Would you now say that you've been deflowered?

Quote MarcusH:

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Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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Mac Virgin. help!

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Would you now say that you've been deflowered?

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There are 10 types of people in this world - 9 who understand binary; the rest are like me.

yes, i am definitely deflowered!

i'm liking this cubase idea.

does that work directly on macs or am i going to have to instal windows and run it inside. which sounds a bit fiddly to be honest.

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There is a house in New Orleans...

Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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does that work directly on macs

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Yes

Quote neil.a . a.lien:

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or am i going to have to instal windows and run it inside.

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No.

Cubase has both PC and Mac versions.

Take a look HERE

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Yep Cubase will be fine running natively on the Mac. I use Cubase 5 on an ageing G5 without problems.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote Richie Royale:

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Yep Cubase will be fine running natively on the Mac. I use Cubase 5 on an ageing G5 without problems.

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.. and I'm running Cubase 6 on a MacPro without problems too. Cubase would seem your best bet.

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Cubase, guitars.

If you like cubase then carry on using it

I personally don't get on with cubase. I moved from Cubase about 6 years ago, but haven't tried version 6 yet. Maybe that would entice me back, but Logic does everything I want at the moment, so don't see the need to change!

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

Wait for Logic X, just to see what its like. you have the option to stick with cubase as well. I rather like the idea of Logic X being stripped back and cheaper...add some choice plugins and you are good to go. cos you are on mac you will have to convert your waves plugins to audio units...if they are legit

Quote Exavior Music:

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personally don't get on with cubase. I moved from Cubase about 6 years ago, but haven't tried version 6 yet. Maybe that would entice me back, but Logic does everything I want at the moment, so don't see the need to change!

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just out of sheer curiosity what is it you don't like about Cubase that you like about Logic?

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There is a house in New Orleans...

Like I said, it's probably changed since the version 4 I'm experienced with.

However, more than anything else it's screensets in logic. being able to just hit a number key and change between arrange/mixer page. I much prefer the mixer layout in logic, and the way it handles inserting plugins, and routing on the mixer. To be fair, I generally prefer Cubase midi input and editing. But I don't really do a lot of that, it's mainly recording and mixing audio.

It all just seems to work faster for me in Logic than when I was in Cubase. I always got bogged down switching between windows and could never get it all to fit nicely on the screen. I used cubase exclusively until 6 years ago when I switched to a Mac, and decided to get Logic as a mate kept on raving about it, and back then it was £600. Don't regret the decision.

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

people keep saying to hang on for logic 10 but that could be a while away and i'm needing something now. i assume logic 9 must be really good as it's been an industry standard for ages.

although i like cubase i fancy a change and logic isn't that expensive ether.

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There is a house in New Orleans...

speaking of which.

is Logic Express good or am i better stumping up the cash for Logic Studio?

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There is a house in New Orleans...

The Mac App Store has dramatically reduced the price of some software such as Aperture and the licensing rules are generous too. If Logic moves to the App Store then there could be a price drop.

I personally would not swap DAWs just for a change; you might be underestimating just how much you have learnt about a specific interface and workflow. The workflow needs to match the way you think about music, and we seem to fall into different groups on this. I could never get on with Cubase but find Logic very intuitive, some of my colleagues love Cubase and that is fine - we are just different. If you "think" like Cubase you might not like Logic. You can always try Garageband for free which is surprisingly powerful in some areas.

Regarding interfaces there are plenty of good options out there. As a Brit I have a soft spot for Focusrite and really like the Saffire USB 6 as a tough, good sounding, no-nonsense, portable option, albeit with only 2 input channels. Firewire adds more i/o bandwidth at the expense of needing a bit more care with cable choice (9-pin to 6-pin usually) and switch-on sequence (hot swapping is not advised by Focusrite). There are plenty of options out there, all viable, so in the end it comes down to personal preferences.

Quote dBerriff:

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I personally would not swap DAWs just for a change;

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+1!

As a Cubase user I never could get on with Logic - and believe me I tried several times when I was a Mac user!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Cubase 6 on a mac here. I love the new multitrack editing, VariAudio, and most of all the rock solid performance. I've tried Logic and Pro tools, but they have never been as problem free as the latest versions of Cubase. In the studio I use our 3 different mac+cubase systems 40+ hours a week and not ONCE since we installed them have we had any computer/software problems at all (well some glitches in the GUI for 6.0.0, but nothing major, and besides, we ran 5.5.3 for all customer recordings until we ruled Cubase 6 stable enough). And that's since November last year. I find that pretty impressive. Right now I'd never dream of switching again. As someone said, though, try Garage Band, it's free and you can see how much you've gotten used to the workflow in cubase. Maybe it won't bother you that much.

//Benja

Garageband interface, for me, is not as intuitive as Logic. But I agree with others. If you work well in Cubase, and don't get confused, or mixed up in the interface, then there really isn't any point changing. That wasn't true for me, and I'm glad I changed, but I wouldn't have if I was solid on Cubase.

Personally, I've never had any problems with Logic, occasional memory stops, but only very occasionally. Not had one on the lastest mac so far.

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

There's a demo of cubase 6 available so you could try that too, the only way you'll know is to try out as much as you can, all DAW's are pretty advanced so it really is personal preference and depends on your workflow etc.

Cubase for me has the best Midi handling of all the DAW's so that's my choice but if I was doing all audio based work I might be tempted by pro-tools. Just give them a go but I wouldn't fancy changing DAW's after years of working with one you get so used to all the shortcuts and workflow options.

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http://www.williammorrismusic.com

thanks for your help peoples!

i've decided to go with logic express. i can get it pretty cheap with a student discount.

have to say i don't agree so much about not swapping DAW's. using new gear can lead to new different ideas and it's good to try new things. most DAW's these days have homogenised and are "relatively" similar from what i've been reading anyway.

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There is a house in New Orleans...