Apple’s Logic 6 Review: The Background, Feature & Application 2022

Manufacturer: Apple
Price: Pro & Express

The Background

So, here’s the thing with Logic: It’s difficult to understand at first. However, despite its complexity and profusion of apparently redundant functions and executions, the software is deep and, in the end, helps the user by providing the maximum amount of freedom in how they utilise it. The operations of the software and the manner in which it views the whole digital audio process are extremely musically focused, and, for want of a better phrase, logical in nature.

The handbook is available in both textual and computer-based formats, such as a Logic Audio help file (which with a search engine comes very handy). Despite the fact that it goes into great detail regarding many of the software’s subtleties, it lacks a step-by-step “here’s how to use the programme” part. In all seriousness, if you decide to get Logic Audio, spare yourself the effort and invest in a book on how to use it – you’ll be up and running much more quickly. I propose Stephen Bennett’s “Making Music With Emagic Logic Audio” or “Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Audio 6” as excellent resources.

The Arrange page is the primary tracking section, and it is both extensive and clear. When you choose a track, the left-most half of the window is transformed into a channel strip, with parameter boxes and toolboxes on each side. This is a fantastic configuration since it enables you to handle numerous things straight from the main window, saving you from having to jump back and forth between several windows to just alter a plug-in or volume level. In the Arrange box, you may make changes to audio at a granular level, down to a single sample. In the options, you may choose which additional editors will be shown when you double-click either the midi or audio tracks when they are double-clicked. In Fig 1, I’ve placed the transport bar (basic stop, start, and rec buttons) inside the Arrange page, but you can just as easily remove them and have the transport bar float wherever you want it to be. The automation is well-designed, and the samples are of high quality (as sample-accurate automation can be burdensome on your computer, you can switch it partially or completely off if you like.)

Logic Audio gives shortcuts to everything you need, and it also enables you to customise the appearance of all of those keyboard shortcuts. Each and every function in Logic Audio, as well as functionalities that can only be accessed via key commands, is accessible through key commands. In addition, there are firms that manufacture color-coded key command keyboards (www.logickeyboard.com), which are well worth looking into as well. Given the fact that magic is now a part of Apple, I believe that Logic Audio will become a key competitor to Pro-Tools with the introduction of certain unique audio interfaces from the company.

Controlling MIDI devices is handled by the Environment, which is responsible for putting them up and controlling them. Many people are afraid of the environment at first look, but there is one thing you need to understand about it: it can be as simple or as intricate and powerful as you want it to be, depending on your needs. You won’t find anything like it in any other audio recording software package. There are a few pre-installed MIDI Instrument templates (banks and patches) that you can copy into your MIDI instrument layer of your Environment to assist with getting started, but you can also create your own Environment objects, or download a template someone else may have created, if your synth is not included in the list. For more information, visit http://www.swiftkick.com. It is also possible to change every parameter and catalogue and save your patches using Emagic’s proprietary Editor/Librarian tool, SoundDiver, which is available for purchase from the company. SoundDiver includes templates for about 500 other devices in addition to the ones listed above.

The Features

There are some fantastic standard plug-ins, and there are those that are less than amazing. Although I thought the reverbs to be very cold and steely sounding, Space Designer, which is included free of charge in Logic Pro 6, did not strike me as being so at the time of writing. Based on what has been said about Sound Designer in the press, one would have to conclude that it is a pretty nice sounding game. The delays and eqq are both fantastic in this game. Excellent work has been done with the newly added Channel EQ. It comes with an FFT analyzer that you can use to monitor the eq of your track or mix in real time, which is included. Later, using the super-precise parametric EQ, you may correct them. Numerous plugs have two faces, one that is more “graphical” in nature and another that is more “sliders-oriented.”

In Logic Audio 6, there are a plethora of amazing capabilities for dealing with audio files. Despite its simplicity, the time-stretching produces excellent sound quality. (Refer to Fig. 9) Additionally, there is Automatic Tempo Matching. Consider the following scenario: you’ve got a live drum loop that was captured without a click that you’d want to match up with your music. Logic Audio will identify and modify the sequence’s pace to match the loop’s speed with the help of Automatic Tempo Adjustment. Logic Audio can also convert audio into written notation (! ), which is really useful. The scrubbing of the audio and midi tracks is seamless. And the application is capable of supporting both 44.1 and 48 kHz sample rates at the same time, if necessary. Sweet.

Another delectable piece from the candy jar of features is presented here: Consider the following scenario: you’re listening to a live recording of a string quartet, and someone accidently hits their instrument with their bow in the midst of a phrase, resulting in a terrible click. The click may be seen visually as a jagged wave rather than a pleasant smooth one if you look at it in the Sample Editor and zoom in with the magnifying glass to see it more clearly. When you switch to the pencil tool, you may actually write fresh information over the top of the old, creating a smooth line where the previous jagged line had been. (See Fig. 11 for an example) Although you may not be able to totally eliminate the click using this approach, it may significantly reduce the volume of certain unpleasant noises. When I first tried it, I was really taken aback.

This is one of the most extensive notation editors I’ve seen included with a sequencer application, and it’s included with the Sequencer as well. It comes with preset scoring styles, each of which may be customised in every way – for example, staff size, voice number in each staff, clef, transposition, split point, and so on. You have the ability to explode. If you want to make changes to the notation without making any changes to the midi data, you may do so (this might be confusing, so it’s probably better to create a clone of the project and do all of your hard quantization there). Composers who need to convert midi files to notation that is genuinely understandable and relatively right but do not need the capabilities of Finale or Sibelius will find Logic Audio to be an excellent choice thanks to the extensive features of the Score Editor.

When working with the Project Manager, it’s quite simple to rapidly apply your preferred plug-in settings from other songs, retrieve an audio file from another song or a drum loop saved in a folder of loops, or do anything else. You may also store all of the files related with a song into a project folder, which makes it very simple to burn a duplicate of your music file to a CD. You may import any folder on your hard drive into the Project Manager, allowing you to organise and make readily available the whole collection of audio and related data on your computer.

You can bounce internal synth midi tracks in the same way as you bounce audio tracks. What a fantastic concept! This capability is really beneficial to me, particularly in today’s environment, when the rising tendency toward software synthesisers is becoming more prevalent.

Due to the fact that Logic Audio is TDM compliant, it may be used in conjunction with Digidesign audio gear. Some argue, however, that the OMF import/export capability is presently only compatible with mac OS9 (contrary to magic’s advertising), leaving those aspiring to the ideal configuration of Logic Audio 6 on OSX on a G5 with a G5 still waiting for the feature to become available. Emagic has said that they are aware of the issue and are trying to resolve it, so keep your fingers crossed and keep an eye out for an update.

For us forgetful musicians, the programmers have thoughtfully included a plethora of fail-safes. The application is constantly saving, in both big and little amounts. You may establish an autosave function that will save your work every 5 minutes or every time increment you choose. In the undo history, you may keep up to 100 different undos, and if you were playing your midi instrument along with the existing song while not recording, you can turn the last pass into a genuine track if you decide it was nice and you missed it.

Conclusion

Finally, but certainly not least, Logic Audio is quick and responsive, has a clear graphical interface, is highly customisable and, maybe most importantly, has a committed development staff. In the last couple of years, Logic Audio has advanced by leaps and bounds in terms of features and usefulness, many of which I know were expressly requested by customers (which, to my mind, indicates that magic is paying attention to its customers’ complaints and needs). And now that Apple has acquired them, it seems likely that the current pace will continue, if not accelerate. In order to comply with Apple’s 30-day announcement policy (which ensures that a product announced as being available will in fact be available within 30 days), Emagic has agreed to adhere to the policy, which is welcome news for those who have been frustrated by other software companies’ empty promises of delivering a new version and new software by specific deadlines. The application is not without flaws, and it has problems just like any other system. However, the fact that Apple and Emagic are working together implies (hopefully) greater stability (I haven’t had a single crash yet), simplicity of use, excellent features, and perhaps the most cutting-edge music-making audio tool available for the Macintosh platform.