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Posts tagged with "Logic"

Apple Updates Logic Pro for iPad and Mac

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple announced updates to Logic Pro for the iPad and Mac. Both platforms gain support for 32-bit float recording and Mastering Assistant, which the company says “can instantly analyze the audio and make expert refinements to the sound, adjusting elements such as the dynamics, frequency balance, timbre, and loudness.” Mastering Assistant’s processing can be manually tweaked by musicians, too.

The update to Logic Pro for Mac adds Sample Alchemy and Beat Breaker, two tools that debuted on Logic Pro for iPad when it was introduced earlier this year. Apple also added new sound packs to Logic Pro for Mac:

The Hybrid Textures sound pack includes a collection of 70 patches, as well as over 80 Apple Loops featuring Sample Alchemy, while the Vox Melodics sound pack contains a diverse collection of over 475 lyrical phrases, hooks, layered harmonies, FX, and one-shots.

On the iPad, Logic Pro now supports Split View and Stage Manager, allowing musicians to work in multiple apps at once and take advantage of drag and drop between them. The app also has a new Recorder mode for recording sounds with the iPad’s microphone and a Quick Sampler plugin to create instruments from sounds. Samples can be previewed with gestures in Logic Pro’s Browser, and new in-app Lessons are available to help users learn the app’s new features and more.

It’s great to see Apple continue to expand Logic Pro’s capabilities and bring the Mac and iPad’s feature set closer together. More than anything, though, I’d like to see iPadOS-level audio routing added to enable the iPad to handle multiple audio inputs and outputs so I could participate in a Zoom call and simultaneously record a separate microphone input.


MacStories Hands-On: Podcast Editing with Logic Pro for iPad

I was as surprised as anyone when Apple announced that Logic Pro was coming to the iPad. I was excited too. Logic Pro is an app I use every week to produce MacStories’ podcasts, and I’d wanted the freedom to do that work on the iPad for a very long time.

However, my excitement was tempered by skepticism about whether the kind of work I do would be supported. Logic Pro for the Mac is designed for music production. It’s a very capable podcast production tool, too, but editing podcasts uses only a tiny fraction of Logic Pro’s tools. With the focus on music production in Apple’s press release announcing the iPad version, I wondered whether the subset of production tools I use would find their way onto the iPad or not.

Music production projects are typically much more complex than podcast edits.

Music production projects are typically much more complex than podcast edits.

So, when Apple offered to send me a 12.9” M2 iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil last week to test Logic Pro for iPad, I jumped at the chance to see what it could do. Since last week, I’ve played with Logic Pro’s music-making tools, which I’ll cover below. They’re impressive, but I’ve spent most of my time putting the app through a more personal, real-world test: podcast editing. After some initial exploration of Logic Pro’s UI to get my bearings, I created a project, dropped in the audio tracks from last week’s episode of MacStories Unwind, and started editing.

Logic Pro for iPad includes a collection of lessons to help you learn the app, along with a catalog of sound packs and loops.

Logic Pro for iPad includes a collection of lessons to help you learn the app, along with a catalog of sound packs and loops.

What I found is that Logic Pro for iPad is a remarkably capable alternative to the Mac version. The app comes with limitations and frustrations, like any first version of a complex new app, but it’s also the real deal. Logic Pro for iPad isn’t a companion app to the Mac version. The iPad version doesn’t match the Mac app feature-for-feature, but it’s not a watered-down version of the desktop version either. Instead, Logic Pro for iPad delivers on the promise of the iPad’s hardware in a reimagined way that we haven’t seen enough of with so-called ‘pro’ apps.

There’s a lot of ground to cover between my podcasting experiments and the music production features of Logic, so let’s dive in.

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Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro Are Coming to the iPad on May 23rd

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

At long last, Apple has announced Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the iPad. Ever since the introduction of the iPad Pro, iPad power users have wondered where the ‘pro’ apps were. Third parties released pro-level creative tools, but Apple’s lineup of apps was conspicuously absent. That looks like it’s changing with today’s announcement that Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are coming as subscription-based apps on Tuesday, May 23rd.

According to Apple’s press release:

Final Cut Pro for iPad introduces an all-new touch interface and intuitive tools — unlocking new workflows for video creators. A new jog wheel makes the editing process easier than ever and enables users to interact with content in completely new ways. They can navigate the Magnetic Timeline, move clips, and make fast frame-accurate edits with just the tap of a finger, and with the immediacy and intuitiveness of Multi-Touch gestures, push their creativity to new heights.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple says users with an M2 iPad Pro will be able to skim and preview footage using the Apple Pencil’s hover functionality. The app will also support keyboard shortcuts when connected to a Magic Keyboard.

According to Apple’s press release, Final Cut Pro will support single-device field recording, with the M2 iPad Pro supporting ProRes video. The app will also support multicam editing, which can be automatically synced together.

Auto-cropping of the subject of a video will be possible thanks to machine learning. The app will also use machine learning to assist users with cropping to common video sizes and isolating recorded voices.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple also says the app will come with a “vast library” of professional graphics, effects, audio, and animation that can be automatically adjusted to the length of a video. Finally, Final Cut Pro will be able to import from the Files and Photos app and supports iMovie projects. Plus, it will be able to export to Final Cut Projects that are compatible with the Mac version of the app.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple says that Logic Pro will take advantage of Multi-Touch gestures for manipulating a project as well as Plug-in Tiles that will provide convenient access to certain controls. The iPad’s microphones will also be available as an audio source.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

The app will also debut a sound browser:

The sound browser displays all available instrument patches, audio patches, plug‑in presets, samples, and loops in a single location, and users can tap to audition any sound before loading it into a project to save time and stay in their creative flow.

Also included in the app are over 100 instruments and effects, synths, including one called Sample Alchemy for manipulating audio samples, and an extensive set of tools for creating beats. Logic Pro for iPad will work with compatible third-party hardware like microphones, instruments, and MIDI controllers too.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

When it’s time to mix your creation, Apple says:

Multi-Touch enables creators to mix intuitively and move multiple faders at once, and the mixer meter bridge lets them quickly navigate an overview of track levels, all from iPad.

Finally, Logic Pro will support round-tripping to the Mac version of the app, GarageBand for iOS projects, and exporting in a variety of compressed and lossless formats or as individual track stems.

According to Apple:

Final Cut Pro is compatible with M1 chip iPad models or later, and Logic Pro will be available on A12 Bionic chip iPad models or later. Final Cut Pro for iPad and Logic Pro for iPad require iPadOS 16.4.

I’m glad to see Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro finally coming to the iPad. It remains to be seen how each stands up in comparison to their Mac siblings, but from Apple’s press release alone, these will clearly be more powerful and capable apps than either iMovie or GarageBand.

Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad will be available on the App Store beginning on Tuesday, May 23rd as subscriptions for $4.99/month or $49/year after a one-month free trial.


Apple Releases Substantial Update to Logic Pro X and Logic Remote

Apple has released a substantial update to Logic Pro X for macOS and the Logic Remote companion app for iOS and iPadOS that is focused on loops, sampling, and beat creation. According to Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Apps Product Marketing:

Logic Pro X 10.5 represents the biggest update to Logic since the launch of Logic Pro X, with powerful new tools that will inspire every artist — from those just getting started with Logic, to those already using it to produce Grammy Award-winning albums.

Finneas O’Connell, Billie Eilish’s producer, says:

Logic Pro X has always been my one and only DAW. The workflow is unmatched, and the built-in sound libraries have been essential to my music from the beginning. Now with the addition of Quick Sampler and Drum Machine Designer, I’m getting back hours I used to spend in the studio building sounds and kits. This lets me spend more time writing new verses and editing 70-take vocals.

Source: Apple

Source: Apple

The update emphasizes non-linear production workflows that rely on loops, samples, and drum machine design, a departure from Logic Pro X’s historically timeline-focused approach.

With the new Live Loops tools, Apple says:

Loops, samples, and recordings can be organized into a new musical grid, where musicians can spontaneously perform and capture different arrangement ideas into the timeline. From there, tracks can be further refined using all of the professional production features in Logic.

Sampler is a backward-compatible, redesigned expansion of existing Logic tools to “edit sophisticated multisampled instruments, using elegant drag-and-drop workflows that automate complex production tasks.”

For beat creation, Logic offers Step Sequencer, Drum Synth, and Drum Machine Designer. Step Sequencer is an editor that Apple describes as inspired by drum machine workflows, Drum Synth is a collection of software-generated beats, and Drum Machine Designer is Logic’s drum kit tool that now integrates with both Quick Sampler and Drum Synth, providing more control over editing kits and integrating with the new Step Sequencer.

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Finally, Apple is updating Logic Remote, the free iOS and iPadOS companion apps to Logic Pro X. The update will allow musicians to browse and add loops, trigger Live Loops, and apply Remix FX to a session.

Logic is available on the Mac App Store for $199.99. Additional information about the update is available on Apple’s dedicated Logic webpage.