Frank Szabo
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The transition from Logic 6 to Logic 7
is easily the single biggest upgrade from Emagic ever. And when I say "Emagic",
I really mean "Apple" now. Even though Apple purchased Emagic way back in July
2002, Logic 7 is the first version to obviously bear the fruits of that association, both
in name (the name "Emagic" is gone) and substance (the program has gotten the
biggest facelift ever, mostly in the form of much more logical re-organization and
"helpers"... more on this later).
Existing Logic users will still feel very comfortable with Logic 7. For example, the
Preferences and Song Settings in older Logic versions were spread out all over the place,
in different mismatched windows. Now they are completely consolidated. This is a big
change, but existing users will get used to in 30 seconds.
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Also [happily] missing from Logic are many of the "secret" methods for doing
things. For example, when working in the Arrange or Matrix, you had to already know where
to put the mouse in order to have it do different things.
Now the cursor will actually change icon in context.
This means that you don't necessarily always see the pointer tool: it'll
change to a move tool, or region resizer tool depending on where you place the mouse. It's
vastly simpler for new users to figure things out, but existing users who already know the
old tricks will still certainly
appreciate it.
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Logic 7 Pro contains several new
plugins, with some very major additions. Here are some highlights, but by no means is this
list complete:
Instruments:
UltraBeat: Think of this as a huge electronic drum machine with a built in step sequencer.
Some folks have already said they'll use this instead of Reason. You can add your own
samples (it already comes with a healthy library) or generate sounds from scratch.
Sculpture: This is the first physical acoustic modeling soft-synth I've seen, or at least
one that comes close to what the Yamaha VL series did. It takes a fair bit of DSP
horsepower, but when you hear some of the more complex models you'll appreciate why.
EFM-1: FM synthesis, in the same vein as the old Yamaha DX-7. Not as complex as Native
Instrument's FM-7, but still a welcome addition.
Insert FX:
Linear EQ: This has the same basic algorithm as the Channel EQ, but the premise here is
that you don't get any phase shift. It takes more DSP horsepower - that's why you still
have the Channel EQ available. (Don't get me wrong - having phase shift in an EQ doesn't
make necessarily bad. The vast majority of EQs have phase shifting. This can actually add
to the "good" character of the sound you're trying to shape. But in the case of
more clinical mastering for example, phase shift is usually not desirable.)
Match EQ: This can analyze an audio signal and figure out what its spectral (tonal)
signature is. In other words, what EQ setting could be used on a different piece of audio
to make it sound similar to the first piece of audio. And then the Match EQ
"morphs" itself into that EQ!
Guitar Amp Pro: This is now a competitor to Amplitube, Guitar Rig and Pod. Simply put, it
makes everything sound like it went through a guitar amp.
Pitch Correction: This is similar to Autotune, but without the graphical mode. Yes, you
can do the "Cher" effect with this one (this has got to be the most common
question I have received about this!).
Ringshifter: This is the weirdest one of the bunch. It's a ring modulator on steroids.
It's useless trying to describe this gem in words. Let's just say that it creatively
mangles whatever you put through in a very
interesting way.
By no means are Logic Pro 7's new features limited to new plug-in and soft-synths.
Have you ever used GarageBand, SoundTrack, Live or Acid? Then you know about their ability
to automatically (automagically?) timestretch audio regions depending on the tempo. Logic7
now implements this technology, called AppleLoops. Furthermore, you have the ability to
set a global transpose along the timeline, and this will not only pitch shift MIDI events
but it will also pitchshift those AppleLoops that are flagged as being pitched (in other
words, it will pitchshift a bassline but not a drumloop). You can also set a transpose
offset per AppleLoop region, and this will even work on percussion that isn't originally
flagged as being transposable.
Each audio channel now has the ability to save a "Channel Strip". This is a
single file that memorizes up to 15 insert effects (and their settings) plus a virtual
instrument in the case of AudioInstrument channels. Logic7 comes with dozens of presets of
these. This is also very useful for beginners to get an idea of how complex sounds are
made up of all the composite effects, one by one.
Experienced Logic users will lament the fact that you could only ever play one
AudioInstrument in realtime at once. Real-time layering was out of the question, not to
mention allowing more than one musician to play more than one instrument simultaneously.
Logic7 eliminates this barrier. A cool side effect bonus of this is that now you don't
have to actually select the same Audio Instrument track as the one you're trying to edit
and preview with the plugin's built in graphical keyboard....... it's all automatic now
(except this little bonus feature doesn't work with EXS24).
Do you run out of DSP very fast? Now you can hook up another Mac via Ethernet or Firewire,
and instantly have more DSP available. You only need to install Logic on the
"prime" Mac. The "node" Mac simply gets this piece of software called
"Logic Node" installed, and it doesn't require a dongle. You can install it on
as many Macs as you like. And then the "prime" Mac (the one that actually has
Logic7 installed) detects these other Macs and allows you to offload DSP resources.
Currently it only works on Audio Tracks and Audio Instruments, with internal Logic plugins
only, but not EXS24. This seems like a big limitation at first, but in practice it isn't
for many folks. Since Logic7 has so many built in plugins (effects and instruments), a lot
of users are certainly taking advantage of some/many/all of them. The fact that you can't
offload 3rd party Audio Unit plugins or EXS24 isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. And who
knows when this limitation will be lifted anyway? Officially a G5 with Gigabit Ethernet or
Firewire400/800 is recommended as the Node Mac, but it works unofficially with a G4 and
100Mb/s Ethernet or FW400/800.
If you have Logic 5/6 Gold/Platinum/Pro, the upgrade to LogicPro7 is Canadian$379.
If you have Logic 5/6 BigBox/Express, the upgrade to LogicPro7 is Canadian$919.
If you have Logic 4 or before, there is no upgrade path. You simply buy the program new
for Canadian$1299. This makes sense, since the addition of all the upgrades from Logic4 to
Logic7Pro would have exceeded C$1299 anyway.
This is certainly not an exhaustive review. There are a myraid of other improvements that
are best appreciated by actually using the program. A little known fact is that the
upgrade to LogicPro7 also contains the separate application WaveBurner Pro for OSX.
This is a completely rewritten version of the old WaveBurner for OS9, hence you can
think of it as "version 1.0".... an infant program that still has room to
improve. WBP is a premastering and mastering program.
Logic7 only works on OSX 10.3 and higher. It'll work on any Mac that Logic5 or
Logic6 for OSX worked on. Check out apple.com/logic for more details.
Frank
Szabo Product Page |