Customer Reviews

Apple Logic Pro 7 [OLDER VERSION]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

When I was setting up my current studio over 6 years ago, I used Cubase, Nuendo, Cakewalk Sonar, Digital Performer, and Pro Tools. All were fine, and all do what they're supposed to. However, Logic excels by including GREAT instruments in Logic Pro. These used to be optional, and the package was still a great value then. Now, with Logic Pro 7, the original 6 instruments (a virtual Hammond B3, a vocoder type synthesizer (EVOC20), a clavinet/electric piano, a GREAT sampler (EXS24II), and two synthesizers), as well as new instruments like an FM synthesizer (think Yamaha's DX7 on steroids), Ultrabeat (a great drum machine/beat programmer), and Sculpture (which is a "material based", physical modeling synthesizer that is SO realistic and unique that one must simply hear it AND play it to do it justice) are all included, making this package simply a STEAL, even though the price may seem to be, at first glance, a little steep. One must keep in mind that the other "big name" DAW's don't come even CLOSE as far as their included instruments. In addition, Logic Pro also has well over 70 built in effects, including "Space Designer" which is just a KILLER reverb that makes vocals just silky. Again, Space designer used to be an "additional cost" item as well.

One advantage of Apple's purchase of Emagic is that Apple Loops can be imported AND MADE in Logic Pro 7. I used to view these as "consumer level" gimmicks; however, I find them more and more useful the more I write and record, especially for drum tracks...

Everyone was worried when Emagic sold this DAW and the Emagic name to Apple; however, these fears have been unfounded, as Apple has done nothing but improve on this already great program, by making it more streamlined, efficient, and easier to use. Back "in the day" Logic was viewed as very difficult to use. This was mainly due to its' powerful "Environment", which is a virtual studio allowing extensive routing and bussing abilities. In Logic 7, this is as transparent as you want it to be, making the program as intuitive as any other DAW.

If you have Pro Tools hardware, you can use Logic as a "front end", which is great because after spending all that cash on overpriced Digidesign hardware, it's nice to find some use for it. Pro Tools doesn't even come close to doing what Logic can do, so for any of you out there afraid to make the switch...don't be. I still don't understand why so many are still using this outdated system (Pro Tools) with such a great alternative like Logic available.

As one user noted below, this system screams for power and ram. It's hard to run on anything less than a G4, and I think 2GB ram are absolutely the minimum. It does ONLY run on a Mac, which is enough reason for current PC users to upgrade to a Mac system NOW!

I have been nothing but pleased with this program, especially after Apple upgraded it to Logic 7. The included manuals are GREAT, but the program IS quite deep, and I would point the new user to tutorials on Amazon and macprovideo.com in order to get up to speed in the quickest way possible.

In summmary, for the serious hobbyist to the professional recordist/musician, this is THE program to own.

You had better have a serious machine to make this software go. My machine is a quicksilver 1ghz G4 with one gig of ram. Not nearly enough to make logic stable.

I run Ivory, Stylus RMX, Trilogy and all are useable, barely.

Latency, which was acceptable with logic 6.4.3 using MOTU PCI-424 hardware, is now completely unuseable. I'm only working on sessions I did in the past with my buffer at 1024 samples (!). That's the only way the computer can function with Logic 7.1 without clicks and pops all over the place

Logic, especially using the specrasonics plug-in's crashes about 5 times a day. I've learned to save every move I make.

I've been using logic since it was notator on the atari so I KNOW this software. what I'm saying is, you'd better have a kick-butt G5 with many gigs of ram if you even want to entertain the idea of using logic 7.

If you have that kind of machine, then go for it, i guess.

As a pro-tools and a Reason 3 user, I have some good amount of experience with computer based music recording and sequencing. I have had nothing but problems with Logic pro 7 since it was installed on my audio computer. Error windows, and a very clumsy and counterintuitive user interface. Like another reviewer said, if making music instead of operating a clumsy interface is what you would like to do, then stay clear of Logic 7 pro. And guess what, if you don't like the program, or if it doesn't work for you, a person can't return it, and they are out almost $1000.00 Reason, and pro-tools are at the top because they are the most musician friendly software out there, Logic pro 7 is not.

I bought Logic 7 around a year ago at Guitar Center after reading about it, seeing it demo'd by experienced users and was excited that Apple bought Logic 7 from eMagic. I thought that Logic 7 would be the next big thing as Apple would turn this powerhouse app into an easy, intuitive, yet powerful tool like so many other Apple products I am a HUGE fan of....boy was I ever wrong! One year later and having spent $1,000 on Logic (Ouch!) I've come to realize that Logic is anything BUT logical! *DO NOT BUY APPLE LOGIC UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERIENCED PRO/ENGINEER* *DO NOT BUY APPLE LOGIC IF YOU ARE STARTING OUT!* Over the course of the last year I've attended numerous seminars and clinics on Logic and found most users who got "tricked" into buying this application just as confused or more confused about the product that I was/am. In one instance I was sitting next to a professional film scorer who has a Master's from the school of film @ USC + A Phd in Computer Science from MIT and he was struggling with Logic too! NO B.S.! Plus there are VERY few reference/resources materials to learn Logic with. It appears that Apple has put Logic on the backburner to instead focus their efforts on selling iPods and all associated iPod periferals to converge the multimedia experience in the living room. I recently tried DigiDesign's Protools and ABSOLUTELY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! Within 10 minutes of working with DigiDesign's Protools I was making music intuitively, powerfully and having a blast! However with Apple's Logic I stuggled for over 1 year and was getting ready to give up making music this way. Even my sales person said he had mixed feelings about selling Apple's Logic to unsuspecting customers. I went to several Apple stores asking Logic questions and 99.9% of the time the Certified Apple Technicians said they couldn't/didn't understand Logic. Case in point - Unless you have much experience working with this technology and/or have lots of time getting "religion" about Logic, save yourself time, $$$ MUCH MONEY, and tons of frustration and consider another product such as the industry standard Protools. Protools is straightforward, or as complex as you want to make it, their tech support RULES, and their product migration path makes sense. Don't waste your time using Logic or you'll likely end up wasting $1,000 + like I did. I don't usually write reviews but wanted to help others from having the negative experience I did - good luck!

I was an early adopter of Logic, from version 3 on the Windows platform. I now own version 7.2.3 and it still rocks my world. I use it for professional recording and use an FW-1082 firewire interface by Tascam that operates with Logic very well. I know the interface and operation of the environments in Logic can be challenging at first glance and the books delivered by Apple aren't very helpful. When you are able to buy this application, do it, but also have some cash to buy books that take you through all the hidden features of Logic 7. On Amazon you will find a plethora of books on the subject that will help you out. I also found courses on DVD. After this you will be able to integrate Logic in your (home) studio set up.
If you would compare Logic to Pro Tools, I find Logic more attractive. It supports most hardware on firewire and USB and it does not bind you to Pro Tools hardware (this is far more expensive). People that say that Logic is a memory hogging software, should take a look at how they lay out their plug ins in their projects. This problem is the same in any software. Pro Tools needs more "rendering" than Logic in my experience, using the same amount of physical memory.
I gave it four out of five stars, because I believe Apple dropped the ball with the manuals they delivered with the package. Emagic in the early days, gave a binder with better step-by-step training for the product. This binder was updated as well, when you bought an upgrade. With the recent upgrade by Apple to Universal Binary: No manual update, but there were a lot of upgrades made behind the scenes. Now you have to get your own information through the Logic Forums, which are a great source of information by the way.

I have never used Logic Pro but I still want to say one thing. I went over the Apple forum to ask about Logic Pro stability because I was thinking of buying it. I posted a link to the apple store that had well over 50% bad reviews, mostly because of poor program stability. Not only did Apple delete my thread they went and doctored up the reviews on there store web page. They left a couple of pseudo-bad reviews where the text wasn't to damaging to make everything look up and up but for the most part they just deleted them. Something to think about before plunking down hundreds of bucks for it.

I've been working with Logic Pro 7 and 7.2 for some months now. It is so cumbersome to use and so filled with bugs that all creativity is lost. I spend countless hours trying to figure out how to solve technical problems. One feels as though they must be a computer science major to figure the thing out rather than a musician. I've been through tutorials, and I've read several books. They helped a bit, but not much. It still feels like I'm lost in a world of technical computer stuff that is not very well put together. I started out with Performer, and made a huge mistake by not going with Digital Performer. Even though it is a very costly error, I will get rid of Logic and go back to Digital Performer.

If you enjoy spending hours and even days being irritated and frustrated, then by all means, Logic is for you. If you want to create music - forget it!

Logic Pro 7 is --hands down-- the best digital production and mastering tool on the market. It is easy to use, after about two weeks of getting used to it, and with its interface simplicity, leaves the user free to focus on creating music, not trying to figure out how to use the software. The price does seem steep, but nothing else on the market can compare.