Customer Reviews

Apple Pro Training Series: Logic 6

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was a HUGE fan of Sitter's first edition training book for Logic 6, as indicated in my review of that book. I am a seasoned semiprofessional who uses Logic Pro 7 on a daily basis (and I have been a user going back to the C-Lab notator products which I used on my Atari ST's way back in the late 80's), but I still found little tidbits and hints, workflow ideas, and features that either I wasn't using or that I wasn't using efficiently; therefore Sitter's first book was a true blessing in disguise, even though touted for "beginners", it was truly for "everyuser". In fact, I considered it a paradigm for books of this nature...it covered almost all features of this complicated program in a very readable, fun, and staged fashion.

So it was with great anticipation that I awaited delivery of the newest version for version 7 of Logic. I have been amazed at all of the new stuff in Logic 7, much of it not only new, but trend-setting, in fact. The new book covers practically all these new features; e.g., Apple Loops, Global tracks, etc., and more, in Sitter's easy-to-follow style.

I have already gone through the book twice and picked up on tons of new stuff that I have implemented into my daily work with Logic 7. If you are a user, whether beginner, intermediate, or advanced, you would be hurting yourself (and your clients!) by not reading this book at least once! This is true especially if you want to get the most out of Logic 7's new features, as the book does an excellent job at steering you through them via GREAT tutorials. I was expecting to see the book for version 6 with a few extra chapters for version 7, but I was pleasantly surprised...THE BOOK HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REWRITTEN FOR VERSION 7!

The book comes with a DVD chock full of song files, tutorial files, AND 100's of FREE APPLE LOOPS! These loops alone are worth the price of the book!

I said it in the past review, and I'll say it again...If you only buy one book to help you with Logic 7, this is the one, by far! The others are simple rehashes of the manual...dry, boring, and in some cases, useless. Sitter's book will not disappoint.

Now, where's that book for Advanced users that I've seen available for preorder???!!!

My excitement at being the proud owner of Logic Pro 7 was quickly tempered by the sheer complexity of the software. I spent time with the included documentation and even bought another training book. But it was this book that unlocked Logic's power for me.

Each chapter is a standalone lesson on a different aspect of Logic that takes about an hour to complete. The lessons are well thought out and quickly empower the reader. The author allows the reader to experience one easy success after another which quickly built both my confidence and competence with the software. After completing the first chapter, I smiled wide and was once again excited about using Logic. I found the author's style to be encouraging, easy to read and not condescending.

Printed on high quality paper and signature bound, the book easily lays flat on a desk. The DVD included with the book has two Logic sessions for each chapter: One for use at the beginning of a lesson and one that demonstrates the end result. I recommend this book without reservation to Logic novices and expect that even seasoned pros can learn new tips and time saving techniques.

I bought this Apple manual because the Logic Platinum 6 full manual is downright bad (max 1.5 stars out of 5): language poor, layout poor, index awful, repeats itself.

So, now I've finished this Brock & Sitter tutorial; I did it straight through, as recommended; and I'd say the pluses and minuses are as follows:

Pluses:
1. Tutorial material (example songs) all worked and were well co-ordinated with the text.
2. Major orientation of me to Logic's layout happened (which is what I was aiming at). Now I can go ahead and do recording, editing, etc., without having those annoying 'what the hell is an Environment Object'? and such-like questions gnawing at me, which I couldn't seem to solve using the Emagic manual.
3. Writing is adequate for what it attempts, and does not waste words (well, a little...see below).
4. Good illustrations in the book that helped the flow of information and often helped me find the right place on the screen and do the right thing when I did.

Minuses
1. If I knew anything at all about Logic, I'm pretty sure I'd have been disappointed. It's not a pro manual.
2. In order to get my understanding of how Logic operates, I had to line one complete chapter with handwritten notes and essentially write my own analysis of the deep abstract structure of Logic (which I may post on the web some day). While this manual gave me enough...um...condudrum structures...to work with to achieve this analysis, it sure didn't do it for me. (On the other hand, the real Emagic manual didn't even give me a place to start from; it was hopeless trying to get oriented from it).
3. Whoever added the marketing jargon, inane pleasantries and idiot-level enthusiasms into the text (thankfully usually only at the end and beginning of chapters), spoiling the otherwise sparse and efficient descriptions, deserves to have their keyboard revoked for a week. (Example from page 312: "This arrangement is complete! You just did a lot in 12 steps. But that's how fast things go when you get good at using Logic!")
4. As with every Apple manual I've ever had (and lots of others), it smelled like toxic inks. I left it open in the sun each day to air out before using it. Interestingly, peripheral Mac books (like Pogue's Secrets, or the Emagic Logic manual) usually smell like almost nothing, and are probably made of soy-based inks on uncoated paper. (Reminds me that the SF bay area is now discovering computer-industry source Brominated toxins in the Bay water at alarming rates.)

Bottom line: if a better book comes out, get it. If not, this is a better place to start than the Emagic manual (if you're new to the program).

sr

I read the first review and thought the the writer was really Martin Sitter himself. However, having bought and used the book I am now convinced it is an excellent buy for people beginning to use Logic. The tutorials are thorough and well thought out. I doubt there is any quicker way to learn Logic, it gets you making music quickly. For beginners like myself, I have one piece of advice, though, if something does not work the way the book says reread the book very carefully. I have been stumped a couple of times but everytime the problem was that I just did not follow the instructions carefully enough.
Have fun getting into Logic.

Martin Sitter's "Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7" is a outstanding accomplishment. While taking very little for granted and offering clear explanations and tutorials for sometimes difficult areas, the more experienced will find many tips and shortcuts that offer a wealth of useful information I doubt could be learned any other way. The DVD which comes with the book includes Lesson Files for each chapter and even a trial version of Logic Express 7 itself. This is the least expensive way I know of to try out the program and determine whether or not it suits your needs. A word of caution however, there is considerable confusion concerning differences between the two programs. While I am grateful to Apple for making such a truly remarkable and well-behaved program available at such a relatively modest price, perhaps Logic Express 7 should have been named Logic "Lite" for while it is amazing what can be accomplished with it, the Express version contains several hundred less options than the "Pro" version. Certainly if you want to do much with Scoring to Video or Surround Sound you will have to purchase Logic 7 Pro.

Karl Korte
Emeritus Professor of Music
UT, Austin, TX

I own several titles in the Apple Pro Training Series, including FCP and FCP Advanced, DVD Studio Pro, Shake, and this one. I think this one is my favorite so far. Lessons were incredibly easy to follow, though still provided in-depth coverage of most aspects of the program. I don't recall coming across any typos either (unlike the DVD Studio Pro 2 volume in the Series).

All in all, I'm very pleased with this book!

Logic can be a pretty intimidating program. But this books makes Logic feel like they say... it is' Logical'.

I've owned other Logic Books but all they did was make the learning process a little more boring at times. Learning Logic should be an exciting undertaking. The Apple Pro training series make this process just that.

It's a very inspiring book to say the least. By the beginning of the first chapter, you're already diving in deeper into the program then you would be with some of these other 'generic' training Logic Pro books.

You do need a little bit of basic knowledge of sequencing witihin software apps. Just basic stuff like, what is an arrange window, what is a song position pointer etc...in order to start flying through this book. In other words, if you are just learing how to use music software apps, then the learing curve of Logic might be a little high at first. So this book pretty much assumes that you know the ABC's and 123's of navigating through music apps.

The lessons are fun, easy to follow and the excercises are easy to remember. The diagrams are nice and clear also.

Another thing I like about this book is it reviews what you will be learning in the chapters prior to the beginning and after they end. A lot of other books just keep going and going and going with no end or goals in site! This book gives you goals.

The books also comes with a free 30 day trail of Logic Express so if you just want to try out Logic and see if it's for you without spending several hundreds of dollars on the program, this is a cheap way to go. If you find out that Logic is not for you then this book will definetly hold its value.

I highly recommend this book all over the other Logic Training books offered on the market!

Once starting the training series, it was hard to stop. This book has saved me a great deal of time in learning the program. Book is easy to follow and gets you through one step at a time. If I had tried to learn without it, I'd still be experimenting. After completing 75% of the book. I'm seeing projects to completion. Highly recommend!

Make it this one...no kidding...

I have been a logic user for 4 years now, have used sequencers and digital audio since 1990, and have been a musician for more than 25 years. I have had a love/hate affair with Logic, such that I really never did much more than straightforward live recordings and simple stuff because I never really found any way to work through the details of this most complicated of DAW's. Because of Logic's WONDERFUL plug-ins, I decided to commit to REALLY mastering it over the last few months, and in the process I have read EVERY book known on Logic (the only ones that come close are the new "Logic 6 Power"...but it is very unorganized, and incomplete for the size of the book, and "Creative Projects for Logic Audio"...but it is becoming dated and doesn't have near the depth of the Sitter and Brock book...), and I've watched both major training videos (from VTC and Cool Breeze)... I held off on this book until VERY last mainly b/c of the negative review listed below, because I do Pro work with my studio, including Logic. I would not say this is for "Pro's", but then I don't know of any "Pro" (if by "Pro" one means Logic "master"; otherwise, any "Pro" working with Logic would get something out of this book) who would need anything more than the reference manual. This book has something for everyone, up to experts. It teaches a METHOD of working within logic, and very often anticipates readers questions about problems, and why Logic handles certain things in the way that it does. I was very impressed with how simple the book APPEARS to be, yet when worked through, you realize that you know much more than you would've expected, because the book teaches you the groundwork of HOW Logic works, which allows the user to work his way through any problem or situation...This book is worth its weight in gold...BUT don't buy it for the demo (it's 30 day limited, AND you have to wait on a "hardware" key via mail AFTER you buy the book...)...buy it because you want to learn Logic in a way that will serve you forever. The prose is very good, and the book is technically sound. I only found a few typos, but much fewer than I've seen in other books in the genre.

As well, this book has BY FAR the best illustrations/photos, showing almost every step in excellent detail. There were MANY times where I wasn't quite sure what to do...in other books, I'd have been lost, but here, a quick look at the photos generally got me through just fine. Kudos to the editors for allowing so much space for them...

Don't waste any more time, just get this one, cuddle up, down some caffeine, and go to work...Ignore the negative reviews below...trust me, this book will not disappoint if you want to get the most out of Logic...

I will PLEAD with the authors to PLEASE give us a "Level 2" book in this format and quality...I will be first in line!

I was first a Studio Vision user, then a Digital Performer user. Then two events occurred that made me want to try Logic: 1) DP was slow to go to OS X & 2) Apple bought emagic (the maker of Logic). So, I picked up Logic Big Box, which is Logic Audio with some added instruments and sounds.

I was shocked after I loaded Logic and tried to use it. It's not intuitive at all, the interface is confusing, the help is useless, and simple things are missing like tool tip's (the text that shows up when you hold the mouse-arrow over an icon). I really thought about switching back to DP or over to ProTools. But I thought I'd give it another chance by ordering this book and working through it...

Glad I did - I now like Logic. This manual is not only well written and well structured, it's a got great hands-on examples in the lessons. I can't recommend it enough. ***If you are new to Logic (regardless of whether you are new to computer-based recording), get this book!*** Apple should really include it with the software...