Every week here on WLPR my goal is to create content that helps you achieve more with LPX. But once in a while I just have to go on record and boast about how awesome LPX is.
Lately when I go on YouTube, I keep seeing videos that go along the lines of:
“Top 10 Reasons You Should Be Using [DAW X]!”
Which is totally fine! Everyone has their DAW that they love. But I can’t help but feel Logic Pro is a giant that often gets overlooked.
Maybe it’s because Apple doesn’t shout from the rooftops like everyone else about their pro apps? Seems to me they just tried to build great products and let the products speak for themselves.
And since I live in the U.S., and yesterday was Thanksgiving, it got me thinking.
Just in case you’re not from the States, every November we celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving. Which is a time of year where families gather, and we make time to be gracious and thankful for our blessings.
Right after Thanksgiving, however, is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. A day of “shop til you drop!” And we call that day Black Friday.
Today is Black Friday.
So I wanted to buck the shopping trend and extend the thanks I’m feeling towards LPX. I rely on LPX everyday. And since I know every other DAW out there is going to be running Black Friday specials to get you to spend money, it seemed like a good time to post this video.
In today’s video, I share with you the top 10 reasons why I think Logic Pro X is the best DAW out there.
If you’re new to the Apple universe, just got a Mac and aren’t sure what DAW is right for you – watch today’s video.
If you’ve been using a different DAW fo years but have always been eyeing LPX – watch today’s video.
If you’re a proud LPX user and know someone who should really look into LPX – please spread the love! Or leave a comment about why you love LPX too 😉
had no idea a Beck track is there! thx!
You bet Wade! There’s also a Foster the People session lurking as well. At least last I checked.. 🙂
Ive been a recording engineer since the mid 80’s. In addition to being an analog engineer, I was also a Pro Tools engineer for 12 years before a friend of mine at CMT invited me over to his house to check out Logic Pro, version 7. That was in 2006. So I messed with LP7 for about an hour or so and bought it the next day, and have been on it ever since, now going on 12 years.
As an engineer and producer living in Nashville, there are still an endless amount of studios here that tout Pro Tools as the industry standard. However, I find that most of them are so financially entrenched in PT that they have to say that. Besides, they also dont want newbies to know they could record without them using LPX.
It still amazes me that anyone would pay a subscription to own a DAW that doesnt even come with a single plugin and costs $50 more than LPX for a one year subscription.
Im also in agreement here with Chris that Drummer is an absolutely amazing app–worth the $200 alone. Just watching the vector based rendering of the beat change when you move ‘the ball’ around is a real mind-blower. I also find Drum Designer and Ultrabeat (not mentioned in this video) to be awesome drum apps, which rival Native Instruments and other loop based programs. I begin almost every writing session with Drummer, and in some cases Drummer becomes the drum track for the song. Other times I’ll just plug in a USB printer cable from my Alesis DM8 Pro electronic drum kit and pull up a kit in Logic and have a live drummer play. This all IN THE BOX setup saves me thousands in drum microphone costs alone, and allows me way more flexibility with the mix than ever before.
I couldnt agree more that X is a total game changer, and came out from Apple like gang busters. With X, I can forget about spending another $400 on Melodyne, because Flex-Pitch works great. With X I can forget about most other 3rd party plugins and sounds, because its all part of LPX. With Logic, everything is vertically integrated into the program, and it all works great together. Can you say that about other 3rd party plugins?
Its also never been easier to begin creating a song idea and finish it all in one program. With X, I can use Drummer to get a beat going, tap out bass line ideas on the typing keyboard (command K) add some key parts, and begin arranging the song. Try doing that with Pro Tools. To date, I have not found a single thing that Pro Tools does that LPX can not do better, faster, or easier.
Making the switch couldnt have been easier for me either, but most of my PT engineer friends still agonize over it like its just going to be such a big hurdle or hill to climb. Trust me, it could be easier. As a writer and producer, I often find myself in other studios, seeing what other people in the field are using. I can honestly tell you that I havent seen any other DAW–and Ive seen them all, that even comes close to the ease of use in LPX. Believe me, if there was any other DAW out there that could crush LPX–I’d be using it, but there isnt one. Thats Why Logic Pro Rules!
Jimmy… I was going to agonize over writing something worth sharing with Chris’ WLPX community, but then I read what you had to say and realized that I had nothing to add except
YEAH!! … HELL Yeah !!!!
It is a mind blowing product that I hope continues to Rule in the Post-Steve Jobs world
Loving the LPX love!
Love all of this! The value in LPX is too much to deny. I do feel empathetic to PT users, and I’m sure PT has some aspects to it that those engineers love.
Buuuuuuut…
Maybe they could give LPX a try? Just for a couple days 🙂
I’ve been using Logic since it was Notator on the Atari 1040ST. I became a beta tester for Emagic, and had the honor of meeting and spending a little time with Dr. Gerhard Lengeling, the inventor of Logic. I have been an Apple Certified Logic Trainer since 2003. Needless to say I have been and always will be first and foremost a logic user for life. I have most of the other DAWs collecting dust on my hard drives, only there for compatibility with my clients. I have converted many die hard Pro Tools, Cubase, Performer, and other DAW users over to Logic. How can you beat this program with all it comes with for $199.00? I rest my case. Keep making great music dear fellow Logic users!
Wow Kevin Im very much in awe and envy that you were able to meet the inventor of Logic. After searching his name, I stumbled across an article in Rolling Stone magazine that touted Garage Band as one of the 24 inventions that changed music. I remember using Garage Band back in 2006 when I bought Logic 7 and even then I felt GB was a better DAW than PT considering there were so many amps and keyboard sounds already built into the app.
I was at a friends studio recently and he said he had the latest version of PT and wanted me to check it out. So I sat down at the helm and opened up the app and thought, hum, this thing hasnt changed in 20 years, why it still has all the audio batch files on the sidebar. I almost fell out of the chair laughing when I saw that, it was so funny. I thought what a waste of valuable screen real estate. The GUI hasnt changed a bit. At least LP had the sense to create a button to open up those batch files if you needed to access them again and not waste screen space. So wheres PT’s Loop Browser–we’re still waiting. Wheres PT’s 7 compressors? Where’s PT’s Notepad? Hey Avid, in case you havent noticed, youre in the dark ages of digital audio now.
Im also convinced that if Avid hadnt scooped up Digi and firmly entrenched themselves into the educational realm, they would have been roadkill years ago. Every Full Sail engineer I know is still loyal to PT because its what they were trained on. I like to remind them that I was also trained on PT from its beginning and used it for over 12 years, and then dumped it right after seeing what LP could do.
These days the only DAW wars that are going on are with people who think their DAW is the greatest cause after 10 years theyve finally ‘mastered’ using it. But seriously, if any other DAW was as great as LP, I would be seeing it all over Nashville, but Im not. A friend of mine was complaining to me recently that the newest update for Cubase is gonna cost him another $200. He said, for that price, he could buy LPX and own it. But guess what, hes not gonna do it, hes gonna pay the $200 and ‘upgrade’ Cubase, which he overpaid for when he bought it. I told him the only way he was really ever gonna upgrade was to get LPX and ditch CB.
And I still cant say enough about Drummer–which is also part of GB–which is free with a Mac. I just pulled up another session the other day that had Drummer on it but I didnt like the drum sounds for the song. So I Option-Click dragged em down to another track with a Drum Machine Designer kit on it and it sounded great. Now granted I stacked those drums with another kit from Superior Drummer 3 to get my final sound, but thats the beauty of this technology.
I should add that I have about 40+ Universal Audio plugins that I use with the Apollo interface, but with just these 3 programs (LPX, SD3, and UA) Ive been killin it with sound. I feel like I have more sonic possibilities available to me today than I ever did 25 years ago, and I wouldnt go back to analog gear for a project unless someone was paying me.
Its like you said Kevin, how can you beat this program with all it comes with for $199.00. You just cant. If I were stranded on a desert island, my DAW would be LPX. And since Im not stranded on a desert island, my DAW is still gonna be LPX.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/24-inventions-that-changed-music-16471/garageband-2004-68276/
Hi Jimmy, Avid was about to go belly up before laying off hundreds of employees and moving support overseas, which has become a nightmare. One of my close partners has Pro Tools with a Control 24 Mixing surface and Audio interfaces. He was incensed when they made his console obsolete with newer Pro Tools versions. He refused to sell his Control 24 and is still using an older version of Pro Tools because of his huge investment. When he purchased his setup years ago, Pro Tools was the “Professional High Grade Recording System”. Audio Technology and sound quality has caught up, (along with the infestation of crappy sounding MP3’s) and has changed the audio landscape. More home studio enthusiasts with a laptop and software are making good sounding quality music. I too use a UAD Apollo interface and plugins along with Logic pro 10.4.2. It’s customizable to any type of music I work on with template setups. I have Pro Tools and other software on my Mac just for client project conversions. I’ve tried many times to get into using it, but my brain shuts down. I don’t knock anyone from thinking their DAW is the greatest thing since pizza and beer. Good for them. I just hate when they go, “Can Logic do this?” And I happily show them yes it can if you know where to look. And the most important feature I tell these other DAW users is that none of the DAWs has an automatic Hit Song button! Keep up the great Logic work Jim. Happy holidays!
Yeah Jimmy, Dr. Gerhard Lengeling was a very cool quiet fellow that did a bug fix for me overnight at the AES Show in NYC. And to think he’s a medical doctor who made Notator because no software available at the time suited his needs. And many don’t know that he actually made Creator and Notator for the Commodore 64!, with music score printing capability! I hear he’s still involved with the Apple Logic team as well. Amazing guy!
I hear ya Kevin. I didnt want to start a silly DAW war, but I didnt think there would be any non-LPX users on this site unless theyre trollin. Besides, I hear great things come from all kinds of different setups and combinations. A friend of mine creates some great music with UA and PT using NI and Maschine. Its not exactly for me, but hes great with it.
I remember when the basic hardware for a PT system was a lot of money, and at that point PT was definitively the professional system to have, but its amazing how thats changed in such a short amount of time.
I also hear ya about the PT upgrades which make good operational gear completely obsolete in the PT world. Ive heard a lot of harsh words regarding this but most of those PT users eventually cave and upgrade their interface instead of jumping ship. The great thing about your friend staying with his older version of PT is that he really hasnt missed a thing in years–it still looks the same.
Dr. G sounds like an amazing man. Your statement about how he started LP would make a great ‘behind the music’ script. All I can say is thank God he had a need for something and created this program for it. It changed my life.
So I realize that not all producers are engineers, but when I started out, you had to have several years under your belt before you could even call yourself a producer. But now it seems like anybody that buys a MacBook Pro and LPX is all of a sudden a producer the very next day. But then again, its like you said, theres the reality that, there is no Hit Song button with any of this software and technology.
While the playing field between home and commercial studios has certainly been leveled by advancements in technology over the last 5 years, that doesnt guarantee anyone with this technology is going to turn out a hit. From what I can tell, talent is still something you cant order off the internet.
Love that DAW.. I wrote my first synthetic track in the ‘ 90s on Atari’s EMAGIC computer … it was an orchestration, as I remember now))).Before coming to electronic music I played Techno Death Metal.And he worked as a sound engineer with rock bands.. On the analogue (before the arrival of the digital age was not much time) I made live concerts and albums .Then came the time of Drum n Bass culture.. I started writing Jungle, Jump Up, and then Drum n bass…. Tried a different DAW,and one day, my colleague,put it on the computer (when I had WINDOWS) EMAGIC LOGIC ,I was pokaran… Everything seemed so native and close, as if I stood up again for the analog console.. I started working with LOGIC and still do not see, and I do not want to see anything better)))) Glad that we found each other with LOGIC))))
That’s great to hear Sergey. I always try to implore people to not be afraid to experiment or make a mistake, because there really aren’t mistakes in music. Just trying something different. sometimes while working in Logic, i may have set the wrong quantize value, or transposed a drum track that played other drums within the sampler instrument. ended up creating a brand new song. And that was before Alternate Track Takes which I really love. That feature allows me to try a different bass line with a keyboard part, or different orchestral voicing with string and brass parts. Logic keeps my creative process from bogging down. I’m sold!
WOW, There are so many great comments from pro and semi-pro audio engineers endorsing LPX, I’m so very happy I’m starting out with this as my first DAW, after just tinkering with Gb, no urge to explore Pt or CU or others now that you’ve all validated this for me.
I remain in absolute *awe* how easy it was to “ create “ a simple little song with a MiDI keyboard and some Apple Loops, even if they’re not in key — (yeah, in addition to taking guitar lessons at ago 50, I’m trying to learn music theory and recording all at the same time )
I feel that I’m so incredibly underqualified in these discussions, while trying to get the basic basics down, but overwhelmed with gratitude to feel a part of this community.
You guys are the best!!
No need to feel under qualified Jamie! That’s what this website is all about – helping you get the most you can out of Logic 🙂 I’m grateful to know we have this group who loves discussing how awesome LPX is. Can’t wait to see if the next update hits for NAMM this year!
Hi.
It is so sad to find this demo projects so late 🙁 It is so good and clear example of composing tracks and plug-ins. I got a kind of shock effect after listen. How does it possible to be so loud on half on my system volume fader?! What is the secret? It sounds so impressive and loud just using Logic X plug-ins everywhere include the master bus.
Thanks for another great lesson.
Someday, finally, I will start to read this holy book named “Logic Pro help”. I missed so many good things because I am “let’s try 1st”, and “I will read it later” user.
My 1st DAW was a Fruity Loops. It was great for creating electronic music tracks with a beer in the left hand. Next my DAW was a Reaper. It was good,cheap and full of routing cheats, but has no instruments library inside. My projects had drowned in tons of free plug-ins, and I had 15-20 crashes per day. That time I bought NI Reaktor 5 because I have some electronic skills and I built some of my synths and effects inside it. Anyway, my Reaper sessions were unstable. Also, I bought IK Sampletank 2 and libraries for it.
But only when I bought Logic X I felt rich.
Sometimes I missed FL Studio easy workflow or some Reaper routing and editing hacks, but I don’t want back.
I just want to say to new LP users: it is much deeper than you can imagine.