We’ve just finished producing the music for Scatterpic. Our weapon of choice? Apple’s superb Logic Pro 9. Here’s what we think. 

Having grown up with Cubase on the PC, but recently transitioned onto Apple hardware, I was intrigued to see Apple’s music production workhorse, Logic Pro 9, available on the App Store. In the same way Apple has changed the way we buy music, it is changing the way we buy software. Inspired by the incredible success of the App Store for mobile devices, its latest foray in getting us to part with our hard earned cash is through the App Store for Mac. Initially, I was skeptical – after all, open source and other free software was gaining market share, and as consumers we were becoming accustomed to getting high quality, useful software for free. In the meantime, however, the idea of cheap and good value impulse-purchase software, as available on iPhone and iPad, was becoming commonplace.

On the topic of price – Logic Pro 9 is currently available on the App Store for $199. This is clearly in a different league to the average $0.99 iPhone app. However, it still represents astonishing value for money. By cutting out the distributers and retailers, as well as the cost of physical media such as boxes, manuals and DVDs, you can now purchase this accomplished, professional music production package at a fraction of the cost of its previous price. And if that doesn’t seem enough of a bargain … the app store license ensures you can deploy and use the software on all of your Macs – only one purchase required!

Logic Pro 9 as a DAW

The transition from Cubase was easy. The UI concepts are familiar, and we did not notice any significant missing functionality. In fact, we never looked back. I confess, it will take you a day or two to work out how to access all your favorite features, but trust us, they are there.

Logic Pro 9 as a sample library and collection of instruments

Logic. Wins. Hands. Down. The quantity and quality of the content that ‘ships’ with Logic Pro 9 is seriously impressive. Your $199 not only buys you a professional quality DAW, it also gets you an exciting and extensive collection of virtual instruments, loops and samples. Perfectly aligned with Apple’s philosophy of intuitive user experience, Apple Loops are the place to start if you’re new to computer music. Explore, audition, drag and drop. Whatever your chosen key or tempo, the apple loop will adjust itself to sit perfectly in the mix. What could be easier?

There’s plenty for the seasoned music producer, too. Pre-configured channel strips will save time and provide inspiration. The included sampler, the EXS24, is feature rich and will be all the sampler you will ever need. The included sample libraries are high quality and applicable to a board range of musical styles. For those of you who like to create your sound waves from scratch, the included synthesizers, such as the ES1, will not disappoint.

Want to record your axe? The electric guitar is another instrument which is incredibly well supported. Ready to rock right out of the box is an impressive array of amp simulations, stomp boxes, and full-rig presets. OK, so they don’t quite provide the accuracy of our Line6 POD HD Pro, but to all but the geekiest of amp technicians, your bases are covered – whatever the style.

Hardware

We have an envious home studio setup, featuring a 27″ iMac, a MacBook Air, Roland’s flagship XV-5080 synthesizer, a Line 6 POD HD Pro guitar amp modeller, a Gibson Les Paul Studio guitar, Edirol FA-66 FireWire audio interface, Tascam vocal processor, ART vocal channel strip,  TC-Helicon harmoniser, and numerous software instruments and effects from Native Instruments and IK Multimedia.

Everything simply worked, plug ‘n’ play. Even the MacBook Air (admittedly, a spec’d up 3 week old i7) coped with our most demanding productions with ease. For those with an Air wondering how well it will cope – the answer is very well indeed. No worries on that front.

This is where we noticed a huge advantage to using Logic Pro over Cubase – multiple audio interface support. On our old setup, Cubase, using ASIO drivers, would only support a single audio interface at any one time (some manufacturers offer support to daisy chain devices, but you’re screwed if this is not supported on your interface, or you want to use interfaces from different manufacturers). And here is where using Mac and Logic Pro holds the ace card.

Mac OS supports the concept of aggregate audio devices. What a godsend! This allowed us to combine our Edirol FA-66, withits 6 inputs and 6 outputs, with our Line 6 POD HD Pro guitar processor, to give us a total of 8 ins and 8 outs, as a single virtual device. We could use all 16 channels simultaneously! Beat that, Cubase!

The negatives

You can’t resize the mixer. It looks a bit too small on our 27″ iMac. Hand on heart that is the only niggle we’ve had with Logic Pro 9. Seriously.

Logic Pro 10 / Logic Pro X

We have found rumors on the internet of the launch of the next version of Logic Pro dating back to 2009. Admittedly, this is a concern as Logic Pro 9 has been around for quite a while now. In addition to this, Apple has not yet set a precedent regarding an upgrade path for App Store purchases for major new versions. There is a risk that you will have to fork out an additional $199 (or more) to get Logic Pro 10.

Our advice: get over it. Whenever you buy in to a technology, the next version is always around the corner. Remember that the original price for Logic Pro 9 was $499. You’ve already saved $300. Now is the time to buy.

Summary

Apple Logic Pro 9 from the App Store is an incredible bargain. This is a professional quality, fully featured software application. The only limitation is your creativity. We mean that sincerely – this thing is perfectly capable of producing industry standard professional results.

Think about what you’re getting. A pro quality DAW. Sample libraries. Virtual instruments. Guitar amps and effects. Apple Loops. Each one of these is worth the full asking price independently. All in all, there is around 20 gigabytes of pro quality content.

If you are tempted to take the plunge, our advice is to go for it, right now! We fail to see how you can be anything less than delighted with it. We’d go so far as to say this is the best value for money software package available on any platform, in any genre. Period. Set your conscience aside – this is legal daylight robbery.