Hey..
My 2 cents worth..
Apple bought Logic from a company in Germany several years back. They fired most of
the staff and kept a few people on in the Calif office. They merged them with Apple. The
old Emagic company that Logic came from was a real mess. Updates were buggy and the
code was unstable. They had to sell to get out, it was so bad, but the code was good.
I'm assuming Logic Pro has a lot of old "legacy' code left that has to be 'converted' one of
these days. Seems like Apple wanted the old Logic, and was bought to pull code, to make
up Garage Band. It was not a high priority piece of software.
In the grand scheme of things, not that many "pro" producers out there buying copies of
Logic off the shelves. Apple's Logic software is good, but does not have the user base like
photoshop, word, excel, etc.. Updates are not MAJOR priority.
Logic is one of their more complicated apps, like Final Cut. Final Cut is used to make
commercials and Movies, it's more high profile for Apple [think Pixar] to get people to buy
Macs, than a so called "dying business" like the music industry. Remember, Apple is a
HARDWARE company that makes machines. Not a software company like Adobe or
Microsoft. The fact that Logic is so good, is amazing. Does Dell, or HP have music software
from their offices like Logic?
Also right now Apple business profit is iphones, iphone apps, Macs and the itunes store. I
doubt they want to take their top software engineers, that probably know little about the
deeper side of music recording, and have them spend a few months on tweaking Logic.
I can only imagine the thousands of lines of code that give you the ability to do half the
things that no other similar app can do. Logic doesn't even have a big "division" at Apple.
Jeeze, if you call for tech support, the guy reads from a screen until he hits a wall and
forwards you on to a higher tier of help.
Honestly... if you REALLY need changes, start a petition or website and get TONS of users
to complain, forward it to Apple CEO's, their press and legal offices, but if 25 people email
them, it's not going to be a priority for Apple. But I should say with several BILLION [with a
"b"] in reserves, hiring a few more engineers to head up a Logic division wouldn't strain
the bank over at apple. But there is another issue that may prevent that....
I don't know if you notice [I've been with apple since the 70's with my Apple IIc, but Apple
kinda waits for the industry to develop new stuff and have success with it [like time
stretching with Ableton Live] and THEN they see a need and reverse engineer it into Logic.
I can't think of anything Apple developed [Apple Loops = Sony Acid] that is totally unique
to Logic. Not a complaint, and Apple usually does it better, but like CPU speeds, there's not
a hell of a lot of new technology out there for music, and spend time on Logic. Dedicated
Logic engineers would have a lot of free time on their hands! I do LOVE that Ableton Live is
incorporating Cycling 74 into Live to custom program it. Logic had that option in
"Environments" but it was complicated and a real mess.
Apple did an amazing job at cleaning up Logic. Yes, it has bugs, but most people either
don't use the buggy areas or don't care to complain in enough numbers. We are artist, this
is our tools. Apple is a business, this is their product and products need sales numbers to
get higher priority. They will fix stuff, but not at the same pace as other apps that are
more used by the general public. [Think iLife, Safari & Quicktime number of users
compared to Logic]
Apple dropped the price of Logic to compete. Awesome ! In my opinion it's better than
Cubase [which I had] Better than Performer [jeeze.. I even ran Opcode back in the day] and
for everything else like plug-ins, etc.. beats the expensive Pro Tools RTAS system. Most of
us here are composers, musician and producers. If you plan to run a LIVE recording studio
and do live bands or live recording for a living, then Pro Tools may be the way to go for
compatibility.. eg:when a band brings in files from another studio.
I can tell you I've PERSONALLY recorded, mixed AND mastered over 70 commercially
released records, a ballet score and 2 film scores on Logic, and not once have I ever had
any problems or complaints with the artist or labels or studios, etc..
Unless you are doing some crazy 196k or 96k recordings, Logic records like ANY other
app at 44 & 48K and does it well. And funny enough, in the end, it all gets mixed to Mp3
or M4P these days anyway. Funny thing with all this...I had a hit record that I did on a
tascam 1/2 nch 8 track in the 80's and sold 3.5 million copies. If the track is there, it's
there. Splitting hairs on which recording app is best, is important, BUT its a good
engineer, good song and careful recording practices that make a track stand out.
So, as an old skool dude, I hope this helps !
Thanx - Man Parrish
www,ManParrish.com
