Apple Logic Pro or Abletone Live

[thomahawk]

Fellow music enthusiasts and composers

i ask for your help on choosing which software i should buy for my music needs

i have a small band going on, i want to record music on my mac via MIDI or USB keyboard, along with guitars and drumsets.

microphones wont be a problem. neither will the tuning equipment and such. i just need to know which program will be best for my needs

i also want to make my own music. i want to write music, on music sheets, like notes and all that. not having to hit bars or hit the keyboard to get a certain note while the thing is running like how you do on garageband

anyways i need suggestions or advice. i have been studying both programs very harshly lol, i have noticed that ableton cant write music via notes but perhaps logic pro can?

thank you for the help!

 

[zimv20]

i want to write music, on music sheets, like notes and all that.

Sibelius is good for that.

for the rest, you should try out the apps and see which one makes the most sense to you.

 

[Teej guy]

Logic Pro and Live feature radically different workflows.

You mentioned scoring. If you're serious about printing out scores/sheet music, Sibelius is the way to go. (as zimv20 said)

I personally don't have any experience with Live, but I like composing in Logic.

 

[yayitsezekiel]

they are both good...really depends on your music style though. Abelton is a little more towards electronic music whereas logic pro is more comparable to cubase. All fantastic DAWs.

All they need is FL Studio on the mac natively and I would bow down to the mac gods

 

[pkoch1]

Sibelius is good for that.

for the rest, you should try out the apps and see which one makes the most sense to you.

I know I go against the grain on this, but I really prefer Finale to Sibelius. It takes a little longer to get a good workflow going, but once you do you get pretty fast at it. Either way, download both trials, which are available at the Sibelius and MakeMusic websites and see what works best for you.

 

[joe.cavers]

Logic and Ableton are HUGELY different beasts. Both very powerful, but do very different things. Have you considered Pro Tools at all?

I've worked with Pro Tools for the last 5 years and have worked with Logic and Ableton long enough to have a steady workflow going in either program. IMO, Pro Tools is still the best program for just plain recording audio. Its audio editing tools, and just generally the manner in which you can edit audio just seems to work for me. Editing audio in Logic gives me a headache if its anything beyond trimming regions. Logic's forte is it's MIDI capabilities, which makes it fantastic for songwriting (wish I'd known this years ago, but such is life).

Both those programs have scoring facilities, although in Pro Tools you can "Send To Sibelius", which is very useful as the scoring in both programs is hardly 100% accurate. Of course, this requires that you have Sibelius software (a worthwhile purchase for producing scores IMO).

Ableton is a completely different game altogether, and is more built for live performance with loops and samples and occasionally live instruments. That's not to say you can't use it as a sequencer, but I think if you did you wouldn't be getting the best out of it. Kind of like buying a Ferrari to drive it at 40mph.


I would say if you're recording your band, but also want songwriters tools, the newest version of Pro Tools would be the way to go. With PT8 they added a ton of MIDI editing tools and a large number of software instruments. I think Logic still beats it for me personally, but then I'm rarely recording anything other than my guitar, or a stereo pair of mics.

Good luck in your decision, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have on the 3 programs. Ableton is my weak point though, I use it for DJing rather than as a traditional sequencer!

JC

 

[MowingDevil]

I know I go against the grain on this, but I really prefer Finale to Sibelius. It takes a little longer to get a good workflow going, but once you do you get pretty fast at it. Either way, download both trials, which are available at the Sibelius and MakeMusic websites and see what works best for you.

I've always used Finale only because thats what I learned at university. Never tried Sibelius before but never had to as Finale does the job.

 

[thomahawk]

thanks guys for the input!
i will take a look at pro tools
i'll be straying away from Ableton then, since its mostly for DJing, Sibelius sounds interesting, though it looks pretty much like finalle, which i have so i guess i'll use finale.

 

[coday182]

All they need is FL Studio on the mac natively and I would bow down to the mac gods

That's ok Windows can keep the Children's software on their platform.

At the OP... a lot o people will probably disagree with me when I say Ableton will be a good choice. I would choose this because it's pretty much the industry standard when it comes to writing, composing, and experimenting. It's by far the easiest software for matching tracks of different tempos. It does this all but automatically. You could easily record a whole band playing, just playing the instruments yourself. All you would havve to do is record the different parts you like, then you can easily loop them, and mix and match different parts together in seconds. And for virtual instruments you don't have to "Pound keys" You can draw midi notes onto a clip with a piano roll on the side. The best part is you can easily loop those and play them along with anly live recordings, etc...


The reason I said that some people will disagree is that there's been a longstanding stereotype that Ableton's sound engine wasn't up to par with that of Logic. However, with Ableton 8 on sale now, the sound engine is the same as the ones in all the pro apps now so that arguement isn't relative anymore.

Ableton is a completely different game altogether, and is more built for live performance with loops and samples and occasionally live instruments. That's not to say you can't use it as a sequencer, but I think if you did you wouldn't be getting the best out of it. Kind of like buying a Ferrari to drive it at 40mph.

Lol... I like to think of it more like Logic and PT as the the Go-fast-in-a-big-circle NASCAR's of the DAW world, while Ableton is more like an F1 car that is still gonna let you haul ass, but there are more ways to drive it and more situations you can use it with.

 

[zcb]

for producing I like to use both. i lean toward ableton. but i like logic too. i get a different result with both apps which is why i like them both. it always sounds a little different. i know logic is very in depth and i know i still have a ton to learn about it. but bottom line they are both great. but ya, like someone previously said they both function in completely different ways.