Apple's Logic Pro X for Mac and GarageBand for iOS Receive Major Updates

[Glassed Silver]

I wish I had a better understanding of WHY Apple abandoned Aperture, yet still supports FCP and Logic. Aperture is STILL better in a lot of ways than any option out there. And that should tell you something.

It seems they thought they could realistically combine it w/ iPhone to make Photos. But we all know how that ended up.

I hope they don't eventually decide to combine Garabeband and Logic into "Music" or something silly.

I smell that exactly that is going to happen.

They combine the teams obviously (something something focus something something we should build cars) so they can do something they otherwise couldn't or wouldn't.
Can't just be shared code.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Does anyone else find it odd that Apple got rid of their pro photo program (Aperture) but continues to develop their pro audio and video tools?

I dunno... I just think photography is important to more people than pro audio.

Or is "Photos" finally a good enough Aperture replacement?

Is pro photography more important than pro audio? Both are small markets relative to the mass market of amateur photographers and amateur musicians. Photos and Garageband are for the masses. The question for Apple became, is the pro photography market worth pursuing?

While Aperture had substantially better image editing capabilities than iPhoto (Photos has closed the gap in some regards, but not others), the features that made Aperture truly "pro" had to do with the management of metadata and multiple libraries. For serious image editing, it's always been Photoshop. That factor, more than any other, hobbled any chance of Aperture becoming a dominant photography app.

Both GarageBand and Logic Pro can be used for creating music from start to finish - musical instruments as well as recording studio, with very capable sound manipulation. the equivalent of camera, studio, and darkroom. While you can certainly bring in sounds from other sources, once they're "inside," there's no routine need to go "outside." "Studio" is stickier than "Library."

Then, I'm not aware of any major debate over the way the audio and video apps store sounds and images; no active distrust of the Library as there has always been for the photography apps. Storage and organization of images is central to the mission of the photo apps; editing is optional, so if you don't like the storage method, no sale. For audio and video apps, the library is just a servant to the main purpose of the app - melding multiple elements into a finished project.

Photos exists, primarily, to serve iPhone/iPad photography; the equivalent of GarageBand's one-stop-shop. The world's most popular camera comes with an integrated library and darkroom. With so many iPhone/iPad owners switching to Mac, it made sense to extend Photos to the Mac - a synchronized image library present on all devices just as mail, contacts, and calendars are synchronized; accessible from a web app if one doesn't have a Mac. The primary reason for ditching iPhoto and Aperture really boils down to iCloud Photo Library. The iPhoto/Aperture database was not designed for multi-user/concurrent use. Apple could have designed that new library with pros in mind, but even if they had, how many pros would have trusted their images to Apple, how many would have paid the monthly bills?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I smell that exactly that is going to happen.

They combine the teams obviously (something something focus something something we should build cars) so they can do something they otherwise couldn't or wouldn't.
Can't just be shared code.

Glassed Silver:ios

Yeah, if you believe "Apple doesn't care about pros anymore," then you have to believe that Logic Pro and FCP will eventually die. I think the situation is far more nuanced than that.

I don't think that iPhoto-and-Aperture-to-Photos thing is going to happen for audio and video. The simple reason is that Logic Pro and FCP both have far better penetration into the pro market than Aperture ever did. In the case of audio and video, Apple can afford to support both the simplified "entry-level drug" (GarageBand and iMovie), and the "hard stuff."

Further, the big conversion (the "X" apps) has already happened - common code base, cloud integration. Aperture wasn't worth converting, Final Cut and Logic Pro were - it's not personal, it's just business. If there's a trend on the horizon that would push another major code/architecture overhaul, I can't see it.

A more interesting question would be, "What tools, if any, will Apple introduce for augmented/virtual reality production?" Would they be an extension of iMovie/FCPX, or free-standing?

The personnel aren't so precious (or expensive) that they'd need to be moved elsewhere. If Apple is losing money on those apps, then the staff gets laid off. If Apple is making money, they keep their jobs. (And "making money" includes the Macs sold.) Maybe they have the skills to transfer into cars (or wherever), maybe they don't. Apple may engage in "creative destruction" of product lines, but there's no linkage between cars and pro media - one doesn't cannibalize the other.

 

[milo]

Great app, great update. The OS requirement is the only speed bump for some users.

I’m just wondering how much longer Pro Tools can ride the “industry standard” nostalgia. I never hear anything great about it other than you have to use it because, you know, “industry standard”.

At this point the main reason to use PT is if you are doing audio for video. Better support for working to picture, and some other features that are supported better such as automating surround mixing.

There is a perpetual license, which doesn't require for you to subscribe to anything.

You can buy the software, but if you don't also pay the annual license fee you are ineligible for upgrades and then must pay a hefty "reinstatement" fee to be eligible again. You don't lose the software but you have to keep paying or decide to stick with one version and not upgrade.
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I smell that exactly that is going to happen.

They combine the teams obviously (something something focus something something we should build cars) so they can do something they otherwise couldn't or wouldn't.
Can't just be shared code.

Logic and GB have always been shared code, a single team does both apps. No reason to change from the two apps they have currently, and if that was their plan they would have done it years ago instead of putting all this work into update after update.

Don't forget that Aperture went years without updates before they finally abandoned it.

 

[F1Mac]

Great app, great update. The OS requirement is the only speed bump for some users.


At this point the main reason to use PT is if you are doing audio for video. Better support for working to picture, and some other features that are supported better such as automating surround mixing.

That's debatable. I get constant "unrecoverable errors" from the Avid Video Engine for no reason (H.264 files, AVC, Pro Res, you name it, makes no difference). I have to re-import my video and restart the video engine (several times even) after opening my session, it's a joke. And sometimes, rarely, I get no errors. Go figure... Most frustrating thing is that there's no pattern, for some it works all time, for others it's when they're on PTHD that they get the most bugs. It's kinda sad from the makers of Media Composer that their own DAW can't seem to deal with video files properly. I mean... "AVID video engine"... ...and they're constantly bragging about their collaborative crap that probably no more than 0.5 % of people use.

...Meanwhile, in Logic, the same projects (I export AAFs in Pro Tools) flawlessly load my video files, no crash, no errors, easier on the cpu... That's a shame because, as I said before, Pro Tools is really a great piece of software.

As for surround, at least I don't have to pay $1899 to get that feature in Logic, it's already there - as it should be ($1899 is what Avid asks to upgrade from Pro Tools to Pro Tools HD). Now if only Logic could load more than 1 video file/track I would be in heaven

 

[milo]

That's debatable. I get constant "unrecoverable errors" from the Avid Video Engine for no reason (H.264 files, AVC, Pro Res, you name it, makes no difference). I have to re-import my video and restart the video engine (several times even) after opening my session, it's a joke. And sometimes, rarely, I get no errors. Go figure... Most frustrating thing is that there's no pattern, for some it works all time, for others it's when they're on PTHD that they get the most bugs. It's kinda sad from the makers of Media Composer that their own DAW can't seem to deal with video files properly. I mean... "AVID video engine"... ...and they're constantly bragging about their collaborative crap that probably no more than 0.5 % of people use.

As for surround, at least I don't have to pay $1899 to get that feature in Logic, it's already there - as it should be ($1899 is what Avid asks to upgrade from Pro Tools to Pro Tools HD). Now if only Logic could load more than 1 video file/track I would be in heaven

Sorry to hear you're having video issues, I haven't had any problems with the version of PT I'm on. I was talking mainly about features. Multiple video files in Logic has long been my biggest request.

It is great that Logic has surround at a reasonable price. But the way surround panning and automation works in PTHD is vastly better than Logic, I would hate to have to use it for surround post mixes.

 

[man3ster]

Logic Pro X 10.3 runs fine on El Capitan. Copy over the app from your macOS Sierra install to your El Capitan computer and that is all.

 

[Rogerdwayne]

Wtf is Aperture and wtf does it have to do with music?

 

[AndyDiamond]

Any bugs to report yet? I'm in the middle of an album and don't want to install and find my Plug Ins don't work

 

[MikeSmoke]

Logic was an independent product long before Apple bought Emagic. This program started in the 80's on the Atari ST. It has had a strong following of professionals from its onset. Apple has apparently had the good sense to let the programmers do what they do best. It was a win/win situation. Now that the programmers have the highest level of OS support Logic has just gotten more robust and stable. GarageBand is simply a different skin with more advanced features turned off.

 

[john_doh]

Does anyone else find it odd that Apple got rid of their pro photo program (Aperture) but continues to develop their pro audio and video tools?

I dunno... I just think photography is important to more people than pro audio.

Or is "Photos" finally a good enough Aperture replacement?

Most people would agree that Photos is not a replacement for Aperture but its all that most users need. Aperture was an in house built application that died, I think, for several reasons. From the start they were fighting an uphill battle against a well established competitor as well as cheaper iOS apps and free web based tools. Then they had problems with the team and a number of key people leaving. In the end I think they realized their efforts were better spent on making the new Photos app.

Logic and Final Cut had the advantage that they were already well established products when Apple bought them. Somehow both GarageBand and Logic have managed to remain great products.

 

[25ghosts]

Does anyone else find it odd that Apple got rid of their pro photo program (Aperture) but continues to develop their pro audio and video tools?

I dunno... I just think photography is important to more people than pro audio.

Or is "Photos" finally a good enough Aperture replacement?

Photos is very appealing and directed at why you talk of. Aperture was never for Image Professionels - its features were always lacking way behind. Lightroom is miles better than Aperture ever was as is Adobe Camera Raw. Till this day Apple has utterly failed to decode RAW Images satisfactory both in quality and speed. Perhaps the could do it and heist don't want to compete with the 3rd parties writing imaging apps for Mac


Check out Photos - you can add custom filters etc and about as much as you could in Aperture ;$

 

[JamesPDX]

Any bugs to report yet? I'm in the middle of an album and don't want to install and find my Plug Ins don't work

Never upgrade in the middle of a project. Wait.
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update EXS24 goddamit

^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^

Still only 64 voices? Say it with me: "It's silly..."

 

[milo]

Logic Pro X 10.3 runs fine on El Capitan. Copy over the app from your macOS Sierra install to your El Capitan computer and that is all.

You don't even have to do that. El Capitan is supported so you can just install it like on Sierra.

I tried copying it over from a newer OS to Yosemite but it didn't run, not even after hacking the required OS version number in the app.

 

[dysamoria]

You can still get Lightroom 6.7 as a standalone app (as well as CC). Not sure how long that is going to last, though. It's currently $142.99 at B&H.

I'm more irritated about Photoshop...

 

[obiwan]

I've got to say I'm very happy about this update. It shows Apple isn't about to abandon these products any time soon, and hopefully signifies that they are still serious about music production on the Mac.

 

[AndyDiamond]

Never upgrade in the middle of a project. Wait.
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yep - that's for sure. Also I'm still running 10.10.3 so I need to upgrade my whole OS before I can upgrade Logic.
Oh well - sometime this year then lol

 

[vpro]

Sad and sorry IOS GarageBand updates, basically putting very old outdated OS X features into the ISO version.

They should make all new macs come with pre installed full version of LOGIC in the box by now.

 

[F1Mac]

They should make all new macs come with pre installed full version of LOGIC in the box by now.

And why is that? Why would they give Logic for free?? While we're at it, all new Macs should come with FCPX pre-installed! Logic is not the same kind of app that make you share your awesome song with your friends and stuff... (by "you" I don't mean you vpro) Many people would have no use for it.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Sad and sorry IOS GarageBand updates, basically putting very old outdated OS X features into the ISO version.

They should make all new macs come with pre installed full version of LOGIC in the box by now.

Would they provide both Logic Pro and GarageBand, Final Cut Pro and iMovie? Or do you propose that GarageBand and iMovie be eliminated because they're not "pro" enough?

Preinstalled? On every 128GB or 256GB laptop, regardless of whether the owner is an audio pro/video pro? Millions of Mac owners wondering whether they should delete them to reclaim disk space?

Even if they decided to make them free, they would undoubtedly appear as optional downloads in App Store. I sure hope going to Purchased in the App Store and clicking the Redeem/Download button isn't too technically challenging or time-consuming for a professional user.

But I suspect they'll never be free. Why? Users would begin wondering whether they're "pro" enough ("You get what you pay for").

 

[vpro]

If you're paying over 4000 dollars for a Mac, it would be lovely that pro apps may be redeemed for free on the App Store - sure. If you just want entry level Macs less than 4000 dollars then you get "lite" versions of the pro apps, but not Mickey Mousey, never improved legacy apps like GarageBand. They should phase out GarageBand and instead have pre installed or option to install a lite versions of logic, but a capable app, then you can have in app purchases to build it into more pro features?

 

[entropi]

...and of course - to get alchemy in the new iOS Garageband you have to run iOS 10. Nice try. My 6S with the OTA-fix will stay on 9.3.5!

 

[lowkey]

GarageBand IS a lite version of Logic already.

If you're paying over 4000 dollars for a Mac, it would be lovely that pro apps may be redeemed for free on the App Store - sure. If you just want entry level Macs less than 4000 dollars then you get "lite" versions of the pro apps, but not Mickey Mousey, never improved legacy apps like GarageBand. They should phase out GarageBand and instead have pre installed or option to install a lite versions of logic, but a capable app, then you can have in app purchases to build it into more pro features?

 

[milo]

...never improved legacy apps like GarageBand.

Not only is GB constantly improved, it often gets new features before Logic does.

And GB is completely appropriate for newbie users. Dropping it and giving beginners Logic would be a terrible idea, and risk the temptation to dumb down Logic.

And in app purchases? Yeesh.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I have the new GarageBand, but I can't find alchemy anywhere on it. Help please!