Need a music production software for Mac (or iPad)

[CostlyTrick]

I'm looking for a music production software on my Mac. I need the following;

- RELATIVELY lightweight (I use a 2007 iMac. It runs alright, but lags sometimes.)
- Ability to record electric guitar via USB or digitally
- Powerful vocal editing. I like the flex pitch on Logic Pro X. Something more than simple AutoTune.
- Relatively inexpensive. Preferably under $150-ish. LPX is out of the question, because it probably isn't lightweight enough.

I use GarageBand currently. It's great, but I just need more powerful vocal editing. Also, I'm not looking to sound robotic.

 

[Psyfuzz]

I'm looking for a music production software on my Mac. I need the following;

- RELATIVELY lightweight (I use a 2007 iMac. It runs alright, but lags sometimes.)
- Ability to record electric guitar via USB or digitally
- Powerful vocal editing. I like the flex pitch on Logic Pro X. Something more than simple AutoTune.
- Relatively inexpensive. Preferably under $150-ish. LPX is out of the question, because it probably isn't lightweight enough.

I use GarageBand currently. It's great, but I just need more powerful vocal editing. Also, I'm not looking to sound robotic.

For your price range Logic Pro X is the best bet, it runs fine on most computer's I've tried it on and it's feature set is fantastic, plus you can pair it with your iPad and use your iPad as a controller - I wouldn't rule it out. Your experience in Garageband will help you adjust nicely and give you opportunities to learn the deeper tools of Logic. Any decent DAW (Cubase, Ableton, Logic etc) is going to draw a bit from your Mac to run nicely regardless - value wise Logic just flat out wins however.

If you want 'powerful vocal editing' you're going to need a professional grade DAW and bite the bullet - if you want 'lightweight' software you're going to have to rely on weaker DAWs such as Audacity, and you don't want to be using that for music production.

I'm running a 2012 MBP and it only bottles out when using 70-80 tracks simultaneously - and even then there's work arounds like freezing tracks or offloading data through Node if my mate's round with his laptop.

 

[Daisy Smith]

I'm looking for a music production software on my Mac. I need the following;

- RELATIVELY lightweight (I use a 2007 iMac. It runs alright, but lags sometimes.)
- Ability to record electric guitar via USB or digitally
- Powerful vocal editing. I like the flex pitch on Logic Pro X. Something more than simple AutoTune.
- Relatively inexpensive. Preferably under $150-ish. LPX is out of the question, because it probably isn't lightweight enough.

I use GarageBand currently. It's great, but I just need more powerful vocal editing. Also, I'm not looking to sound robotic.

Online Audio Recorder will be one of your normal choices to record music. If you want to record electric guitar via USB with powerful editing, these software below are more suitalbe for you.

1, REAPER

Price:$225 for commercial use, $60 for personal use

It is a cross-platform software which can be used on Windows Os and Mac OS. Not only do you have the ability to use any audio interface you prefer, but it supports almost any third-party audio or MIDI plug-in. REAPER’s deep list of audio preferences give you complete control over your mix during the editing process. For starters, its Free Item Positioning feature allows you to vertically stack, and edit, any number of items in a single track.

2, Logic Pro X

Price:$200

The download comes standard with a host of software instruments and synthesizers giving you the ability to create music in any genre. Its new “Drummer” feature allows you to input a virtual session drummer to play along side your recordings. Logic Pro X’s Mixer makes monitoring your workflow a breeze by allowing the use of a mouse to easily open or close plug-ins. Its non-segmented metering gives you high resolution and accurate, level feedback, making it easy to mix perfect soudig audio.

 

[Fishrrman]

If editing is important to you, I would suggest Cubase.

I have not seen ANY DAW application that offers the "ease of editing" as does Cubase.

Copying, pasting, moving, duplicating and processing audio in Cubase is as easy as selecting and editing text in any Mac text editor.

If you're willing to do some searching, you can scrounge up the "free versions" of Cubase (called Cubase AI and Cubase LE). Cubase AI5 might be a good choice as it will run fine on older equipment and with earlier versions of the OS.

I will mention that registering the AI and LE versions of Cubase can be a frustrating experience, but it's worth the trouble for what you get at the completion of the process.

 

[Boris-VTR]

For your price range Logic Pro X is the best bet, it runs fine on most computer's I've tried it on and it's feature set is fantastic, plus you can pair it with your iPad and use your iPad as a controller - I wouldn't rule it out. Your experience in Garageband will help you adjust nicely and give you opportunities to learn the deeper tools of Logic. Any decent DAW (Cubase, Ableton, Logic etc) is going to draw a bit from your Mac to run nicely regardless - value wise Logic just flat out wins however.

If you want 'powerful vocal editing' you're going to need a professional grade DAW and bite the bullet - if you want 'lightweight' software you're going to have to rely on weaker DAWs such as Audacity, and you don't want to be using that for music production.

I'm running a 2012 MBP and it only bottles out when using 70-80 tracks simultaneously - and even then there's work arounds like freezing tracks or offloading data through Node if my mate's round with his laptop.

Any heating problem? I am currently mixing a song in Garageband on ma 2012 MB air and it does get hot No heating problem, but it worms up nicely lol. I have only like 5 tracks, so speed is lightning fast.

 

[Psyfuzz]

Any heating problem? I am currently mixing a song in Garageband on ma 2012 MB air and it does get hot No heating problem, but it worms up nicely lol. I have only like 5 tracks, so speed is lightning fast.

Not on my MBP but it's probably got a large fan/cooling system than your Air.

As far as how it performs on the Air it should be okay, just make use of 'Freezing' within the DAW to take a lot of pressure off the CPU.

 

[Boris-VTR]

Not on my MBP but it's probably got a large fan/cooling system than your Air.

As far as how it performs on the Air it should be okay, just make use of 'Freezing' within the DAW to take a lot of pressure off the CPU.

How about exporting projects to other daws like cubase? I know that garageband cant do that really ( you can export basic audio but not all project)? Cause i also have pc machine and would like to work on the same project on both machines.

 

[Psyfuzz]

How about exporting projects to other daws like cubase? I know that garageband cant do that really ( you can export basic audio but not all project)? Cause i also have pc machine and would like to work on the same project on both machines.

I don't think you can export to other DAWs sadly, but you can always export the individual tracks from Logic and re import into Cubase. It's just a bit of a ball ache :/