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HazzFq

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
38
0
has anyone compared these two programs? if so lets hear it :D
 
I'm currently running M-Powered Pro Tools 7.1 on OS 10.4 but I'm strongly considering switching to Logic Pro 8. I investigated Logic after the price drop but found it does a lot more too.

Pro Tools:
-32 tracks (only 16 stereo), this becomes problematic with aux. bus.
-no OMF/AAF support out of the box ($500USD plugin LE only)
-no 5.1
-Only supports digidesign or m-audio hardware (might not suit your needs)
-Only 1 MIDI instrument out of the box (a very recent addition)


Logic:
-255 mono or stereo tracks, 64 buses
-OMF, AAF and XML support out of the box
-up to 7.1 mixing out of the box
-use a variety of hardware
-backwards compatible with garageband
-comes with a heck of a lot of instruments (both MIDI and DI)

I haven't used Logic 8 yet, I'm a little weary of the new interface, particularly the single window design. I hope there is a way to have all tools in their own windows again.

The only thing keeping me on Pro Tools for now is using FX Pansion's VST to RTAS wrapper, but to get full functionality of this plug-in I have to run Windows on my iMac. The opensource Windows VST community is really quite amazing.
 
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/349825/

There is overlap and you can do the same thing in both. BUT IMO:
Pro Tools: audio (if you are into pure studio work)
Logic: midi (music creation)

Yes the track limitation in the affordable versions of Pro Tools are embarrassing. The free program Ardour has more I/O. Bigger studios all use Pro Tools HD setups for recording, so if what you are into is recording pure audio, mixing, etc. I'd say invest in Pro Tools, as that is what is out there.

But for samples, midi, soft synths, and other music creation Logic is much better, from that standpoint. Film composers writing with samples use Logic for composition as working with velocity layers and editing midi is very good. MIDI timing and accuracy is very tight in Logic, but has show stopper bugs in Pro Tools where midi cannot stay in sync.
 
Logic is Better all around!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/349825/

There is overlap and you can do the same thing in both. BUT IMO:
Pro Tools: audio (if you are into pure studio work)
Logic: midi (music creation)

I Disagree.. I do all of my Audio mixing in Logic 8 now.. It has a workflow that I like better. Logic is by far the better Software all around. Logic 7... Pro-tools still had an edge but not any more. Apple just knows how to do a GUI. It's old school thinking to say that Logic is better for Midi and Pro-Tools is better for Audio. I think we've finally gotten past this
 
I have Pro Tools with the 002 rack and it is great. Yet, I purchased Logic Studio and it is becoming my favorite. Lot's of effects and Main Stage is cool. You get a lot for the purchase and there is no usb key verification thing that sucks with protools. If you have a couple of Macs with Logic, you can run it in node mode. Sharing the resources of the spare Mac. A late model Mac and 2-4 Gb of RAM with a decent audio card and HD space. Rock on! Get it. Midi audio is good too.;)
 
Pro-Tools was good up until 1997, since then the only reason it still is around is that people have spent hundreds of thousands on it and years learning it. Pro tools is rather archaic for the times.


EDIT:BTW, I got Logic 8 the day after it was released. Oh man it is so FRICKEN sweet!
 
Pro Tools:
-32 tracks (only 16 stereo), this becomes problematic with aux. bus.
-no OMF/AAF support out of the box ($500USD plugin LE only)
-no 5.1
-Only supports digidesign or m-audio hardware (might not suit your needs)
-Only 1 MIDI instrument out of the box (a very recent addition)


This is wrong. I've seen studios use Apogee with PT, and as many tracks as their Mac could handle.

PT is a lot better than logic since it has it's own hardware. But we use Logic Pro 8.

Look at this board.... kick ass...

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=15

Logic doesn't have it's own hardware.
 
Hey Badude, just to let you know, the new interface (which I prefer) is actualy easily set to the way it looked before. EVerything that has been 'simplified' if you wish to call it that, can still be done the same way it was done before. But you'll quickly see the simplified is actualy streamlined, it's really nice.
 
This is wrong. I've seen studios use Apogee with PT, and as many tracks as their Mac could handle.

Guess what? They were using Pro Tools HD which costs in the thousands. Compared with Logic Studio 8 which costs much much less.

Why is having its own hardware better? Surely being able to use any hardware that you wish is much better. Being locked into one set of devices is bad for choice.
 
Guess what? They were using Pro Tools HD which costs in the thousands. Compared with Logic Studio 8 which costs much much less.

That's because they pay for the cards as well.


Why is having its own hardware better? Surely being able to use any hardware that you wish is much better. Being locked into one set of devices is bad for choice.

You can use other hardware with PT HD like Apogee.
 
Actually, you can use something else exclusively. The Kitchen here in Dallas does, they use the Apogee Rosetta (x5) with the cards in their Mac Pro.

and those cards are made by digidesign. one can run PTHD w/o digi converters, but there still has to be digi hardware. i assume that's what you meant.
 
and those cards are made by digidesign. one can run PTHD w/o digi converters, but there still has to be digi hardware. i assume that's what you meant.


You'd have to ask them about the cards, I never opened their mac. My point is that you don't have to be 100% digidesign hardware chain and not have use their converters. IMO, the rosetta 800 is better.
 
You'd have to ask them about the cards, I never opened their mac. My point is that you don't have to be 100% digidesign hardware chain and not have use their converters.

and guess what, no one said or is saying the entire chain has to be digidesign, so who exactly are you trying to argue with?

the cards in the mac are digidesign; i'll save you the trouble of opening the case.
 
and guess what, no one said or is saying the entire chain has to be digidesign, so who exactly are you trying to argue with?

the cards in the mac are digidesign; i'll save you the trouble of opening the case.



LOL. Read BadDude's post, he said it. I really don't care about looking, so it's not an issue. My whole point of posting in this thread was for BadDude, so I'll shut up now. CYA.
 
LOL. Read BadDude's post, he said it. I really don't care about looking, so it's not an issue. My whole point of posting in this thread was for BadDude, so I'll shut up now. CYA.

dude... please learn/think before you start arguing your points..

Baddude was using LE.. and you have to have a m-audio or digidesign sound card to open up PT-LE .... sure, you can feed other converters into that sound card digitally.. but you still have to have their hardware...

PT-HD is a whole different story..
 
dude... please learn/think before you start arguing your points..

Baddude was using LE.. and you have to have a m-audio or digidesign sound card to open up PT-LE .... sure, you can feed other converters into that sound card digitally.. but you still have to have their hardware...

PT-HD is a whole different story..

No way dude! -lol. Dude, that is such a waste of a good vocabulary.

The name of the thread is "Pro Tools vs Logic 8", not "Pro Tools LE vs Logic Express".



And on that note, I can tell when I'm not wanted in this thread. TTYL.
 
Is this thread done?

If it is, does anybody know a link of an informative thread on this question?

cheers
 
hahaha i would like to know the answer too.

of course, although there is no answer, i would like to hear more peoples opinions
 
Both apps allow recording on multiple audio tracks dependent on hardware inputs, both allow MIDI data to be recorded and edited, both are non-linear environments, both allow mixing using native and 3rd party plug in, both handle video well, both are simple to use and difficult to master.

Protools limits you to Digidesign hardware that you have to have connected (but can use a range of attendant hardware) Logic allows the use of a lot more 3rd party hardware (inc MOTU and Apogee, prism etc.) There is little wrong with Digi's hardware for project level work, but it's not good enough for high level recording, same is true for the budget Logic compatible hardware.

Both allow HD recording dependent on hardware (up to 192Khz on both systems), and it's entirely possible to begin, edit and mix an entire project in either one exclusively.

You still need to understand recording technique, composition, editing and mixing theory and practice in order to get the best out of either of them.

To my ears, Logic 8 sounds like a toy, this is an observation from a Logic user from 4 onwards, Logic 7 sounds fine, but Logic 8 sounds too close to the artificial sound of Reason and GarageBand to me.

Protools sounds like whatever you put into it, which is what I need from a platform.

The choice (as has been noted here) is about you working style. If you are composing I suggest that Logic (or Neuendo or DP5 or even Abelton Live) is a better choice out of the box and gives a lot of bang for the buck. If you are recording Protools offers a linear workflow and a set of editing tools that Logic has only just caught up with. If you are mixing, neither is really good enough, as they are both native and use the computers on-board processors, mixing in Protools or Logic can only really be achieved without pain on an HD or similarly DSP-rich system.

This is a professional viewpoint. No major studio has one or the other, they have both, and others too. Digi have been at some pains to offer hardware that interfaces well with other software and hardware, and this is the reality of the situation.

Ask yourself what you need to achieve, and for your own sake use your ears, not just the feature list and your eyes.
 
Both apps allow recording on multiple audio tracks dependent on hardware inputs, both allow MIDI data to be recorded and edited, both are non-linear environments, both allow mixing using native and 3rd party plug in, both handle video well, both are simple to use and difficult to master.

Protools limits you to Digidesign hardware that you have to have connected (but can use a range of attendant hardware) Logic allows the use of a lot more 3rd party hardware (inc MOTU and Apogee, prism etc.) There is little wrong with Digi's hardware for project level work, but it's not good enough for high level recording, same is true for the budget Logic compatible hardware.

Both allow HD recording dependent on hardware (up to 192Khz on both systems), and it's entirely possible to begin, edit and mix an entire project in either one exclusively.

You still need to understand recording technique, composition, editing and mixing theory and practice in order to get the best out of either of them.

To my ears, Logic 8 sounds like a toy, this is an observation from a Logic user from 4 onwards, Logic 7 sounds fine, but Logic 8 sounds too close to the artificial sound of Reason and GarageBand to me.

Protools sounds like whatever you put into it, which is what I need from a platform.

The choice (as has been noted here) is about you working style. If you are composing I suggest that Logic (or Neuendo or DP5 or even Abelton Live) is a better choice out of the box and gives a lot of bang for the buck. If you are recording Protools offers a linear workflow and a set of editing tools that Logic has only just caught up with. If you are mixing, neither is really good enough, as they are both native and use the computers on-board processors, mixing in Protools or Logic can only really be achieved without pain on an HD or similarly DSP-rich system.

This is a professional viewpoint. No major studio has one or the other, they have both, and others too. Digi have been at some pains to offer hardware that interfaces well with other software and hardware, and this is the reality of the situation.

Ask yourself what you need to achieve, and for your own sake use your ears, not just the feature list and your eyes.

this post should be stickied.
 
To my ears, Logic 8 sounds like a toy, this is an observation from a Logic user from 4 onwards, Logic 7 sounds fine, but Logic 8 sounds too close to the artificial sound of Reason and GarageBand to me.

Hi, there's is no measurable degradation of the sound in Logic compared with Logic 7. GarageBand is a stripped down version of Logic, developed by the same people, with the same audio engine (but with a different user interface)...

People who have been wasting as many hours on various pro audio forums as I have, have probably noticed that when Logic 8 came out, a number of users claimed that it sounded better than Logic 7, but I guess that's just a psychological thing, because it looks more "professional".

BTW, Mipa this week gave their annual award for best recording software to Logic 8 (Pro Tools 7.4 came in as #2, Nuendo 4 became #3).
 
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