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Questions about the newest Logic box set.

ZiggyPastorius

ZiggyPastorius

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
3,142
1
Berklee College of Music
I'm a high school age, but very serious musician who enjoys composing for small ensembles, jazz bands, orchestras, and even solos and electronic music (I currently use Fruity Loops for that.) However, with the option to obtain such fine pieces of music software as the Logic Box Set, I am most likely to going to purchase a Macintosh for that. My question is: With Recording, mixing, editing, and making electronic sounds and songs, how much external equipment do I need? And then, if I want to take this to, say, our school auditorium, and use their sound system, using my Mac and Mainstage as my main centre, what sort of things would I need to have? What kind of technical knowledge/prowess may I need to do these kinds of seemingly complicated tasks? I am not rich, so I have a fairly small budget beyond the laptop and the software itself...the most I have in terms of sound are amps, instruments, and cables, and whatever sound equipment the school may have (not much). Would only having these things seriously inhibit the usefulness of getting Logic and its included software? And any information anyone can give me regarding making, editing, and mixing using logic studio and its other included programs would be helpful. Thanks all.
 
Sorry, your questions are too broad. Could you sharpen your questions to become more specific? Otherwise it's hard to know what exactly you're asking about.
 
OldCorpse said:
Sorry, your questions are too broad. Could you sharpen your questions to become more specific? Otherwise it's hard to know what exactly you're asking about.
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I basically just want to know if Logic would be basically useless for me in terms of recording, editing, mixing, et cetera, and making electronic music, without buying more professional equipment than simply an amp, the instruments, the cables..that sort of thing? I'm just looking for a bit about Logic and Mainstage, and I can't really make it much less vague than that, because I know very little about it.
 
For mainstage you'll need a midi controller of some sort I would have thought. Most of these now come with a usb connection but you could use pretty much any old midi keyboard with a usb midi interface or an external audio interface with midi in and out.

If you want to record lots of tracks at once you'll need to get a multiple input audio interface. I would recommend a firewire one because they are supposed to be more stable. If you only need 2 at once, the internal sound on any new mac would probably be more than adequate unless you need amazing high quality in which case you would be looking at spending about a grand (£) for a metric halo interface or something similar. A mixer would be good for recording.

As far as electronic music and composition go you can do fine without any external stuff, just headphones / monitors but a midi controller keyboard would be very useful for inputting notes although you can do this either with the mouse or by pressing caps lock and using the computer keyboard.

With editing and mixing you don't need anything really except headphones / monitors as before.

It is certainly possible to get a very good sounding recording with not much hardware. I finished a 7 track ep yesterday recorded using a 6 input interface a very cheap borrowed drum mic set another mic and a mixer. Mixed on hifi separate speakers and flat response headphones as well as logic pro on my mac.
 
Bow Rekk said:
For mainstage you'll need a midi controller of some sort I would have thought. Most of these now come with a usb connection but you could use pretty much any old midi keyboard with a usb midi interface or an external audio interface with midi in and out.

If you want to record lots of tracks at once you'll need to get a multiple input audio interface. I would recommend a firewire one because they are supposed to be more stable. If you only need 2 at once, the internal sound on any new mac would probably be more than adequate unless you need amazing high quality in which case you would be looking at spending about a grand (£) for a metric halo interface or something similar. A mixer would be good for recording.

As far as electronic music and composition go you can do fine without any external stuff, just headphones / monitors but a midi controller keyboard would be very useful for inputting notes although you can do this either with the mouse or by pressing caps lock and using the computer keyboard.

With editing and mixing you don't need anything really except headphones / monitors as before.

It is certainly possible to get a very good sounding recording with not much hardware. I finished a 7 track ep yesterday recorded using a 6 input interface a very cheap borrowed drum mic set another mic and a mixer. Mixed on hifi separate speakers and flat response headphones as well as logic pro on my mac.
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Thanks, that was really helpful =] If this is true, I think going for this box set will be perfect, as playing live performances with a computer as the mixing station and that sort of thing is not really my intention, but would be a cool thing to set up for an impressive graduation show. Good to know :)
 
I also have a keyboard (not a great one, but it works) with midi outputs and stuff, so I'm assuming if I have the cables, I can use that to record into the program if I want...so my question is, what kind of a convertor would I need to plug, say, my bass, or my guitar into the computer and record into Logic, besides just an audio input port? On programs like Fruity Loops, simply having the audio input isn't enough. Where might I get this sort of convertor or whatever for bass-to-logic recording.
 
Apple has done a good job to stream line Logic 8, but it still is Logic and have a very high learning curve. I thinkyou will enjoy Logic Express more, not as cool but a little easier to learn. Logic 8 is a professional software suite.I would hate to see you faltter with Logic 8.

As far as what you need. You just need a firewire or usb sound card. Try the M-Audio fast track USB clicky
 
synth3tik said:
Apple has done a good job to stream line Logic 8, but it still is Logic and have a very high learning curve. I thinkyou will enjoy Logic Express more, not as cool but a little easier to learn. Logic 8 is a professional software suite.I would hate to see you faltter with Logic 8.

As far as what you need. You just need a firewire or usb sound card. Try the M-Audio fast track USB clicky
Click to expand...


To be honest the difference in workflow between Pro and Express is pretty negligible, sure pro is far more flexible but they work in generally the same ways. With the new Logic Studio so cheap and with all the libraries etc it is really worth the extra $$

There are loads of great tutorials for Logic out there, including many sites with free ones.

As for convertors there are soo many to chose from depending on your needs/budget. Apple have just bought Apogee so if you want to stay in the family they are excellent although pricey, otherwise look at MOTU, M-audio, RMS to name few. As you have a keyboard you probably want one with midi and if going straight to an amp rather than via a mixer you will need a monitor out with a volume control.
 
As for convertors there are soo many to chose from depending on your needs/budget. Apple have just bought Apogee so if you want to stay in the family they are excellent although pricey, otherwise look at MOTU, M-audio, RMS to name few. As you have a keyboard you probably want one with midi and if going straight to an amp rather than via a mixer you will need a monitor out with a volume control.
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Well, I did forget to mention that I do have a mixer. So if I'm understanding correctly, then I should should be pretty much okay in terms of being able to use Logic once I get used to the program. My concern is not really whether I'll get used to the program, because I'm sure I will, it's just of whether or not I am capable of using the features. The mixer I have is really old, but it works great, so I think that may be a huge help. Out of curiosity, what kind of recommended stuff to buy from this forum topic might I be able to nevermind if I have a decent mixer? (It's one of the cool mixers, too, the ones that if you kick them, they go PSHHHHHHH really loud and sound like someone just broke a giant frame of glass with a stick of dynamite two inches from your ear...good stuff.)
 
ZiggyPastorius said:
Well, I did forget to mention that I do have a mixer. So if I'm understanding correctly, then I should should be pretty much okay in terms of being able to use Logic once I get used to the program. My concern is not really whether I'll get used to the program, because I'm sure I will, it's just of whether or not I am capable of using the features. The mixer I have is really old, but it works great, so I think that may be a huge help. Out of curiosity, what kind of recommended stuff to buy from this forum topic might I be able to nevermind if I have a decent mixer? (It's one of the cool mixers, too, the ones that if you kick them, they go PSHHHHHHH really loud and sound like someone just broke a giant frame of glass with a stick of dynamite two inches from your ear...good stuff.)
Click to expand...

Ah, a good old spring reverb. :p

Take the stereo out of the mixer with a lead with a stereo minijack to go in your mac. It will definitely work for starters and you'll soon know if you need more inputs or not and would definitely be the cheapest way of doing things. Get a usb to midi interface for about £15 for your keyboard to play the soft synths and mainstage. Google EMU Midi 1x1. I have one and it works fine when I can't be bothered / don't need my firewire audio interface. If you do get an external sound card, do a lot of research first. There are a lot on the market and some don't do all you'd expect. For example, I know the firebox won't work from bus power only on a macbook pro. I got the echo audiofire 4 equivalent which is pretty similar but does work bus powered.

If you are looking to do this really seriously, I have heard great things about RME firefaces but they are way out of my budget.

Have fun. :)
 
Bow Rekk said:
Ah, a good old spring reverb. :p

Take the stereo out of the mixer with a lead with a stereo minijack to go in your mac. It will definitely work for starters and you'll soon know if you need more inputs or not and would definitely be the cheapest way of doing things. Get a usb to midi interface for about £15 for your keyboard to play the soft synths and mainstage. Google EMU Midi 1x1. I have one and it works fine when I can't be bothered / don't need my firewire audio interface. If you do get an external sound card, do a lot of research first. There are a lot on the market and some don't do all you'd expect. For example, I know the firebox won't work from bus power only on a macbook pro. I got the echo audiofire 4 equivalent which is pretty similar but does work bus powered.

If you are looking to do this really seriously, I have heard great things about RME firefaces but they are way out of my budget.

Have fun. :)
Click to expand...

Here's another question I have...I am a complete noob when it comes to everything technical...So can anyone explain to me briefly what a firefire audio interface is? What it's use is and maybe some other commonly-heard-about things related to this sort of thing I may need to know? lol I know very very little about actually making and recording professionally, and am more of the actual musician, and I'd kind of like to get most of this stuff under my belt before I attend Berklee, where I'll start getting into these programs in-depth...Thanks.
 
A sound card connected via the firewire connection.

Again, it depends what you want to do. If you are only going to record a couple of different tracks of audio at once then you shouldn't need to worry about that as long as you have your mixer. If you are going to record lots of tracks at once then you will. You could go for usb but due to the way usb works firewire for audio is generally best.
 
Plumbstone said:
Not all out , but they apparently now own a fair chunk...
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I'm not so sure about that. I don't think Betty Bennett and her hubby Bob Clearmountain would be so quick to hand over the reigns that easily.

And yes, Bob Clearmountain's wife is the CEO of Apogee...how cool is that!?

Actually, I wonder how many of you actually know who Clearmountain is...:D
 
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