08-09-2007, 09:49 AM

Hi everyone,
im about to get a mac and want to use it for many things, one of the things i want to do is record some tracks.

I dont know much about the software aspect and wondered what would be better, logic or garageband?

08-09-2007, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by vaughan80

Hi everyone,
im about to get a mac and want to use it for many things, one of the things i want to do is record some tracks.

I dont know much about the software aspect and wondered what would be better, logic or garageband?

too vague.

I want to wear shoes....which is better? Nike or Adidas?

If you want to record yourself singing and playing a guitar, then Garage Band will suffice.

If you want to make a professional demo to shop around your band, and want to continue recording for other people, then Logic might be a better choice because of the advanced editing, mixing, sampling, and plug in features that it has.

But if you want quality, then you're going to need recording gear, like mics, pre amps, interfaces, etc...

If you're only going to record a demo and not bother with it ever again except on the rare occasion, then your money is probably best spent at a recording studio that has a engineer that can help you and/or offer suggestions.

08-10-2007, 05:14 AM

i have mic's etc... already.
i just want to knock out some rough demos, ill give garageband a try and download a trial of logic. if i get on with that better i'll buy it.

08-10-2007, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by vaughan80

i have mic's etc... already.
i just want to knock out some rough demos, ill give garageband a try and download a trial of logic. if i get on with that better i'll buy it.

Actually your question isn't vague at all. Logic Express is superior in every possible way, and this is bound to be the case with a product costing $300 as opposed to one being part of a suite, costing $79.

I posted this a few months ago

Logic Express is lightyears ahead of Garage Band, just by the virtue of being able to use Re-wire, Audio Units and have the "Environment." I highly doubt you'll feel the need to go to Logic Pro, which simply gives you more plugins (which you can buy anyway) and removes input channel audio limit and changes the bus limit from 8 to 64. However, you can workaround these limits very easily by bouncing tracks intelligently. Logic Pro allows 192khz recording as well, Express 'limits' you to 96khz... more than enough for you, I'm sure.

I use my MacBook for Logic Express and my 2.0ghz Core Duo/2GB RAM is more than enough - especially with an external Firewire 7200 RPM HDD. I use Logix Express + Ableton live along with several Audio Units such as the Moog Modular, Polysix and Monopoly (from Korg's Legacy Collection), and can still comfortably record 24-bit audio from multiple sources, adding real time effects. The CPU barely gets warm... but seeing everything on the screen is a real pain... I'd definately go for the MBP next time.

Buying a mac....for msuic

and this

... cue now and I got my shiney Mac. I jumped straight in to Logic Express. Do play around with Garage Band, as the workflow is similar (although massively cut down and you get far far better intruments in Logic) but Logic is great, I heartely recommend it - go and play with it in a music shop! I was lucky that a place opposite where I work had an Apple rep just as I went to ask about it and he demo'ed it for me for about 40 minutes. I have never pulled out my credit card so fast in all my life...

I have used a crap load of sequencers in the past (those I have listed, plus Reason and Cakewalk in the old days and until I got rid of my PC recently, I also had Fruity Loops). I'd say Logic is probably the sweetest sequencer I have used so far. There are a few things you need to get used to, but real pro stuff like being able to drag a midi track to an audio track and have it render (instantly) the entire audio track with all effects and recorded event, is something you don't get at this price in Cubase.

It doesn't sound like you need Logic 'Pro'. There are a few differences, like a few less plugins and one of the sampler intruments has slightly more restrictions when it comes to editing waveforms, but that's it. You get a funky FM synth, a couple of analogue synths and an amazing Synth+Sampler that can sound incredible. You also get a load of plugins (the popular ones and a few suprises) and of course you can add your own plugins and synths.

Phew.

Now the intruments. As I said, you get 5 I think, in Logic and they're a great place to start, in fact at least 2 I would say are comparable feature wise with $200 standalone intruments and sound exceptionally good. You can add other Audio compatible intruments. I really want the Yamaha CS80, but it's as expensive as Logic, so I am not going to buy it until I create something that really needs it.

Finally hardware. In Windows I had some meaty setups, but you always got the odd stutter, latency and dropouts, especially when doing things on the screen. This doesn't happen in Logic, ever, unless you deliberately overload the system and start playing Quake. it uses the CoreDuo too, you get 2 CPU bars and it spreads the load (although it's possible for one meaty intrument to take up a whole core if you add enough effects). I use a modest MacBook with a gig of RAM running at 2.0ghz and I get latency on the internal audio of around 40 msecs. Honest! If someone told you they got that on a Dell, you'd laugh and stick them on your ignore list.

Logic! Did I sell it to you?

Not to be too biased, consider Ableton Live 6 (download the demo). It's more for mixing, has amazing drag and drop loop capabilities but also a fairly solid sequencer. Reason is a good intrument base, but I always thought the sequencer was poor. A good rewire app. As for Cubase... for me, overweight and over priced, but you may think differently.

email me if you want - I'll answer any question on Logic.

For $300, it's an utter bargain.

I'd like to start making some music . . . advice please

The only thing Garageband offers is this new Virtual Band thing in the 2008 version, which looks like fun if you're not really a musician and just want to play with pre-set mixes.

Logic Express is a fully functional, Audio Sequencer which will allow for studio quality reocordings and performances. It allows Audio Plugins for a start, has a wide variety of effects and mixing options, not available in garageband, and is really aimed at the Semi-pro or enthusiastic bedroom musician.

Logic Pro is aimed at professional studios, but the differences between Logic Pro and Logic Express are far smaller than the differences between Garage Band and Logic Express.