06-16-2009, 12:20 PM

Hello,
I'm a guitarist who is considering purchasing a Macbook Pro with the intention of using it for digital recording. At first, I thought that Pro Tools was the ticket, but I've been researching Logic, and the more I read about it the more I like it. Keep in mind that I'm by no means a professional recording engineer. I'm merely just an experienced guitarist who is a beginner at recording. To me, Logic looks like it will do everything I need it to do, but only easier to use than Pro Tools. Any opinions?

06-16-2009, 04:36 PM

Actually, has anyone tried Logic Express?

06-17-2009, 09:29 AM

Logic Express is awesome for the price. I have it and it has way more bang for your buck than ProTools does. #1, you are not locked into using Pro Tools way over priced hardware, #2 Logic's Midi Editing is superior in every way, #3 It has a nice mastering suite built in, #4 Fully Rewire compatible, #5 When Apple releases a new OS, you won't have to wait for DigiDesign to get around to making an upgrade to ProTools, it took a WHILE for PT to play nice with Leopard. If you have the extra dough, you should go full Logic Studio, it has some AMAZING features for it's $500 USD price tag. The bummer things about Logic Express, #1 Still doesn't have 100% multi-threading capability, example, when you bounce a song, it throttles one core. #2 If your used to PT, it's interface will seem a little alien to you.

06-17-2009, 02:38 PM

Here's another question: Say I have Logic Express and I want to record my guitar through my combo amp. Obviously I'm going to need some sort of mixer or other interface to hook up to my Mac in order to mic my amp, correct?

06-17-2009, 07:26 PM

I mean you could us the mic on the Mac, but it will only sound OK, they really aren't bad for scratch recordings. You can get a line 6 interface on the cheap and it sounds pretty amazing. I did all my band's guitar recording with a Line 6 KB37 and it turned out WAY better than I expected. You can use pretty much any firewire based interface on the market with it too.

06-18-2009, 01:59 AM

First off let me say this, I am a professional engineer so I am biased 2 pro tools.

First question you have 2 ask yourself is what are you going 2 do with your recordings. If there is ever a chance you are going 2 take them into a pro studio then go protools. If you are just recording them for yourself then go logic (never used it myself) It is best to think about this now because if you spend the money u might as well spend it right the first time instead of having 2 spend the same amount twice.

Also there is a M Audio version of pro tools, u get the same features the gear is just different and i believe it is less expensive than the regular version of pro tools.

06-18-2009, 10:00 AM

If you need to export them and take the tracks to another studio, I believe that Logic will export the project to be compatible with Pro-Tools. Here's an article on how to do it, it's relatively painless.

Moving from Logic to Pro Tools

06-18-2009, 02:53 PM

If you're just beginning, why not start with GarageBand? Check out Apple's tutorials.

P.S. I've have two brothers in the music business. One uses Logic Pro, the other has a full and very expensive Pro Tools rig setup. The first one has made sure he also knows his way around Pro Tools because it is so popular. Both brothers generate great results.

06-19-2009, 08:23 AM

Very good recommendation Xstep! Garageband is so easy to use if you are a beginner. I still do all my basic tracking in it and import my GB session into Logic for mix and master.