Logic Express is a casualty though - it is no longer being sold and the new release of Pro is um... a point upgrade from 9.1.5 to 9.1.6. For those, like me, who have Logic 9 Express, $199 is an awful lot of money for a point release.
The appealing part of upgrading is getting access to a few cool synth modules that are not in Express (such as Sculpture) and access to all of the software instruments and loops in Apples jam packs. This is a considerable value - the instruments more than the loops since I tend to play my tracks these days!
There is somewhat good news there if you can live with a few compromises. Apple also has unbundled the performance software, Mainstage and is selling it for $29. Both Logic Pro 9 and Mainstage purchases let you download all of the jam packs.
Soooo, in my case, I am keeping Logic Express and I purchased Mainstage even though I have no interest in performing. I have downloaded all of the jam packs and instruments which all appear now in Logic Express as well - so a $29 "sort of" upgrade that i can live with.
The downside is that while the cool additive Sculpture synth is available for use in Mainstage, it does not appear in the Logic Express menus - trying to see if I can get that to work but I am not optimistic.
I probably will upgrade to Logic X when/if it appears, but til then, this seems to be a good option.
Hi, moved to comment this evening because I can relate to this posting. I did the same thing after research and picked up Mainstage to augment Logic Express. The deal clincher was that ALL of Logic's insert stuff was available in Mainstage. The jam packs are frosting. But, I don't care about Mainstage's performance framework at all.
ReplyDeleteSo, for me, it's just a down and dirty tool to record short audio, obviously bounced down automatically. It's CPU hog, and that's the only speed bump.
Then the tracks go into Logic Express. Fingers crossed that it comes to iPad.
I think anything going to iPad from Apple will probably be via Garageband for iPad for while yet. There is a lot of room for improvement there but its come a long way. I was hoping that Logic was upgraded when I saw it in the Mac Appstore but its pretty much the same product - they just reduced the price of the studio version. I will probably spring for the next release when it comes out but this was a good way to pseudo-upgrade.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see that Apple continues to update Logic Express with fixes, patches etc.