Logic Express 8 or Logic pro audio

[paulkr]

Hi,

I have an Imac 2 GHz Intel Core 2 duo with 2GHz ram.

Want's to set up a recording system with:
Logic Express 8
Presonus FP10
Masterkeyboard Fatar/Studiologic SL990.

Have read already some articles about the Presonus FP10.

Only not sure in the choice Logic Express 8 or Logic pro audio

[brandondrury]

I'm not a Logic guy so I really can't comment too much. I know it was recently discusses that there isn't a whole bunch of difference between Logic Pro and Logic Express, but I'm just repeating rumors here.

Maybe a real Logic person can comment.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Brandon

[Strangedogs]

I have LOGIC STUDIO PRO 8 and used Express too (both 7 and 8) - not a whole lotta differences. Pro comes with some extra HIGH-END stuff and a whole lotta loops, etc. but for 99% of home recordists Logic Express 8 will be great! It's a fantastic way to waste a whole lotta free time

[jhanzair]

Just check out the Apple site - they've got it all explained there. I've got Logic Express, and I don't really miss anything from Pro. I'm not a high-end recordist - my main audio interface is (still) a Mackie Spike. If you're going to do live work, or use the high-end plugins the Pro version supplies, go on ahead. But my advice is just buy the Express version - you can pay the diference between Pro and Express to upgrade to Pro if you need to anyway.

[Y.E.]

get logic studio, the only difference is express has less features.

[jhanzair]

Well, it's quite some money to go wasting. I think it would be a far better idea to start with express and eventually upgrade if needed.

jhanzair

[stigg]

Hey e'budy.
I liked G/band and was using it quite a bit but I felt I needed a more comprehensive and better quality daw so rather than buying G/B loops I invested in L/Express and the overall quality is better, steeper learning curve, but better.
s.

[robgb]

There's very little difference between Logic Express 8 and Logic Studio. Logic Studio includes some higher end effects and a couple other applications (thus, the "Studio" moniker), but the core Logic DAW is pretty much the same.

You really aren't losing much if you go with Express. In the past there was quite a bit of difference, I'm told, but nowadays, not so much.

[2dogs]

Originally Posted by stigg

Hey e'budy.
I liked G/band and was using it quite a bit but I felt I needed a more comprehensive and better quality daw so rather than buying G/B loops I invested in L/Express and the overall quality is better, steeper learning curve, but better.
s.

Hi Stigg,
I'm considering switching from Garageband to Logic Express and I wondered if you could tell me some of the specific benefits you gained with LE. How did you get better sound quality. If you did it again would you buy some instructional videos to ease the transition?

Thanks
2dogs

Update to original post:
Well I've been working with Logic Express for a couple months now and there is quite a difference in the details which can be applied using the effects included in Logic. Ultrabeat is a great tool to generate some inspiration with all the kits and its easy to use, especially if you buy the videos from Macprovideo.
Some of the other advantages LE has over Garageband is the ability to control effects on each track. In GB if you apply an effect its for the whole track. In LE you can control the effects throughout the track just as if it was volume automation. So instead of having to clone a track to apply an effect and fart around with volume to let the right part play the way you want, all you have to do is control the effect in the one track.

This was the biggest reason for me to switch to Logic by far.

As far as learning curves go, I bought the whole series of Logic videos from Macprovideo.com Great investment. Instead of tackling the whole 90 or so hours of video, I listen to a bit every night and try something new here and there. When I'm working I can go back to refresh myself on specifics. Very handy and well worth the money.

The effects are quite a bit better in Logic as well. You can tweak fairly well in GB and some folks produce great tunes with it but Logic is a pro application and offers you a huge array of effects and most of all it offers you dozens of ways of doing the same thing which is great for you to individualize how you work to your liking.

Something interesting if you're wondering how hard it will be to take your existing tunes from GB to Logic. As easy as opening the application, and selecting the song you want and its gets imported with all the exact effects you had applied in GB. I had a ton of plugins and Apple loops. Logic uses all of them. Something else which is interesting. I'm not big on midi yet, but with GB my Yamaha DTXplorer only worked with a couple drum kits from GB. Logic actually learns the midi input/output of your midi device, yes even Yamaha, and you can then use all the available midi samplers in Logic. That's a huge deal. Yamaha does not care much about compatibility with Mac's and the only software that I found which fully mapped the DTXplorer is an expensive application. The freeware available worked for a few samplers but not all of them. Something to consider. Now some folks are great at programming etc and they may have an easy time with dealing with such issues, but if you're like me, and nowhere near Einstein's IQ where it comes to that crap, then Logic will help you.

Cheers,

2dogs

[rburkard]

Just set up my system consisting of Mcbook Pro / Logic Express / Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2 and after a little bit of adjusting and experimentation are very happy with the results so far. I left the Protools LE plattform since I got sick of constant updates in combination with MC operationg systems and the extremly high prices for plug ins.

Rene