R.I.P ProTools, Logic 9 is out!

Finally! All the editing capabilities of ProTools in a comfortable DAW! This is something I was waiting for a while… The major Logic Pro 9 upgrade! Just like Apple did with Final Cut Pro 4 a while back, this upgrade to Logic is SERIOUSLY replacing the expensive Digidesign rigs by a comparably inexpensive computer with whatever interface you want and all the power you need, making it a TRUE alternative, not just an add-on. Not to mention that it’s all wrapped up in a much more friendly environment, stuffed with quality plug-ins and instruments… A musician’s dream, and the end of the engineer’s nightmare!

As an engineer, one is seeking for rapid editing and efficient file management in order to have an effective workflow that will save precious studio time for creative mixing. Up until now, editing was Logic’s weakness… To most engineers, the way to edit is the PT way: a one size fit all tool. Logic’s old tool menu was time consuming and not so effective. So much crap has flew out of my mouth because of that thing! But fortunately enough, this is all in the past… Logic has developed a new way to ”know” what tool you want to use. Apparently there are ”hot zones” in which your tools will automatically switch to what is best suited accordingly to where your pointer is.

The other biggie between Logic and PT was the time adjusting tool, as well as the whole quantization process, which in PT was made very easy… Well it’s all implemented in the new version of Logic, and way improved from the PT time stretching tool. It’s more closely resambles to the ”Ableton Live” approach of elastic audio rather than it’s, now obselete, Digidesign lookalike. The idea is to be able to easily move, stretch and compress bits of audio timewise. This is a serious improvement from the last version’s time stretching capabilities that was a little awkward to use…

The whole quantization process has also been improved by a very helpful visual color coded transient separators, making it very easy to quantize, groove or simply apply small corrections to an already tight track. To me, it looks much more versatile and friendly than PT’s beat detective…

An other fun implementation in version 9 is the sample converter, which enables an audio region to be automatically sliced up in bits and pieces based on transient response and re-mapped in a sampler, each bit being automatically assigned to a midi note which lengths is proportional to it’s original ”audio” length. It therefore makes every ”hit” or note independently tweakable and editable in the sampler instrument… But my words are shallow to describe the power of this new feature, so might as well show you the video…

Next is the major upgrade of the amp emulation. Honestly, i’ve never been a fan of plug-in amps and other such emulators, nothing sounds like the real thing… On the other hand, I’m a big fan of re-amping, thus giving its credit to a good emulation… Let me explain… If I am to track guitar overdubs for a band that is not quiet sure how they want their guitars to sound like, the idea of tracking the pure signal coming out of the guitar and taking as much time needed to find the right amp, microphone, placement and tone is pertinent. But tracking a guitar through a DI won’t get the player to play as he would in a real amp, as the DI sound has nothing to do with the real thing! That’s where the plug-in comes into play… By sending the player back a realistic amp sound, I’m allowing the performance to be as close as possible to one played directly in an amp. Also, playing around with the plug-in is a fast and time saving way to audition what kind of sound that would best suit the mix… Logic’s new ”Amplitube” approach does that just well! If we get to a type of sound we like turning knobs and switching amps with a mouse, then I’ll easily be able to get to that sound with the amps and cabs I got in the studio, sparing us from trying every single Head/Cab combo possible!

Finally, the last thing worth talking about is the whole ”comping” business… Logic found a way to improve their amazing non-destructive multi track comping stack. It’s easier and much more flexible from the earlier version…

Even if I had already convinced myself that ProTools was history, the new version of logic seals the deal! Now i’m all over it.