Logic Pro X or Pro Tools

[xgsjx]

I've been going to get Logic & just have different things coming up & delaying my purchase. However, I see that Pro Tools can be had on a pay monthly basis fro £19.90 or bought outright from a shop for £299 with an audio interface & ilok.

I'm mainly going to be using VSTis, but I do want to record instruments from time to time and also do the final mix.

Are there any users who could advise if Pro Tools is worth the extra money?

From what I've been reading, Logic is better for creating songs on, whereas PT is better for mixing & mastering. So maybe Logic would be better suited to me?

[topo morto]

[url="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/thinking-about-trying-protools-dont.1591207/"]This guy reckons NOT to go for Pro Tools.[/url]

No experience of it myself, but I am always struck by how little Pro Tools users know about 'what's possible' in DAWs nowadays. I assume it has no features whatsoever.

Edited July 10, 2015 by topo morto

[Sibob]

I prefer Logic X

Si

[zero9]

Logic X

[funkle]

Logic.

But, if you want something else fully featured and cheaper/totally customisable....Reaper is worth a look. PC and Mac. It took me a while to get to grips with it, but I really really like it now. I have it so it can look like Logic, Pro Tools, though I use another skin (House of White Tie Imperial) which looks great on my HD screen.

I understand many Pro Tools users have moved to Reaper, at least from the Reaper forums. Make of that what you will; I doubt that will be an unbiased source...

Best of luck.

[paul_5]

I'm on ProTools 10.3.10 over here, and I moved from Cubase (after 15 or so years) because Cubase wouldn't do what I needed it to (at the time, roughly 10 years ago). I looked at Logic (I think it was 7 or 8), but hated it - it was clunky, nothing was where I would have expected it to be, and it kept crashing.

Apparently the version of Logic I tried was a real dog, and very short-lived, but I didn't know this at the time. I plumped for PT (also because I needed it for work) and have been there since. The iLok (USB dongle) still makes me think I'm living in the '90s, and the plugins that are included in the initial package are nothing to write home about (with very few exceptions).

Given the choice again I would have gone with Logic, as it's the best 'all in one' purchase. The plugins and audio engine are superb straight out of the box, and it's a fraction of the price of Pro Tools.

[xgsjx]

Sounds like I might just stick with going for Logic.

I've got Reaper on my mac, but I don't use it that much as the VSTs I use, I can use in Garageband & GB has a great drum section.
I considered the option of buying the license for Reaper & buying some good VSTis for it, but I think that'd end up dearer than Logic.

I'll have another wee play with Reaper over the next week or so. Consider my options there.

[Skol303]

I have no great deal of experience with either... but i've always thought of Pro Tools as being good for working with audio - but perhaps less versatile than Logic (and others) when it comes to MIDI.

If i was to plump for a new DAW I'd probably opt for Ableton - it seems like the most progressive platform at the moment - but Logic is an industry favourite and you won't go wrong with it. Nor Reaper.

My own fave is still Reason - and I've tried them all to some extent. But that's me

[ambient]

I use both Logic Pro X and I bought ProTools whilst I was still a student, just to take advantage of the student discount .

I prefer Logic, it's more intuitive.

A lot of people have told me that ProTools is more about recording audio, and Logic is more about midi. I only record audio, but still prefer Logic.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1436555296' post='2819203']
A lot of people have told me that ProTools is more about recording audio, and Logic is more about midi. I only record audio, but still prefer Logic.
[/quote]
That's what I'd been reading, that Logic handled midi better & Pro Tools for audio, so it's good to hear that you prefer Logic for audio.

[xgsjx]

I've been remixing a song in GarageBand with it providing all the instruments via VSTs. Still working on it, but I'm happy with the sound. So I think Logic would be the logical step.

https://soundcloud.com/xgsjx/hurricane-g-house-remix-3/s-87v4F

[ambient]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1436557442' post='2819219']
I've been remixing a song in GarageBand with it providing all the instruments via VSTs. Still working on it, but I'm happy with the sound. So I think Logic would be the logical step.

[url="https://soundcloud.com/xgsjx/hurricane-g-house-remix-3/s-87v4F"]https://soundcloud.c...remix-3/s-87v4F[/url]
[/quote]

I would say so, I used to use Garageband a lot, and when I moved to Logic (9) it was quite easy to switch. You'll also have the benefit of being able to import your Garageband projects into Logic.

[BigRedX]

It depends really what you want to do with it. If you're essentially going use your DAW as a multi-track tape machine with excellent editing facilities then it's probably ProTools. If you need MIDI either for plugin instruments or external synths and other devices Logic is still streets ahead.

Having said that though, I would no longer spend money on [b]ANY[/b] software that required iLok to function no matter how cheap or good it was.

[paul_5]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1436700424' post='2819989']
It depends really what you want to do with it. If you're essentially going use your DAW as a multi-track tape machine with excellent editing facilities then it's probably ProTools. If you need MIDI either for plugin instruments or external synths and other devices Logic is still streets ahead.

Having said that though, I would no longer spend money on [b]ANY[/b] software that required iLok to function no matter how cheap or good it was.
[/quote]

Yeah, I moved to Pro Tools for the audio editing (at the time Cubase wouldn't let me edit multi-track drum takes simultaneously, so I could keep all the tracks phase-aligned). The iLok IS a huge pain in the arse though.

[ras52]

PT 11 user here... I got it just before they introduced the subscription thingy, so I'll have an interesting decision to make if I want/need to upgrade. If I decide to jump ship it'll be for Studio One 3, which has some neat scratchpad and arrangement features, which are geared more to "creating" a piece rather than just recording, editing and mixing it - the latter being what Pro Tools does excellently.

[xgsjx]

iLok does seem like a bit of a useless thing.
I thought I'd try the demo of PT, but to get the demo you need an ilok! So £35 to run a demo for a month?
There's a free version of PT, but to get that you have to register & then they'll email you when your download is ready. What's that all about? It's a bit of software, not a physical lump of matter that they have to make!

[BigRedX]

iLok is worse than useless and the company that run it are incompetent. Its all very well having copy protection, but when that copy protection gets in the way of being able to use software that you have paid for it becomes far more trouble than it is worth. There have been at least two major iLok problems in the last 18 months that left users without access to their software for significant length of time. If you place any value on being able to use software whenever you want then simply don't buy anything that requires iLok.

[ras52]

iLok gets a bad press but I've never had a problem with it. My only gripe is that it doesn't double as a memory stick for stuff like Waves licences.

[lowdown]

I use Steinberg E-Licenser and iLok and have not had any problems at all.
Although, to be honest, I wouldn't like to use them on a Laptop.
On my desktop, they are plugged in the back of my machine out of harms way.

My Steinberg dongle also stores my VSL licenses,
and my iLok is the second generation - So maybe the problems are with the earlier version(s).

[BigRedX]

In theory the iLok is a brilliant idea. You store all your licences/authorisations for your DAW and the plugins that you use on a single dongle and then they are instantly available to you on any computer that the iLok is plugged into. In practice it turns out that using it with multiple devices in different locations is exactly where the problems arise.

If you use it only on a single computer for only a few licenses and rarely add any new ones you'll probably be OK. However I've seen iLok problems first hand and the company that runs it is absolutely useless at dealing with anything and their help system despite what it says on the website is most definitely not 24/7. If you use music software to make your living the accepted wisdom is that iLok and PACE the company that run it are simply not professional enough to rely on.

[paul_5]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1436861548' post='2821386']
iLok gets a bad press but I've never had a problem with it. My only gripe is that it doesn't double as a memory stick for stuff like Waves licences.
[/quote]

My iLok (2nd generation) has all of my Waves licenses on it too. Still a pain in my arse though.

[lowdown]

Why is it a pain for you, just being curious really.

[lowdown]

Just a heads up for Logic users.
One of my boys uses Logic, and has got his eyes on this.
It is for use with multi timbral synths or using multi midi tracks and/or key switching for articulations.
Condenses it all down to one midi track with no clutter in PRV and score view editing.
http://www.skiswitcher.com

[72deluxe]

My guitarist friend went for the limited / lower-cost edition of Pro Tools and keeps mentioning that it is "industry standard" but it runs like a dog on his underpowered machine, is limited to 16 tracks and came with an audio interface that emits a high-pitched whistle at all times. He says you get used to it and don't hear it but how on earth he can do an objective mix is beyond me - wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! all the time

For his money he should have bought a Focusrite audio interface and got a load of VSTs / AUs plugins. I went for Logic and find the "drummer" feature to be very useful for jamming a long to for practice. Given that you can take the tracks it creates and put them into a different drum plugin as MIDI data, it means you can get some very interesting sounds for very little effort.

I did also try Presonus Studio One but found the interface a bit too small and cluttered. I know Logic is black (everything's like Darth Vader's codpiece colour-wise) but the controls are mostly of reasonable size, although it does prefer a higher-resolution screen.

[BigRedX]

Protools used to be an brilliant program when it was fully integrated with its own interface and plug-in hardware. It was pretty much rock solid and because the dedicated hardware did all the "heavy lifting" all the computer was required to do was display the interface which meant that it was rarely taxing whichever OS you ran it under. ProTools USP was that it was a dedicated and specialised system for professional users (in all senses of the word).

Then for some reason they decided to make cut down versions that supported inferior third party hardware and were very much an poor experience compared with the "real" thing. Maybe they thought it would ease prospective users into ProTools, although at the time the interface of the full version was so simple you'd have to be a complete moron not to be able use it. All it has done is dilute the user experience and overburden their technical support.

Edited July 14, 2015 by BigRedX