Welcome to the April edition of Logic Pros Marketplace — a roundup of all of the most interesting free FX plug-ins and sound resources, discounted instruments, and more for Logic Pro users. This time around we are tracking even more offers on MPE gear for your multi-touch-gesture explorations as well as a host of new, completely free FX and vintage synth-based sampler instruments for your Kontakt library. Head below for everything.
After looking at how to quickly move timeline-based projects over to a Live Loops setup and some nice price drops previously, today we are talking about mapping Remix FX to Launchpad. Apple’s GarageBand multi-FX unit gone pro made its debut inside Logic Pro for the first time as part of the flagship app’s major overhaul last year. A particularly useful and creative tool, especially in concert with Live Loops, Remix FX houses a number of multi-touch ready FX units from filters and repeaters to down samplers and interesting tape stops to add some serious flavor to your compositions. But with direct and multi-touch control available via Logic Remote already, and some tricky X/Y pads to deal with, is it really worth the trouble mapping Remix FX to Launchpad?
Today we are taking a look at the copy to Live Loops function and transforming your regions into cells. While we previously explored some of the more performance-based applications of Launchpads and Live Loops, arguably the most obvious use for Apple’s grid-based production environment is in arrangement. You can easily and quickly experiment with transitions from one part to any other without having to start dragging and dropping huge, unwieldy chunks of regions around. Sure, that’s nothing some Marquee tool or skip/cycle wizardry can’t handle on the regular timeline, but there’s really no comparing that to the musical immediacy and hands-on immersion of triggering these sections with a single Launchpad button, all-synced to the timeline and without having to commit to anything until you’ve experienced the change.
After exploring some techniques and functionality to bolster performance potential last time around, today we are taking a look at custom Launchpad modes and creating our own bespoke controls for Logic Pro. Continuing our journey towards complete creative hardware dominance over our instruments and tracks in Logic Pro, these custom made templates allow us to quickly and simply throw some widgets around to personalize hardware control over just about every parameter your trackpad can find. Used in combination with Logic Pro’s particularly powerful Learn assignment functionality, Novation’s Components Editor is a simple and effective way of expanding Launchpad hardware control well beyond the factory limitations.
Now that we are well in to 2017, we thought it was a good time to re-assess the MIDI keyboard situation for Mac users. We have some new contenders on the block that have pushed some old favorites to the side, while AKAI, Native Instruments and more continue to bring some of the best and most affordable controllers to market. If you are just getting into making music with virtual instruments on your Mac and Logic Pro X, a MIDI controller of some kind is a must and a keyboard option is usually the best point of entry.
Head below for our 2017 picks of the best MIDI keyboards for Mac users:
Apple is introducing a new education bundle for its professional creative apps that significantly discounts the entire collection. Final Cut Pro X, Logic Pro X, and their companion apps can be purchased together through the bundle for $199…
Feature Request is a new regular 9to5Mac series where authors offer their opinion on how to improve popular hardware or software products.
With the introduction of iPad Pro, now is the time for Apple to finally bring Logic Pro to its tablet. Apple has long had Garageband available for iOS devices, offering what is essentially a feature for feature companion for the desktop Mac app, albeit with a user interface tweaked for the smaller touch display. But it’s not much help to pros that have their workflow in Apple’s professional audio editing suite for Mac, Logic Pro.
The Logic Pros is a new regular series exploring all of the most interesting gadgets and software for making music on your Mac/iOS devices. If there is any gear you would like us to take a closer hands-on look at, let us know in the comments section below or shoot us an email.
Apple’s Logic Remote app for iPad allows for a lot of control over sessions in Logic Pro X on the Mac— its two main functions include controlling the mixer/transport controls, and using it as a midi controller for playing virtual instruments with user interfaces for keyboards, drumpads, and fretboards. But the app’s other feature is a grid of drumpad-like squares that can be used as buttons for key commands.
My goal was to be able to easily flip through amps and pedals as I jam, rather than having to deal with mouse clicks, opening/highlighting the plug-in I want to interact with, etc. So using Logic Remote, I setup a workflow with custom key commands that makes the drumpad-style interface work like a giant foot pedal for flipping through the awesome set of virtual amps and pedals Logic includes. Here’s how I did it:
There are a few companies that make skins specifically for Apple’s keyboards to add icons for the various shortcuts that pros use daily in apps like Logic Pro and Final Cut. I’ve tried a few in the past, but the benefits never seemed to outweigh the tradeoff of putting a clunky rubber skin over Apple’s masterfully built keyboard. The latest Logic keyboard I received in for review from EditorsKeys, however, has actually won me over and proven up to the task of permanently replacing my stock Apple keyboard.
Apple’s new release of Logic Pro X marks the first time in nearly six years that the company has completely overhauled the app’s UI. It’s been a long time coming for pros like myself that rely on the application, and to make things even sweeter, Apple is promising more than just a fresh coat of paint this time around.
There’s no ignoring the backlash Apple experienced just two years ago with its redesign of Final Cut Pro X and the removal of pro features in return for an elegant, streamlined interface. The question is, does Logic’s slick new interface come with compromises for professionals? Or has Apple learned from its mistakes with FCPX?
(Preparations for Apple’s 2013 WWDC developer conference / Image via Nick)
There’s a lot we already know about what we’ll be seeing next week at WWDC– we’ve already brought you exclusive details on iOS 7, OS X 10.9, a MacBook refresh, Apple’s new Radio service, and much more. What else might we see Apple show off next week? Below are a couple of our best predictions based on what we think Apple is most likely to show off as well as few things we’ve been hearing:
Following a string of teaser videos in recent months, Sony appears to have confirmed its Sound Forge Pro audio editing software will make its way to Mac. MacRumors pointed us to the video above, posted by FinallyOnMac, which shows the software running on a MacBook Pro.
We can see from the video above that the software has been redesigned for OS X, but we still do not know when the production suite will make its way to OS X or for how much. The PC edition of Sound Forge Pro 10 currently sells for around $375. Its obvious competition is Apple’s own Logic Pro 9 suite, which became a $199 Mac App Store app as of last year, down from the its old $499 Logic Studio offering. We are getting our hands on Sound Forge for Mac soon to give you our first impressions.