After having spent the last three days working with Logic X (I used Logic 7-9 extensively before Cubase and Nuendo), I have a few observations.
The bad
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VEP multiport doesn’t work well at all in Logic X. First, the layer does not import correctly, so you have to redo the cables in the environment. It seems to work ok as long as you keep each port to one channel, but for me was buggy beyond that. I did have it working for a short while, then it started having issues again sending more than one midi channel per port…
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Had to trash Logic 9 preferences, as X crashed constantly on first launch. Not a big deal, but Apple should have some kind of warning…
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Still needs some bugs worked out overall, seems like apple really didn’t beta test as thoroughly as they should have. Environment is buggy (dragging and moving objects, etc.)
The good
- Logic X workspace is very nice, mixer is well organized for the most part. Looks clean.
- Drummer. Although it looks absolutely idiotic, is quite well done and sounds great. Really quite an amazing tool and completely unexpected.
- Performance is very good. Low latency mode is great, midi latency is low even with higher buffers (I work @ 96k).
- Instruments are much better than LP9, there are a ton of useful plugins and instruments. Very well done.
- Price is a no brainer.
- Both Steinberg and Logic have excellent apps for IOS, although the Logic app is on another level.
Conclusions
I ended up giving up on testing Logic any more for now due to the bugs and problems with VEP multiport, etc. along with a few other things that reminded me why I moved from away from Logic in the first place. I do have a couple of thoughts in comparison with Cubendo though.
First, Steinberg really needs to get moving on releasing Groove Agent 4 as a counter to Drummer. This IMO surprisingly is the biggest draw in the Logic X update, and Steinberg really needs a response to that. GA3 is no longer available, so they don’t have anything comparable.
Second, Steinberg needs to really focus on improving performance under OSX. It’s just not as good as Logic, and that’s an issue. CPU spikes, higher latency, etc. are still a problem. I think they also need to improve the appearance or at least allow better customization of the new mixer.
I don’t think price is really a fair comparison. Steinberg will never be able to compete with Apple’s pricing. It will likely mean though that anyone doing music on OSX will eventually purchase Logic. Steinberg will need to ensure that they don’t lose their share of the market when that happens.
For me, the workflow in Cubase/Nuendo is much better than Logic for the way I work and it has superior editing etc., I’d just love to see GA4 released soon, and Cubendo performance vastly improved under OSX.
Just my observations and opinion, take it for what it’s worth…