Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 23, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Logic Pro 9 includes the new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins, which provide realistic virtual guitar amplifiers and stompbox effects for creating excellent custom guitar rigs. A new range of Flex Time tools allows Logic users to change the timing and tempo of audio material quickly and easily. MainStage 2—Apple’s live-performance application—includes new Playback and Loopback plug-ins. The Playback plug-in can provide backing tracks, while the Loopback plug-in enables creative real-time loop recording for live stage performance. Logic Studio includes the new Soundtrack Pro 3 with new multitrack-audio tools for video production and Compressor 3.5 for encoding into a wide range of formats.
“The new Logic Studio is ideal for professional musicians, live performers and enthusiastic GarageBand users who want to take their music to the next level,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Guitarists will love both Amp Designer and Pedalboard, and the new Flex Time tools make it possible to improve recordings quickly and create tight performances.”
The new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins give guitarists new recording and sound-design possibilities. Amp Designer recreates 25 vintage and modern amplifier heads down to the finest detail, with their corresponding controls. These are joined by 25 matched speaker cabinets that emulate the sound and feel of a guitar played through a real tube amplifier. Guitarists can create a custom rig by appropriately combining different amplifiers with cabinets, reverbs and EQs. They can also choose from three different microphone types positioned in three-dimensional space to capture the ideal guitar sound. Pedalboard provides a selection of 30 stompbox guitar pedals that can be arranged in any order to create a huge variety of wild, creative effects, including overdrive, distortion, fuzz, delay, chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, treble boost, wah and many more.
Flex Time is a new collection of tools that enables musicians to manipulate the timing and tempo of recorded audio material, including voices and instruments, quickly and easily to achieve tight recordings. With the Flex Tool, individual beats in a waveform can be moved easily with a single mouse click, without tedious cutting and editing. Audio Quantize can instantly adjust or correct the timing of an entire performance by selecting a single menu item, aligning notes and beats to a musical grid. Varispeed makes it possible to slow down an entire multitrack production and then speed it up again, simplifying the recording of difficult parts. Flex Time also makes it possible to move recorded tracks back and forth between different Logic projects and align them with one another, even if the tracks were recorded at different tempos. All Flex Time changes are performed non-destructively and in real time, even when the highest possible quality settings are selected.
In MainStage 2, musicians can access all the instruments and effects from Logic Studio and turn their Mac into the ultimate rig for live performances. The new Playback plug-in gives musicians a band to accompany them. Pre-recorded audio tracks, including drums, sound effects and other backing material, can be called up during the live performance. The new Loopback plug-in allows musicians to record, layer and jam along with their own performances. In this way, a single musician can, for example, first lay down a rhythm and then play a solo over it.
Soundtrack Pro 3 includes powerful new audio-editing tools such as Voice Level Match. Voice Level Match extracts volume information from the vocal content of one clip and transfers it to another clip without changing other audio content. This allows editors to correct differing voice-volume levels easily. An enhanced File Editor includes new tools for sophisticated edits or fine adjustments to volume. Specific frequencies, such as the rustling of paper or the dull impact of a table, can be edited without affecting the overall dialogue. The new advanced Time Stretch feature stretches and compresses audio material with incredible precision, using three algorithms developed by Apple or additional algorithms available from third parties. Soundtrack Pro and Compressor are also part of the new Final Cut Studio. This makes collaboration and simple file exchange easier for Final Cut and Logic users.
Pricing and availability
The German-language version of Logic Studio will be available in September at a recommended retail price of €500 including VAT through the Apple Store (www.applestore.de), Apple Retail Stores and Apple authorised resellers. Registered users of Logic Studio and Logic Pro can upgrade to the new version of Logic Studio for €200 including VAT. Complete system requirements and more detailed information about Logic Studio can be found at http://www.apple.com/logicstudio. The German-language version of Logic Express, a more compact and affordable version of Logic for GarageBand users, for example, who want more power and control, will ship in September and will be available at a recommended retail price of €200 including VAT through the Apple Store (www.applestore.de), Apple Retail Stores and Apple authorised resellers.
