For all Logic Pro users, the unveiling of Logic Pro X 10.1 was both an exciting and daunting prospect. Some were skeptical, and weren’t keen on the new look in the latest version of the DAW, but at Point Blank we’re never ones to stand in the way of progress so naturally we’ve got stuck right in with the new version. There’s some great new features in Logic Pro X 10.1, and in this article we’ve compiled what we think are the 10 best new things about it. Scroll down to see the new features we’ve really been liking in Logic Pro X 10.1.
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Drum Machine Designer
This new plug-in, as its name suggests, brings beat programming front and centre. Its interface uses a series of cells (a bit like Native Instruments’ Battery), each of which hosts a drum sample. In turn, each of these can be loaded from Logic’s updated library, so you can either select an entire kit, or swap individual kit pieces at will. Each kit piece features its own parameter set to enable you to Tune, Pan, Distort, tweak Envelopes, adjust Volume and much more on a per-sound basis. Additionally, sounds are organised into Groups, so if you want to add a shared Reverb or Delay effects assignment to the snare and claps, you can. It’s much more straightforward than Logic’s existing Ultrabeat plug-in but deliberately doesn’t allow for the same kind of forensic sound design that instrument provides. In short, it’s great news for beat producers of almost any EDM genre.
Drummer Goes Electronic
The Drummer instrument introduced with Logic Pro X has now expanded beyond generating acoustic drum patterns. Now, there are ‘Electronic’ and ‘Hip-Hop’ options too which, as with the acoustic kits, provide access to ‘characters’ who favour different beat pattern styles, giving you a head start when it comes to building a groove for your track. As ever, once you’ve got a basic groove, you can switch the Drummer engine over to become a dedicated MIDI region, so that fine-tuning can be added to the core beat. As you’d expect, the output destination for the Drummer engine is Drum Machine Designer, whose sounds can be configured within the Drummer pane if you like.
Collapse Mode
The Piano Roll display has been a part of Logic ever since it first appeared as a primitive MIDI sequencer and it’s stood the test of time for a reason; it provides a feature set many of us like to use for programming. But if you’re working on a sequence where you have notes programmed for C1, C3 and C5, it’s a pain to constantly scroll up and down, particularly when working on smaller screen sizes. Collapse Mode in the Piano Roll display gets around this problem by displaying Note positions only for notes already active in a sequence.
Redesigned Compressor
Logic’s Channel EQ benefitted from a redesigned GUI as Logic Pro X’s updates came thick and fast last year but the new design for its native Compressor plug-in is even more welcome. Anyone unconvinced that GUI design helps workflow will find their doubts silenced here; algorithms are now listed clearly across the top, with the design then tailored to an appropriate style depending on your choice (the Studio FET looks like an 1176, for example). Thereafter, you can monitor Gain Reduction via a Meter or a Graph, tweak input gain within the plug-in and even be more selective about how Side-Chain inputs are analyzed and applied to the compressor. Much, much better.
Real-Time Fades
Logic’s fade options have always been comprehensive, with long fade in, fade out and cross-fade options available, alongside non-linear options to produce ‘curved’ results. But they’ve always had two major flaws; firstly, until now offline Fade Files have been created when you choose a Fade length, which Logic then ‘read back’ to achieve the desired result. Like any file, these could become corrupted and I imagine the vast majority of seasoned Logic users have seen the ‘Fade File: Error’ message at some stage or another. Secondly, edits to fades – tweaking a fade out time, for instance – only came into effect when you stopped Logic and pressed ‘Play’ again, at which point the fade file was updated. Joyously, both are now things of the past. Logic now creates fades in real-time and does so without creating a separate Fade File.
Smart Quantize
You know when you’re playing a part into Logic and all of the notes are of the same length but suddenly you want a faster little run or flourish? Perhaps you’re playing the piano and you want to spread a chord out, or perhaps you’re playing in a snare part which follows the backbeat until you decide to end in a flurry of 16th notes. It’s likely that the whole part will need Quantization if you’ve played it in live but, until now, Quantization will ‘catch’ every note, sometimes taking your flourish and fixing it to a grid of 1/8th notes, for instance. Toggling ‘Quantize’ for ‘Smart Quantize’ gets around this problem, as the algorithm intelligently looks at a region and makes a judgment about what which notes to include in the Quantization process and which to leave out.
AU Plug-In Manager
If you’re endowed with a particularly large collection of plug-ins, having to search for these ‘by manufacturer’ – as has been required until now – isn’t the most intuitive way of working when you’re deep in a mix. It makes much sense for a ‘Reverb’ folder, for instance, to contain a choice collection of your favourite Reverbs, regardless of who makes them. Fortunately, Logic’s 10.1 update now lets you create and label any folders you like, so if you want a ‘Best Delays’ category, a dedicated collection for ‘Mastering’ or ‘Surround’ effects, or even a folder entitled ‘For Use Only On Tuesdays’, no problem. Configure at will.
Region-Specific Automation
Logic’s Automation has always been flexible in terms of modes and the almost unlimited range of parameters which can be manipulated. But now its ‘whole track’ approach is expanded to include a ‘Region’ mode, whereby dedicated Automation can be added to a single sequence or chunk of audio before being copied and pasted. Think of it as clip automation. It gets better – both Region and Track automation can be used at the same time. So, let’s suppose you’ve programmed a synth part with a filter rise and fall which happens every bar. But let’s suppose you also want the volume of that repeating region to rise up over 8 bars. Now it’s simple – create the filter automation in Region Mode and the volume automation in Track mode.
Brush Tool
Want to program a running sequence of 16th notes for a synth, a hi-hat or a percussion source in the Piano Roll editor? Logic has – until now – required almost RSI-inducing levels of multiple clicking for each consecutive note but that’s all gone now with the Brush Tool. Select this, swipe across a note within the Piano Roll display and in each slot a shiny new note will appear. Great for quick fills and flams too.
Note Repeat
The new Note Repeat function allows you to capture a series of running MIDI notes as you hold down a chord or sustained single note. At its most basic level, let’s suppose you select 1/16th notes as your note length; as you hold down a chord and press record, that chord will automatically chop up, producing (and recording) a new MIDI sequence of 16th notes in real-time. However, the Note Repeater window is capable of much more. For a start, you can use MIDI controllers to create realtime offsets to crucial parameters. So, for example, the Mod Wheel could be used to move through note values of 1/8th notes to 1/32 notes, ‘MIDI gating’ a sequence to different note lengths along the way. Similarly, Velocity and Gate time can have fixed parameter offsets, or be animated via other MIDI controllers. You’ll find Note Repeat via View > Show Toolbar.
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