ProAudio Review - July 2008 - (Page 26)

STUDIO | REVIEW surround to stereo. MainStage is a new live-performance application that transforms a Mac into a mean, lean, performance machine. Before MainStage, if a musician wanted to use Logic Pro’s built-in instruments and effects onstage, they had to run Logic and configure separate tracks, or possibly separate songs, for various setups. Soundtrack Pro 2 provides professional editing tools and seamless film and video integration. Once a mix has been completed, Compressor 3 provides the tools to encode and preview the mix in the Dolby Digital AC-3 surround format. In addition to the dozens of built-in formats, third-party encoders can be used as plug-ins. The collection of 40 instrument plug-ins found in Studio Instruments enables musicians to access and play an infinite number of sounds. The updated EX24 editor now has a more conventional multi-sample display, shows group and zone settings in a matrixstyle layout, and supports graphical editing of group and zone Velocity ranges. Ultrabeat has added a Step Automation edit mode, and the Full View step-sequencer display now lets you see and edit the steps for all 25 drum voices simultaneously. Studio Effects includes 80 powerful effect plug-ins for unlimited options in shaping sound. Among the most impressive is the new Delay Designer plug-in that features 26 independent taps. Each tap has its own filter, pan and pitch control. True Surround is also supported by Space Designer convolution reverb, which includes 138 new surround impulse responses. The massive 40 GB Studio Sound Library features content from the five Jam Pack collections and Final Cut Studio 2. These 18,000 Apple Loops, 1,300 EXS24 sampled instruments and 5,000 sound effects that span a huge variety of genres and styles and are a phenomenal production resource. There is also a large collection of impulse responses for Space Designer, many of which are in full surround. WaveBurner is an easy-to-use yet powerful application for CD mastering and authoring. It is perfectly suited for creating a simple demo disc, a Red Book standard CD master, or anything in between. Apple Loops Utility allows any audio file to be converted into an Apple Loop. Metadata can be added to specify the attributes of the file, making it easy to locate from the Loops browser built-in to Logic and Soundtrack Pro. Impulse Response Utility is a multitrack LOGIC Continued From Page 24 PLENTY OF POWER IN LOGIC EXPRESS Let’s say you have decided that Apple Logic is your new DAW. Do you need the $499 Logic Studio bundle featuring Logic Pro 8, or would the $199 Logic Express 8 bundle just as easily serve your needs? Fact is, for most potential users, buying Logic Express is both budget-conscious and logical … please pardon the pun. According to Apple, and as Russ alludes in his review, all Logic Pro 8 performance and functionality is present in Logic Express 8 except for four features: in-the-box surround mixing, TDM/DAE support, distributed audio processing (DAP), and “support for high-end control surfaces.” Let’s hypothesize for a moment. If you plan to do stereo-only mixes; if you’d be happy with 73 plug-ins and 36 software instruments (nearly all of those offered with Logic Pro); if your projects won’t be “big” enough to warrant the need for DAP; and if control surfaces such as Mackie Control Universal, Frontier Design TranzPort, TASCAM US-2400, and Yamaha 02R96 seem “high-end” enough PRODUCTPOINTS • Tons of features • Great sound quality • Supports high-resolution audio • No PC support (“Truthfully, you should throw that PC away and buy a Mac anyway,” opines Russ.) • No aux send panning SCORE At $499, Logic Studio is a bargain and an intuitive, impressive software bundle — the perfect one-stopshop production tool for audio production professionals. audio recording, editing, and deconvolution utility that allows mono, stereo, discrete surround, and B-Format surround impulse response files to be created and used within the included Space Designer convolution reverb plug-in. Logic Studio retails for $499. An upgrade from Logic Pro 7 to Logic Studio is $199. Customers who purchased Logic Pro 7 on or after August 1, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade to Logic Studio. Optionally, Logic Express 8 is available for $199. It is identical to Logic Pro except that it doesn’t support distributed audio, high-end control surfaces, surround, or TDM. It also lacks some of the instruments and effects. The upgrade from Logic Express 8 to Logic Studio is only $299 so if you go this route, the end cost is the same as if you originally bought Logic Studio. | IN USE I installed and used Logic on three computers: a Macintosh 2 GHz Dual Processor G5, a MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, and a Macintosh 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon w/4 GB RAM. Besides the endless waiting (two to three hours to install in all three instances), installation was a breeze. No surprise on the install time though; it takes a while to install over 40 GB of data regardless of your computer’s speed. After launching Logic, I selected Create New Project, and immediately experienced a new feature. The Create screen was segmented into two boxes. On the left there are collections titled Explore, Compose, and LOGIC continues on page 28 ® for you; then Logic Express 8 is sure to please, while leaving your wallet $300 fatter. Best of all, if you later decide that any of Logic’s four “pro” main features are necessary, an upgrade from Express 8 to the Logic Studio bundle is only $299; thus, in the end, Logic Studio is a $1 cheaper if you try Express 8 first. It’s cool how being thrifty works sometimes. — Strother Bullins 26 | ProAudio Review | July 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Page: Inside Broadcast Production Studio News and New Products Steinberg Nuendo 4 Digital Audio Workstation Developments & Trends: Digital Audio Workstation I/O JZ Microphones Black Hole BH-1 Apple Logic Studio Behind The Scenes: JBL Professional – A 60-Year Legacy Broadcast News and New Products WLOY: Real World Facilities For An On-Campus Radio Station Post News and New Products Hot Gear InfoComm 08 Chandler Limited TG1 Abbey Road/EMI Series Limiter/Compressor Live News and New Products Cerwin-Vega! Professional Active Series CVA-28 and CVA-118 Speakers QSC Audio Model GX5 Power Amplifier From The Road: A Week In The Life — Gear Essentials Contracting News and New Products Taming The Driving Factor — Drums UpSampler: sE Instrument Reflection Filter Buyer’s Guide: Live Sound Amplifiers Single Slice: Roger Powell “Fallout Shelter”

ProAudio Review - July 2008

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