This is a topic that gets everyone pretty heated and I want to open the floor for discussion. This is a subject that sits very close to home for me, spending way too much of my life with both of them. I love each program for different reasons and I’m just going to start by listing what I feel ( and some factual info ) are the pro’s con’s of each.
Pro Tools 8 Pro’s:
Audio Editing
Recording/Mixing
Elastic Audio
Playlists/Comping
ELASTIC AUDIO
Instant Audiosuite processing, no stopping needed
BEAT DETECTIVE
Workspace Browser
Bundled Instruments sound great
Easy Transferability to any studio
Pro Tools 8 Con’s:
Slow loading plug ins-performing certain actions
Midi not as clean as it should be/not integrated smoothly yet
Pop up windows for most actions
Realtime Bouncing ONLY
48 Track Limit LE ( 256 HD )
DONGLE BASED ( won’t run without hardware )
CPU doesn’t behave well when throwing plug ins/samples at it on the fly
Everything Costs to upgrade for basic features – i.e. bounce to mp3
Logic Pro 8 Pro’s:
255 audio tracks, 255 instrument tracks, 255 Auxiliary channels, 64 Busses, 15 inserts/ 8 Sends per channel
Very CPU Efficient
Midi Production seamless flow
Fluid menu based/ 980 customizable key commands
Customizable beyond
MULTIPLE SESSIONS OPEN SIMULTANEOUSLY
Offline Bouncing
AUDIO TO MIDI conversion
Bundled Instruments sound amazing
No dongle
Apple Remote integrates seemlessly
.mac backup prefs/settings
Low Latency Mode/Automatic Delay Comp for plug ins
Freeze Tracks
Inline input monitoring
Extensive Control Surface support
Supports Pro Tools TDM
Logic Pro 8 Con’s:
Audio Editing still needs work
Only on mac (not a bad thing but….)
Beat Mapping not so great
Learning Curve more intimidating – too customizable?
mostly offline audio processing only
My thoughts
It’s a little obvious from my list here that I think Logic comes with some serious bang for the buck, I know. Having used both programs extensively inside and out, to the point where I’ve compared the best of each and tested them against each other, I feel Logic does offer a more comprehensive production package. For instance I tried to see what kind of Beat Detective like editing I could get inside Logic ( beat mapping works but looks terrible making it more difficult than it should be ) that I tried every comparable option ( Kontakt 3, Phatmatik, Ableton Live 8, etc… ). Ableton Live 8 is pretty nice (tutorial very soon on the Elastique warping) and can do the Beat Detective thing, but it’s not Beat Detective. Just like Pro Tools has really tried to get itself up to a good standing on the midi side of things and has some nice features in the midi/score editor, but it’s not even close to the fluidity of Logic for midi.
The bottom line is that Pro Tools dominates mixing/recording/audio editing, Logic dominates the midi/writing/production side of things. If you invest enough time in either program you will become as fast and fluent as you need to be, it’s usually just a case of familiarity that makes it hard to transition between the two. I am so programmed to using Pro Tools key commands that I had to import them into Logic, but it’s pretty cool that Logic could import them! I suppose that I ultimately like the ease and speed of Logic and have gotten equally used to recording and mixing with it, not to mention the scissors tool is a pretty great for editing ( especially with the option key! ). I feel like the pinwheel of doom on my mac is always spinning for too long with Pro Tools when I try to get fancy with virtual instruments or plug ins on the fly, but for mixing a record and tracking a band in the studio it’s the greatest. Oh yeah, Elastic Audio and the workspace browser in Pro Tools are pretty amazing.
Every program has it’s forte and it really all comes down to the flow your looking for. Ultimately it’s all really just a big blank canvas. I just did a lot of comparing between the two since the release of Pro Tools 8 and thought I’d share these findings/thoughts.
Thanks for tuning in.
Malcolm
Logic is WAY more CPU friendly than Pro Tools. I couldn’t believe the difference when I made the move. But of course every studio in the world uses Pro Tools so I guess I’ll have to stay with it. The Pro Tools Midi Tutorials are really helpful man, thanks!! I’m an analog guy and getting my mind wrapped around Midi was a pain, you saved me.
Glad your diggin the Tutorials Terrence. Midi is getting better in PT, but Logic is a beast. Thanks! M
I’d have to throw in my vote for Logic, crushes PT in my opinion. Except for just simple recording and overdubs mabye. Logic 9 that is, never used 8 but know it’s pretty similar.