The new Logic adds multi-track Smart Tempo, and sorely needed external storage of sounds, among other improvements – and live performance-friendly MainStage syncs up with Logic’s latest instruments, effects, and features.

Note that Mojave actually isn’t specifically mentioned in these updates – but pro audio users will, as always, want to move nice and slow with major OS updates to let hardware and software developers catch up and find any issues.

But existing Logic users should grab this one. Here’s the big one: if you’re running Logic on a machine that’s low on hard disk space (raises hand), you can now move your Logic Sound Library to an external storage device. So while 10.4 did add improvements for choosing what to install and what not to install, this is … possibly even better, because you can just buy a big, cheap drive and not sweat it at all.

Smart Tempo was a fascinating idea in 10.4, but now it’s actually fleshed out – so multi-track recordings, MIDI data, and imported stems now can all work with flexible time, without a metronome. (That is, they can both be a source or a target.)

Another overdue but important improvement: automation points can align vertically.

None of that will make you more creative, but Alchemy could. It’s an instrument that’s one of the best reasons to use Logic at the moment, even if we’re all sad it’s no longer a plug-in. And if you weren’t already importing audio into its powerful engine, now’s a good time to start, with a workflow that lets you choose how the engine will play that audio right as you drag it in.

The word from Apple:

• The Sound Library can be relocated to an external storage device
• Smart Tempo can analyze tempo data across multi-track recordings to define the Project Tempo
• Imported multi-track stems can follow or define Project Tempo
• Smart Tempo now analyzes the tempo of MIDI performances recorded without a metronome
• Alchemy provides drag and drop hot zones that let you select re-synthesis and sampling options while importing audio
• Alchemy allows numerical editing of parameter values
• Dragging one automation point over another now aligns them vertically
• New mixer mode allows channel strip fader and pan controls to be used to set send level and pan
• Automatic Slurs can be applied to selected notes in the Score Editor
• Add a photo to track or project notes to help remember key session details or studio hardware settings
• This update also contains numerous stability and performance improvements

Now we’re just waiting on a release that finally cleans up some of the older effects and instruments in Logic’s library – one by one, we’re getting there. (Space Designer gladly got a big refresh in 10.4! Erm – edit, no, not Sculpture. Not yet. Various other effects.)

MainStage

MainStage now syncs up with the latest Logic, though it’s a shame these releases are not in (word of the week) “lockstep.”

So the following list is so long for MainStage because it’s partly catch-up with Logic 10.4’s various additions. That is a big deal for MainStage, because 10.4 included a bunch of effects and instruments.

This also means MainStage could be a go-to if you just want to jam with those toys and don’t care particularly about Logic – or, for that matter, even a DAW, period.

The “3.4” version number gives you a clue that this is the bigger of these updates:

General
• Channel Strip MIDI input inspector allows any MIDI CC data to be filtered, transformed or passed through
• Text notes can be added to the bottom of channel strips
• The Metronome is now fully configurable, with separate settings for Bar, Group, Beat, and Division
• This update also contains numerous stability and performance improvements

Sound Library
• The Sound Library can be relocated to an external storage device
• 2 vintage brush kits for Drum Kit Designer
• More than 800 new loops in a variety of instruments and genres
• New Visions library for Alchemy adds 150 cinematic presets

Plug-Ins
• ChromaVerb is a sophisticated new algorithmic reverb with a colorful, interactive interface for creating rich acoustic spaces
• Space Designer offers a new design and a scalable, Retina interface
• Step FX adds rhythmic multi-effect processing using 3 powerful step sequencers and an X/Y pad
• Phat FX makes your tracks bigger and bolder using 9 effects that add warmth and punch to your sounds
• The Vintage EQ Collection provides 3 accurate models of vintage analog EQs from the 1950s to the 1970s
• Studio Strings and Studio Horns are deeply sampled, realistic ensemble instruments with custom articulation controls
• Mellotron is now available as a standalone instrument plug-in
• Retro Synth now offers 18 different filter models
• The length of individual steps in the Arpeggiator plug-in are adjustable
• Loopback now applies a small crossfade at each loop cycle to reduce the likelihood of clicks or other audio artifacts

Alchemy
• Alchemy provides drag and drop hot zones that let you select re-synthesis and sampling options while importing audio
• Alchemy allows numerical editing of parameter values
• Alchemy adds 12 new synthesized formant filter shapes
• Alchemy now offers a side chain input that can be used as a source for envelope followers
• Alchemy includes an automatic time align feature for improved morphing
• New additive effects in Alchemy expand the options for filtering and modulating sound

Previously:

Logic Pro X 10.4: New effects, and play and mix audio without a click

The post Logic Pro 10.4.2, MainStage 3.4: why you’ll want to update now appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Once upon a time, there was a Novation keyboard called the ReMOTE SL. That’s as in “remote control” of software. Times have changed, and you’ve got a bunch of gear to connect – and you may want your keyboard to work standalone, too. So meet the SL MkIII.

The additional features are significant enough that Novation is dropping the “remote” from the name. Now it’s just SL, whatever those letters are meant to stand for.

The story here is, you get a full-featured, eight-track sequencer – so you no longer have to depend on a computer for that function. And Novation promise some higher-spec features like expanded dynamic range (via higher scan rate). With lots of keyboards out there, the sequencer is really the lead. Circuit just paid off for keyboardists. Novation gets to merge their experience with Launchpad, with Circuit, with Web connectivity, and with analog and digital gear.

Features:

• The 8-track, polyphonic sequencer is both a step and live sequencer, it records automation, and you can edit right from the keyboard.
• Arpeggiator onboard, too.
• USB, MIDI in, MIDI out, second MIDI thru/out
• Clock/transport controls for MIDI and analog, which also run standalone – route that to whatever you like.
• Three pedal inputs
• Eight faders and eight knobs, handy for mixing (there’s DAW support for all major DAWs, plus dedicated Logic and Reason integration)
• Color LCDs
• RGB everything: yep, over the keys, but also color-coded RGB on the pitch and mod wheel as track indicators. (I’m waiting for someone to release a monochromatic controller. You know it’s coming … back.)
• Those RGB pads are not just velocity sensitive, but even have polyphonic aftertouch (more like higher-end dedicated pad controllers)
• Cloud backup/restore of templates and sessions – a feature we saw unveiled on Novation’s Circuit

And of course there’s more mapping options with their InControl software and Mackie HUI support.

(Some notes from the specs: you do need separate 12V power, so you can’t use USB power. I don’t have weight notes yet, either.)

Novation must know a lot of their customer base use Ableton Live, as they’re quick to show off how their integation works and why those screens are handy.

Here it is in action:

We also see some cues from Native Instruments’ keyboards – the light guide indicators above the keys are copied directly, and while the pads and triggers are all Launchpad in character, we finally get a Novation keyboard with encoders and graphic displays. Unlike NI, this keyboard is still useful when the computer is shut off, though.

And wait – we’ve heard this before. It was called the AKAI Pro MAX25 and MAX49 – step sequencer built in (with faders and pads), plus MIDI, plus CV, plus remote control surface features. You just had to learn to like touch strips for the faders, and that garish racecar red. That AKAI is still worth a look as a used buy, though the hardware here is in a more standard layout / control complement, and a few years later, you get additional features.

The big rival to the Novation is probably Arturia’s KeyLab MKII. It also strikes a balance between studio hub and controller keyboard, and it comes from another maker who now produces analog synths, too. But the Novation has a step sequencer; Arturia makes step sequencers but left it out of their flagship controller keyboard.

Oh yeah, and if you just wanted an integrated controller keyboard for your DAW, Nektar have you covered, or of course you can opt for the Native Instruments-focused Komplete Kontrol. Each of those offerings also got revisions lately, so I’m guessing … a lot of people are buying keyboards.

But right now, Novation just jumped out to the front of the pack – this keyboard appears to tick all the boxes for hardware and software. And I’ll bet a lot of people are glad to do some sequencing without diving into the computer. (Even alongside a computer for tracking, that’s often useful.)

£539.99 49 keys; £629.99 61. (Both share the same layout.)

https://novationmusic.com/keys/sl-mkiii

What keyboard strikes your fantasy at the moment? What do you want a keyboard to do for you? Let us know in comments.

The post Novation’s SL MkIII has it all: sequencer, CV, MIDI, software control appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

If you’re obsessive about snares, this free download is for you. If you totally haven’t been thinking about snares at all, and want to let someone else obsess about it for you, this download is also for you. Meet Snare Designer.

Sound and sample house Puremagnetik has been doing sound design right back to the early days of Ableton Live. Now you get a couple hundred megabytes of acoustic snares to mess around with, whether you’re in Live, Logic, or Kontakt. You’ll need Live 10 or the full version of Kontakt 5 or Logic 10.4 to use the tailored versions, though if you’re willing to put in a little more work, you can also work with the raw samples directly.

With the full versions, you get some clever features that make this more usable. In Live and Kontakt, you can select direct, overhead, room, and “trashcan” mics via a graphical UI. Logic uses Track Stacks for those different microphones.

And you get some nicely chosen drums: the 60s Ludwig Acrolite, Mapex Birch, and Pork Pie Squealer. I don’t know anything about drums and even I know those.

Give up your email address (opt in, natch) for the download:
https://puremagnetik.com/products/free-snare-drum-pack-ableton-live-kontakt-logic

The post Free Snare Designer for Ableton Live, Logic, and Kontakt appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple promised something special – and modular – at the pro desktop level, and they’re delivering something ambitious. Welcome the return of big metal desktops with tons of PCI slots and maxed-out power supplies. And if you missed Macs that look like cheese graters, you also get your wish.

In a nice touch, they’ve also added wheels so you can roll this thing around a studio. And studio is what they have in mind. Following an hour of consumer-focused iPad and iPhone stuff and things on your watch, the pitch for the new Mac Pro is about video editing, music and audio production, 3D, and gaming.

Just be prepared for some massive sticker shock – there’s not really an entry level model here, so much as a luxury PC that starts pricey and gets more expensive as you configure the very features Apple is using as a selling point.

Most of this stuff is on the visual side, even despite the mention of lots of “virtual instruments” in the keynote (cue cheesy “Kenya” music), partly because audio users don’t need this amount of power for most of what they do. But visual people, this again looks exciting – at last.

Music folks, there’s also a new release of Logic Pro, which I’ll write about separately. It seems to be the Hans Zimmer school of benchmarking, with 1000 virtual instruments. For the first time in a long time, Apple shows Logic and Final Cut together.

The system appears to max out everything:

PCI slots are back.

CPU. Now top-of-range Intel Xeon – with up to 28 cores.
GPU. A huge power supply and new connections, plus “Thunderbolt throughout” mean support for one or two top-of-the-line AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs. (Apple continues their preference for AMD; there was no mention of rival NVIDIA.) It’s all part of a new connection module Apple calls MPX.
Afterburner for video. This is actually an FPGA that assists in handling video codec processing, for faster proxies and whatnot or direct RAW editing.
PCI expansion. This is finally back – tons of it. So you can add (mostly graphics) add-in cards. It’ll be interesting to see if the audio market goes back to working with PCI, after largely moving to interconnects like USB and Thunderbolt, which allow them to target laptop and desktop owners at the same time. But for graphics, it’s huge.
Lots of electricity. Don’t expect to save on your electricity bill or save the planet with this one. A massive 1.4 kW power supply runs the whole thing.
Quiet cooling. The GPU interestingly uses a massive heat sink, but there are tons of fans to move air through the device. Some of us remember when this went awry with the “jet engine” Macs of the past, but Apple promises this new model will be as quiet as the iMac Pro even under load.

Apple shows 1000 tracks in Logic at once.

Logic’s threading makes use of all that insane number of cores.

And there’s a new display, of course – a Pixel Display for your desktop. Apple’s displays have tended to command a price premium, so that a lot of pros opt for other brands, but here they seem to be leaning in to that with an ultra-high-end option. There’s a massive contrast ratio, color range (“extreme”), and high density. It’s called the Pixel Display XDR. It all connects with Thunderbolt 3, and there’s a new stand design.

That means you can use this with your MacBook Pro, too. They would like you to buy six of them for your desktop. (“Whoo!” she shouts, Ballmer style. I’m sure they would like to sell that many.)

High-spec memory is part of the story here. And lots of of it, if you want.

Apple goes to a high-end GPU again – and has another modular format for updating it (MPX).

MPX allows one or two high-end AMD GPUs.

The CPU is a star here – loaded up with cores.

Afterburner is an FPGA-based add-on for assisting video editors with handling high-res footage.

There’s a display to go with this, too.

Just get ready for some sticker shock.

There’s tons of innovation here, but that also means early adopters will be taking some risks. More ambitions tend to mean more potential points of failure. But it’s exciting to see Apple do this kind of innovation on the Mac again – and with the actual needs of pros in mind. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

High end Mac will cost you – US$5999, though Apple compares to high-end machines at the 8 grand level. Coming in the fall.

Updated: Apple has posted the full specs.

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/

The key here is that US$5999 buys you the minimum specifications – so this is a pretty tough hit. That model inexplicably has just a 256 GB hard disk.

It also has an 8-core processor, not 28, though it’s a hefty 3.5G Xeon W. You get 32GB of RAM. And if I read it right you get a single Radeon Pro 580X GPU. (Maybe. It could be that the $5999 price won’t even include that.) You will have lots of expansion – eight PCI Express expansion slots total, though you may replace those with two MPX modules. Three full-length gen 3 slots round out the picture. (The eighth slot is taken up by their I/O card.)

The big question is whether Apple’s newest machines are plagued by the kinds of problems that have hit their recent models. Hopefully they’ve taken a different approach with this pro machine, and because we’ve been yelling at them pretty loudly about issues like audio reliability.

I/O is on a new Apple I/O card on the final half-length x4 PCI Express gen 3 slot. I’m guessing that means this machine won’t have the USB controller on the same board as the T2 chip, which is what has been evidently wreaking havoc on 2018 and later Mac models. There’s a mention of the T2 exactly once – regarding storage encryption. I could be wrong about that, but at the very least the presence of this new I/O board suggests some new (hopefully better) engineering.

I think I’ll probably think about getting one when… the next generation arrives and these prices drop. But the logic here makes sense: the pro market for studios has become more rarified. If Apple can make a case that these are machines that will last a longer time, I could imagine these machines becoming very popular in those core segments. Musicians, even serious pros, will probably still largely stick with capable laptops, but for video and high-end visuals, the need is real. And the pay is better for those markets, generally. (Ahem.)

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

Salient response from Twitter, and typical of what I’m hearing:

Too expensive. Why start the base model at 256 GB and with now old Thunderbolt 3. Also, new PCI express is coming so life cycle is not superlong.

— MattLive (@mattlivese) June 3, 2019

However, Thunderbolt 3 isn’t necessarily outdated – coming specs provide more bandwidth than even these high end video applications (and six displays) need, so the Mac Pro is a kind of showcase for how far Thunderbolt 3 can go. The issue is still to me really configuration. By making a no-compromise system here, Apple has spec’ed their machine way out of the price range of even a lot of the pro market. And yeah, that 256 GB drive is sort of a slap in the face.

The post Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Logic Pro X 10.4.5, seen onstage at WWDC, is now available. And yes, it supports the new ultra-high-end Mac Pro – but there are fixes and performance optimizations for everyone, with or without new machines.

10.4.5 looks like the most pro-oriented Logic Pro in a long time. Apple has been aggressive with its update cadence for Logic for years running now, even with free upgrades, and this version is no exception.

This release also marks the end of the road for Mac OS X 10.12 Sierra. The new minimum OS requirement is 10.13.16 High Sierra. (Mojave is seeming stable these days, and it’s summertime, so maybe now is a good time to do a full backup and take the plunge.)

First up – yes, the banner feature from Apple’s perspective is that the new Logic runs on the new Mac Pro. Under the hood, that means support for up to 56 cores, the kind of massive multiprocessing the new Mac Pro can do.

The use case for this kind of processing power is slim, but then, that’s what the ‘pro’ concept is all about. Doing artist relations, you may have a film composer with advanced technical needs and a shelf full of Academy Awards. Even one user in your user base can be critical.

That said, I think the real story here is that Apple is shaking the tree across the whole code base – meaning these performance optimizations and fixes could benefit you even if you’re running on a beat-up older MacBook, too.

So, think really big track counts – which could be meaningful since even some mid-range CPUs can theoretically churn through a lot of tracks, to say nothing of that shiny Mac Pro tower.

Increased Number of Tracks and Channels, up to:
1000 stereo audio channel strips
1000 software instrument channel strips
1000 auxiliary channel strips
1000 external MIDI tracks
12 sends per channel strip

Way back around 2006, I heard from a Macworld reader complaining about lifting exactly these limitations and how I didn’t mention them in a review. (See above: that one user thing.)

There’s a bunch of other new features that are serious DAW improvements – and almost no mention mention of any fictional artificial drummers.

An all-new DeEsser 2 plug-in

16 ports of MIDI clock, MTC, and MMC from Logic – yeah, expect to see a Mac Pro in broadcast/film/TV applications running audio

Mixer configuration can be set to your own user-definable defaults (huge time saver there, finally)

A clever automatic duplicate erase when you’re merging MIDI recordings

And some new keyboard shortcuts to save you time when editing:

• Option + Shift while rubber-band selecting in the Piano Roll: new time Handles selection.
• Option-click track on/off button: loads/unloads the plug-ins on the channel strip (wow, easy A/B!)
• Shift-double-click Tracks background: start playback from that position.

And for the “I have an old beat-up MacBook you can pry out of my dead fingers” crowd – finally Freeze works the way it should. (How many of you were desperately freezing tracks while cursing Logic as the CPU meter refused to go down?) From the release notes:

“Freezing a track now unloads its plug-ins to free up resources.”

There are also fixes and performance optimizations and workflow and display improvements throughout. As you’d expect, fixes are concentrated on newer features – Smart Tempo, ARA, Flex, and the like.

So you don’t get any earth-shaking new features unless you’re really into de-essing, but what you do get is some evidence the Apple engineers are working through their log of stuff.

Logic Pro X 10.4 release notes (Apple support, 10.4.5 stuff is right up top)

Full disclosure: I will now this week refresh my MacBook Pro’s OS and then Logic release.

Hey, say what you will about Apple, but Logic Pro these days is pretty accessible from a user experience perspective. There’s some powerful and numerous competitors that either fail that ease of use test or that simply lack features you need to get big jobs done in scoring and the like. Maddeningly, a lot get the ease right but lack features, or have insanely powerful features but demand you contort your brain to use them. (Once upon a time, an earlier version of Logic was also far harder to use.)

I know from CDM’s own site stats and plenty of anecdotal evidence that all this matters to music makers. It’s not just Apple brand loyalty that makes Logic last.

The post Logic Pro X 10.4.5 is all about huge projects, with or without a Mac Pro appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple’s free update to Logic adds a slew of new FX. But the banner feature is Smart Tempo: record without a click, and mix and match audio, automatically.

Playing to click tracks has been the bane of DAW and sequencer users since the beginning. The idea of Smart Tempo is, you record with a human feel, and automatic detection adjusts the tempo track to match. You can then either keep those tempo changes or sync up the result to a clock. Apple confirms this is the same automatic detection we first saw in their Music Memos app for iOS. There, it may have even been overkill; here, it seems more essential.

But this isn’t just for recording. The same feature applies to imported audio, as well, making this a remix and production tool. (Apple uses the term “mashups” – uh, does anyone do that any more? I’m … just sort of hoping not. Let’s say “remix.”)

This is similar to workflows in tools like Ableton Live or Propellerhead Reason which now provide tempo-independent audio functionality, but in Logic, you see it in a more conventional DAW context – and you can be the judge of how well the automatic detection works.

Now, as with a number of Apple features, you might have seen something like this a few years ago in Steinberg’s Cubase. (Both original Logic developer Emagic and Steinberg are headquarters in Hamburg, and Apple still hires in the northern German city, so you can do some math there, as well.) But Apple’s integration promises to be more elegant – let’s test both of them and see. (Apple didn’t provide an advance copy to reviewers.)

Apple did share one demo:

New FX

Also new in this release: more effects. These are at least in part the fruits of the acquisition of Camel Audio, whose Alchemy instrument has featured large in both Logic and GarageBand. Alchemy is probably the most popular modern product of Camel, but they made great effects here – and that team seem to have been busy.

10.4 adds Vintage EQ emulations – Graphic, Tube, and Console – which in turn emulate classics like the sought-after Pulteq EQ. (That Pulteq has seen recreations by Universal Audio, Waves, and Native Instruments, too.) These look nice enough, and you can mix and match for combined precision – something not generally possible with other emulations.

ChromaVerb is an algorithmic effect – that is, these nice colored dots are meant to show you lots of different delays across the audio spectrum. That also gives it some unique controls for adjusting sound. Photo courtesy Apple.

ChromaVerb complements the existing convolution-based Space Designer and its physical models of reverberation with algorithmic, digital-style emulation. There’s some nice color animation for additional feedback, with equalization options big and front-and-center, plus a novel “attack” parameter.

Phat FX is a multi-effect that’s obviously the successor to CamelPhat – so think warmth, distortion, punch, presence. I loved the original, so I’m curious what the new take sounds like.

Sequence multiple effects – or even other sequences – in this combined rhythmic sound processing tool, and a new take from Camel greats from the past.

There’s also a step-sequenced Step FX, which combines multiple synced rhythmic effects – and even other step-sequencers – in to a multi-effect. It’s very Camel, and looks terrific:

The Drummers and Drum Kit Designer range gets more useful as Apple adds brush styles and more content, along with a new Alchemy library and other sound content. There’s also expanded support for tagging and metadata. With Native Instruments pushing their platform hard, I’m curious to see whether Apple can reinvigorate third-party development for their once-proud EXS platform. But at least included content is strong – and of course you can always add via the third-party ecosystem (meaning NI and many others).

The big reason you’re unlikely to complain about this is, you’re not going to have to pay for it – continuing Apple’s free upgrades for Logic Pro X. So it’s US$199 to enter, and then a whole mess of free regular updates. On the other hand, I do hear Apple makes other stuff that they charge money for (cough).

Speaking of that, Apple are quick to tout enhanced performance on the new iMac Pro. But I suspect a lot of you are waiting now on the promised modular Mac Pro – that is, allowing you to mix and match a monitor or monitors of your choice and upgrade display and main machine separately, which is more flexible and presumably more economical than buying these slick all-in-ones. And the dominant machine for producers by far remains the MacBook Pro. No news to report on those fronts.

Ooh, look – big graphics justifying buying new pro Apple machines. Feels like old times. Courtesy Apple.

At least computation does continue to benefit performance, for those of you pushing the envelope with high track counts and the like.

Logic Pro X 10.4 is available now on the Mac App Store.

The post Logic Pro X 10.4: New effects, and play and mix audio without a click appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Until we evolve more arms, foot controllers are very necessary. So it’s nice to see a new entry for both software and hardware control, in the form of the Nektar PACER.

If you don’t know Nektar, they’ve had a range of controller keyboards for some years now. They made a name for themselves by integrating with Reason, but since added loads of additional software support. And since they aren’t in the software business like Native Instruments and whatnot, Nektar has focused on deep integration with a range of tools.

The PACER does this, but for your feet – targeting software and hardware alike. And it’s about time – we haven’t seen a whole lot of competition in this market for a while, despite feet being something a lot of humans have.

There’s a lot of reason instrumentalists of various types may want foot controllers. You might need to control the transport of your DAW during a recording session, or switch effects in software, or work with preamps or effects on amps.

The PACER appears uniquely suited to all these tasks, for a few reasons:

Color: RGB LED color coding, programmable (get ready to shoegaze, apparently)
Works with DAWs and other MIDI gear: MIDI Machine Control, Mackie Control Universal (MCU)
Built-in support for Apple Logic and Garageband, Bitwig 8-Track and Studio, Cockos Reaper, Propellerhead Reason, Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, Avid Eleven Rack (okay, so who wants to do an Ableton setup?)
Works with MIDI guitar products: Line 6 Pod and Helix, Fractal Audio AxeFX, Kemper Profiler, Elektron Octatrack Pickup Machine, Electro Harmonix 45000 Looper
Works with guitar products that don’t have MIDI (via standard amp switching and four onboard relays)
Expandable: 2 TRS jack connectors for up to 4 external footswitches, plus another 2 TRS for up to 4
Standalone MIDI operation (without a computer)
USB MIDI operation with a computer
USB bus powered (or use that USB with an adapter if you forget the PSU wall wart)

So, you could easily customize this for your favorite VST plug-ins, whatever. Basically, you get 10 footswitches with RGB LEDs, 1 footswitch for going through presets, 1 encoder with push switch (which navigates the interface and provides control and programming), and a mess of I/O.

The key is making each foot switch press flexible. These can send up to 16 MIDI message (or relay switch) states at once, plus up to six programmable steps sent at once or in sequence. So you can chain together lots of different settings.

It’s clearly not limited to guitarists. Anyone who’s playing an instrument or other controller or even holding a mic may need foot input for recording and effects control – and foot switches are a great way to externalize and control different effects chains.

And it doubles as a USB MIDI interface and works in standalone MIDI mode – or both at once.

Shipping in April 2018, MAP price: $229.99 US / £199.99 / €229.99

More: www.nektartech.com

That name, though.

The post Finally, a new controller for your feet, for software or hardware appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Native Instruments quietly stuffed a bunch of little improvements into its Maschine groove production tool today – including the ability to control Apple Logic and at last, to record loops.

It’s only called 2.7.3, but it shows NI are continuing to smooth out workflow and integration in their software.

The big one: loop recording. So, Maschine already had a Sampler device, for recording workflows, and recently added the much-requested ability to play audio via the Audio plug-in. What you couldn’t do – which obviously you want to do – was record into that loop mode. Now, at last, there’s a LOOP recording mode in the Record tab.

It also works the way you need to for live use (or spontaneous use in the studio). Recording is quantized to the start of the pattern, and once you finish recording, the loop automatically starts playing back from the Audio device.

So you can record loops with this thing. It’s about time. The whole point of Maschine from the start was to incorporate the ease of working with hardware. And what do people do with hardware? They sample, and record loops.

Of course, since it’s also a plug-in host, you can grab those loops from plug-ins, Reaktor Blocks patches, whatever – in addition to mic and external inputs.

NI overcame another important limitation of the way they had first implemented their new Audio plug-in. You can now enable and disable playback of the Audio device per Pattern, and enable/disable via the STEP page on hardware. This also means you can put full tracks in your set (if you set the loop length long enough).

That’s a big deal, too: now you can take full tracks and stems and mix them in with a set, essential for hybrid use – without combining Maschine with other software.

I’d like to see more control over how the Audio plug-in works; it’s still sometimes mind-bogglingly primitive. But this is a start.

Maschine MK3 updates

As you might expect, NI are also bringing some additional enhancements to their new MK3 hardware. It now has an Ideas View (a lot like Ableton Live’s Session View, but rooted in the Maschine paradigm). And its 4-wheel encoder can now do some clever event editing – select, nudge, pitch-shift, and change length of notes. That’s another reason not to look at your computer – try hiding it under the stage.

You can also record events directly, and MK3 gets velocity curves, too.

Apple Logic Pro integration

You can access the Logic mixer via the MK3 hardware, too, with a new template, as well as adjust pan, mute, and solo. You can also trigger Logic’s Play / Stop / Record, Quantize, Undo / Redo, Automation Toggle, Tap Tempo, and Loop Toggle General.

This sort of functionality is already on NI’s keyboard line, and it’s hugely useful when you want to track ideas quickly. Plus, with Apple adding some great effects, sequencers, and the like, the one thing they’re lacking is a really good drum machine. So the Maschine – Logic combo I think could be terrific; I’ll be using it to start some new ideas. (Sorry, Ultrabeat and Drummer but … you’re just not really my thing.)

Sculpture techno? Yes.

Having used NI’s Maschine Jam template, I hope we also see enhanced Ableton Live support in the future.

More scales

NI keeps adding more scales to Komplete Kontrol; now those come to Maschine, too.

Other fixes and tweaks abound. This was a lot in just a small update, so I’m curious what’s next.

Note: as with a lot of vendors, NI will drop 32-bit plug-in and standalone support. So if you’re on an old machine, you may want to maintain the last version. 64-bit is the way to go, though: more use of memory, and fewer crashes when you run out of it. It’s time. (You can read what I wrote about Ableton’s move to 64-bit only for an explanation of why it makes sense. The same holds here.)

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/maschine/production-systems/maschine/

The post Maschine adds loop recording, controls Apple Logic, more appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Sonic Logic has been around since 2012 and now launches version 3 which is a complete overhaul of the app’s with new features galore. Here’s what’s new:

1. Multiple MIDI destinations – Control multiple MIDI destinations from one component. Component can now map up to eight different destinations (Channel, CC, value or type). Create complex button, knob and slider mappings. Multiple MIDI destinations also work with timed transition buttons, so one tap of a button can trigger complex timed transitions to multiple destinations.
2. New top bar and workflow – The new top bar replaces the legacy one with a better workflow, the top bar has a built in MIDI out output indicator, showing exactly what MIDI values are transmitted out. The legacy components selection bar has been replaces with the new component creation screen.
3. Tab bar – The screen selection and controls have been replaces with an easy and more visible tab bar.
4. Connection center – All of the outgoing connection has been put into one managing screen, tapping on the connection panel anywhere in the app opens it and it’s a one stop shop for all types of connection.
5. MIDI Logger – the MIDI logger logs all outgoing MIDI traffic, you can easily monitor what data is transmitted in a session. The logger holds up to 10,000 records.
6. Component creation screen – The new component creation screen has easier controls for selecting component types, presets and edit controls.
7. Detailed edit screens – The detailed edit screens have been refactored for better control. The group edit screens now allows access only to relevant edit data from a complex group, making it easier to select what traits are changed in a group.
8. Better support for 10.5” and 12.9” devices – Almost all components have been redrawn to fit beautifully on 10.5” and 12.9” screens and are fully scaled for large devices. 12.9” devices can work with two sizes – normal or large, both are fully scaled.
9. Redesign simple edit screens – The simple edit screens now show better grouping and have a blurred background to preserve the work context. Almost all modal screens have been enhanced with a similar effect.
10. Fixes and tweaks – Bugs squashed and a lot of over perfectionist code has been written to enhance tiny bits of the overall experience.

Sonic Logic costs $9.99 on the app store

The post Sonic Logic 3 lands with a whole set of new features and a solid foundation to build on for the future appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Oh, look, a new MIDI controller keyboard ranks there with “wow, a new moderately-priced mid-sized sedan.” But… Arturia may have a hit on their hands with the MKII KeyLab. Here’s why.

While everyone else guns for the elusive entry level “everyone,” Arturia has won over specific bands of enthusiasts. The BeatStep Pro is a prime example: by connecting to both MIDI and control voltage, these compact pad-sequencer units have become utterly ubiquitous in modular rigs. They’re the devices that prevent modular performances from turning into aimless noodling. (Well, or at least they give your aimless noodling a set of predictable patterns and rhythm.)

Now, is the modular market big enough to sell the majority of BeatSteps Pro? Probably not. But the agnostic design approach here makes this a multitasker tool in every kitchen, and so word of mouth spreads.

So, keyboards. Native Instruments, love them or hate them, have had a pretty big hit with the Komplete Kontrol line, partly because they do less. They’re elegant looking, they’re not overcrowded, and their encoders let you access not only NI’s software, but lots of other plug-ins via the NKS format.

But the KeyLab MKII looks like it could fit a different niche, by connecting easily to hardware and DAWs.

Backlit pads. 4×4 pads (with velocity and continuous pressure – good), which can also be assigned to chords in case finger drumming isn’t what you had in mind.

DAW control. A lot of people record/edit while playing in parts on the keyboard. So here’s your DAW control layout with some handy shortcut buttons.

Faders/mixing. You get 9 faders with 9 rotaries – so that can be 8 channels plus a master fader. There are assignable buttons underneath those.

Pitch and mod wheels. Dear Arturia: thank you for not being innovative here, as wheels are what many people prefer.

And a big navigator. This bit lets you pull up existing presets.

Okay, none of that is all that exciting – we’ve literally seen exactly this set of features before. But Arturia have pulled it together in some nice ways, like adding a dedicated switch to move into chord mode, letting you change MIDI channel with a button on the front panel (hello, hardware owners), and even thoughtfully including not only those shortcut keys for DAWs, but a magnetic overlay to access them.

Still, keyboards from Nektar and M-Audio, to name just two, cover similar ground. So where Arturia set themselves apart is connectivity.

Class-compliant USB MIDI operation. No drivers mean you can pair this with anything, including iOS and Android and Linux (including Raspberry Pi).

Control Voltage. 4 CV/Gate outputs, controlling pitch, gate, and modulation. Yes, four. Also one CV input.

MIDI in and out.

Pedals. Expression, sustain, and 3 assignable auxiliary pedal inputs.

Software integration. This is obviously a winner if you’re into Arturia’s Analog Collection library, which has gone from varied and pretty okay to really, really great as it’s matured. And since there are so many instruments, having this hardware to navigate them is a godsend. There’s also the obligatory software bundle to sweeten the pot, but I suspect the real draw here is out-of-box compatibility with the DAW of your choice – including Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, FL Studio, Bitwig, Cubase, Ableton Live, Digital Performer, and Studio One.

Made of metal. Okay, not the keys. (That’d be awesome, if… wrong.) But the chassis is aluminum, and the wheels are event metal.

There’s a pretty nice piano and a bunch of analog presets built in here, making this a good deal.

I think if your workflow isn’t tied to Native Instruments software and plug-ins, the connectivity and standalone operation here could make the Arturia the one to beat. The thing to check, obviously, is hardware and build quality, though note that Arturia say the keybed at least is what’s found on the Brute line.

There are 49- and 61- key variations, and they come in either black or white, so you can, you know, coordinate with your studio and tastes.

Video, of course:

Arturia KeyLab MKII

The post Arturia’s KeyLab MKII: a more metal, more connected keyboard controller appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

The new Logic adds multi-track Smart Tempo, and sorely needed external storage of sounds, among other improvements – and live performance-friendly MainStage syncs up with Logic’s latest instruments, effects, and features.

Note that Mojave actually isn’t specifically mentioned in these updates – but pro audio users will, as always, want to move nice and slow with major OS updates to let hardware and software developers catch up and find any issues.

But existing Logic users should grab this one. Here’s the big one: if you’re running Logic on a machine that’s low on hard disk space (raises hand), you can now move your Logic Sound Library to an external storage device. So while 10.4 did add improvements for choosing what to install and what not to install, this is … possibly even better, because you can just buy a big, cheap drive and not sweat it at all.

Smart Tempo was a fascinating idea in 10.4, but now it’s actually fleshed out – so multi-track recordings, MIDI data, and imported stems now can all work with flexible time, without a metronome. (That is, they can both be a source or a target.)

Another overdue but important improvement: automation points can align vertically.

None of that will make you more creative, but Alchemy could. It’s an instrument that’s one of the best reasons to use Logic at the moment, even if we’re all sad it’s no longer a plug-in. And if you weren’t already importing audio into its powerful engine, now’s a good time to start, with a workflow that lets you choose how the engine will play that audio right as you drag it in.

The word from Apple:

• The Sound Library can be relocated to an external storage device
• Smart Tempo can analyze tempo data across multi-track recordings to define the Project Tempo
• Imported multi-track stems can follow or define Project Tempo
• Smart Tempo now analyzes the tempo of MIDI performances recorded without a metronome
• Alchemy provides drag and drop hot zones that let you select re-synthesis and sampling options while importing audio
• Alchemy allows numerical editing of parameter values
• Dragging one automation point over another now aligns them vertically
• New mixer mode allows channel strip fader and pan controls to be used to set send level and pan
• Automatic Slurs can be applied to selected notes in the Score Editor
• Add a photo to track or project notes to help remember key session details or studio hardware settings
• This update also contains numerous stability and performance improvements

Now we’re just waiting on a release that finally cleans up some of the older effects and instruments in Logic’s library – one by one, we’re getting there. (Space Designer gladly got a big refresh in 10.4! Erm – edit, no, not Sculpture. Not yet. Various other effects.)

MainStage

MainStage now syncs up with the latest Logic, though it’s a shame these releases are not in (word of the week) “lockstep.”

So the following list is so long for MainStage because it’s partly catch-up with Logic 10.4’s various additions. That is a big deal for MainStage, because 10.4 included a bunch of effects and instruments.

This also means MainStage could be a go-to if you just want to jam with those toys and don’t care particularly about Logic – or, for that matter, even a DAW, period.

The “3.4” version number gives you a clue that this is the bigger of these updates:

General
• Channel Strip MIDI input inspector allows any MIDI CC data to be filtered, transformed or passed through
• Text notes can be added to the bottom of channel strips
• The Metronome is now fully configurable, with separate settings for Bar, Group, Beat, and Division
• This update also contains numerous stability and performance improvements

Sound Library
• The Sound Library can be relocated to an external storage device
• 2 vintage brush kits for Drum Kit Designer
• More than 800 new loops in a variety of instruments and genres
• New Visions library for Alchemy adds 150 cinematic presets

Plug-Ins
• ChromaVerb is a sophisticated new algorithmic reverb with a colorful, interactive interface for creating rich acoustic spaces
• Space Designer offers a new design and a scalable, Retina interface
• Step FX adds rhythmic multi-effect processing using 3 powerful step sequencers and an X/Y pad
• Phat FX makes your tracks bigger and bolder using 9 effects that add warmth and punch to your sounds
• The Vintage EQ Collection provides 3 accurate models of vintage analog EQs from the 1950s to the 1970s
• Studio Strings and Studio Horns are deeply sampled, realistic ensemble instruments with custom articulation controls
• Mellotron is now available as a standalone instrument plug-in
• Retro Synth now offers 18 different filter models
• The length of individual steps in the Arpeggiator plug-in are adjustable
• Loopback now applies a small crossfade at each loop cycle to reduce the likelihood of clicks or other audio artifacts

Alchemy
• Alchemy provides drag and drop hot zones that let you select re-synthesis and sampling options while importing audio
• Alchemy allows numerical editing of parameter values
• Alchemy adds 12 new synthesized formant filter shapes
• Alchemy now offers a side chain input that can be used as a source for envelope followers
• Alchemy includes an automatic time align feature for improved morphing
• New additive effects in Alchemy expand the options for filtering and modulating sound

Previously:

Logic Pro X 10.4: New effects, and play and mix audio without a click

The post Logic Pro 10.4.2, MainStage 3.4: why you’ll want to update now appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Once upon a time, there was a Novation keyboard called the ReMOTE SL. That’s as in “remote control” of software. Times have changed, and you’ve got a bunch of gear to connect – and you may want your keyboard to work standalone, too. So meet the SL MkIII.

The additional features are significant enough that Novation is dropping the “remote” from the name. Now it’s just SL, whatever those letters are meant to stand for.

The story here is, you get a full-featured, eight-track sequencer – so you no longer have to depend on a computer for that function. And Novation promise some higher-spec features like expanded dynamic range (via higher scan rate). With lots of keyboards out there, the sequencer is really the lead. Circuit just paid off for keyboardists. Novation gets to merge their experience with Launchpad, with Circuit, with Web connectivity, and with analog and digital gear.

Features:

• The 8-track, polyphonic sequencer is both a step and live sequencer, it records automation, and you can edit right from the keyboard.
• Arpeggiator onboard, too.
• USB, MIDI in, MIDI out, second MIDI thru/out
• Clock/transport controls for MIDI and analog, which also run standalone – route that to whatever you like.
• Three pedal inputs
• Eight faders and eight knobs, handy for mixing (there’s DAW support for all major DAWs, plus dedicated Logic and Reason integration)
• Color LCDs
• RGB everything: yep, over the keys, but also color-coded RGB on the pitch and mod wheel as track indicators. (I’m waiting for someone to release a monochromatic controller. You know it’s coming … back.)
• Those RGB pads are not just velocity sensitive, but even have polyphonic aftertouch (more like higher-end dedicated pad controllers)
• Cloud backup/restore of templates and sessions – a feature we saw unveiled on Novation’s Circuit

And of course there’s more mapping options with their InControl software and Mackie HUI support.

(Some notes from the specs: you do need separate 12V power, so you can’t use USB power. I don’t have weight notes yet, either.)

Novation must know a lot of their customer base use Ableton Live, as they’re quick to show off how their integation works and why those screens are handy.

Here it is in action:

We also see some cues from Native Instruments’ keyboards – the light guide indicators above the keys are copied directly, and while the pads and triggers are all Launchpad in character, we finally get a Novation keyboard with encoders and graphic displays. Unlike NI, this keyboard is still useful when the computer is shut off, though.

And wait – we’ve heard this before. It was called the AKAI Pro MAX25 and MAX49 – step sequencer built in (with faders and pads), plus MIDI, plus CV, plus remote control surface features. You just had to learn to like touch strips for the faders, and that garish racecar red. That AKAI is still worth a look as a used buy, though the hardware here is in a more standard layout / control complement, and a few years later, you get additional features.

The big rival to the Novation is probably Arturia’s KeyLab MKII. It also strikes a balance between studio hub and controller keyboard, and it comes from another maker who now produces analog synths, too. But the Novation has a step sequencer; Arturia makes step sequencers but left it out of their flagship controller keyboard.

Oh yeah, and if you just wanted an integrated controller keyboard for your DAW, Nektar have you covered, or of course you can opt for the Native Instruments-focused Komplete Kontrol. Each of those offerings also got revisions lately, so I’m guessing … a lot of people are buying keyboards.

But right now, Novation just jumped out to the front of the pack – this keyboard appears to tick all the boxes for hardware and software. And I’ll bet a lot of people are glad to do some sequencing without diving into the computer. (Even alongside a computer for tracking, that’s often useful.)

£539.99 49 keys; £629.99 61. (Both share the same layout.)

https://novationmusic.com/keys/sl-mkiii

What keyboard strikes your fantasy at the moment? What do you want a keyboard to do for you? Let us know in comments.

The post Novation’s SL MkIII has it all: sequencer, CV, MIDI, software control appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

If you’re obsessive about snares, this free download is for you. If you totally haven’t been thinking about snares at all, and want to let someone else obsess about it for you, this download is also for you. Meet Snare Designer.

Sound and sample house Puremagnetik has been doing sound design right back to the early days of Ableton Live. Now you get a couple hundred megabytes of acoustic snares to mess around with, whether you’re in Live, Logic, or Kontakt. You’ll need Live 10 or the full version of Kontakt 5 or Logic 10.4 to use the tailored versions, though if you’re willing to put in a little more work, you can also work with the raw samples directly.

With the full versions, you get some clever features that make this more usable. In Live and Kontakt, you can select direct, overhead, room, and “trashcan” mics via a graphical UI. Logic uses Track Stacks for those different microphones.

And you get some nicely chosen drums: the 60s Ludwig Acrolite, Mapex Birch, and Pork Pie Squealer. I don’t know anything about drums and even I know those.

Give up your email address (opt in, natch) for the download:
https://puremagnetik.com/products/free-snare-drum-pack-ableton-live-kontakt-logic

The post Free Snare Designer for Ableton Live, Logic, and Kontakt appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple promised something special – and modular – at the pro desktop level, and they’re delivering something ambitious. Welcome the return of big metal desktops with tons of PCI slots and maxed-out power supplies. And if you missed Macs that look like cheese graters, you also get your wish.

In a nice touch, they’ve also added wheels so you can roll this thing around a studio. And studio is what they have in mind. Following an hour of consumer-focused iPad and iPhone stuff and things on your watch, the pitch for the new Mac Pro is about video editing, music and audio production, 3D, and gaming.

Just be prepared for some massive sticker shock – there’s not really an entry level model here, so much as a luxury PC that starts pricey and gets more expensive as you configure the very features Apple is using as a selling point.

Most of this stuff is on the visual side, even despite the mention of lots of “virtual instruments” in the keynote (cue cheesy “Kenya” music), partly because audio users don’t need this amount of power for most of what they do. But visual people, this again looks exciting – at last.

Music folks, there’s also a new release of Logic Pro, which I’ll write about separately. It seems to be the Hans Zimmer school of benchmarking, with 1000 virtual instruments. For the first time in a long time, Apple shows Logic and Final Cut together.

The system appears to max out everything:

PCI slots are back.

CPU. Now top-of-range Intel Xeon – with up to 28 cores.
GPU. A huge power supply and new connections, plus “Thunderbolt throughout” mean support for one or two top-of-the-line AMD Radeon Pro Vega II GPUs. (Apple continues their preference for AMD; there was no mention of rival NVIDIA.) It’s all part of a new connection module Apple calls MPX.
Afterburner for video. This is actually an FPGA that assists in handling video codec processing, for faster proxies and whatnot or direct RAW editing.
PCI expansion. This is finally back – tons of it. So you can add (mostly graphics) add-in cards. It’ll be interesting to see if the audio market goes back to working with PCI, after largely moving to interconnects like USB and Thunderbolt, which allow them to target laptop and desktop owners at the same time. But for graphics, it’s huge.
Lots of electricity. Don’t expect to save on your electricity bill or save the planet with this one. A massive 1.4 kW power supply runs the whole thing.
Quiet cooling. The GPU interestingly uses a massive heat sink, but there are tons of fans to move air through the device. Some of us remember when this went awry with the “jet engine” Macs of the past, but Apple promises this new model will be as quiet as the iMac Pro even under load.

Apple shows 1000 tracks in Logic at once.

Logic’s threading makes use of all that insane number of cores.

And there’s a new display, of course – a Pixel Display for your desktop. Apple’s displays have tended to command a price premium, so that a lot of pros opt for other brands, but here they seem to be leaning in to that with an ultra-high-end option. There’s a massive contrast ratio, color range (“extreme”), and high density. It’s called the Pixel Display XDR. It all connects with Thunderbolt 3, and there’s a new stand design.

That means you can use this with your MacBook Pro, too. They would like you to buy six of them for your desktop. (“Whoo!” she shouts, Ballmer style. I’m sure they would like to sell that many.)

High-spec memory is part of the story here. And lots of of it, if you want.

Apple goes to a high-end GPU again – and has another modular format for updating it (MPX).

MPX allows one or two high-end AMD GPUs.

The CPU is a star here – loaded up with cores.

Afterburner is an FPGA-based add-on for assisting video editors with handling high-res footage.

There’s a display to go with this, too.

Just get ready for some sticker shock.

There’s tons of innovation here, but that also means early adopters will be taking some risks. More ambitions tend to mean more potential points of failure. But it’s exciting to see Apple do this kind of innovation on the Mac again – and with the actual needs of pros in mind. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

High end Mac will cost you – US$5999, though Apple compares to high-end machines at the 8 grand level. Coming in the fall.

Updated: Apple has posted the full specs.

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/

The key here is that US$5999 buys you the minimum specifications – so this is a pretty tough hit. That model inexplicably has just a 256 GB hard disk.

It also has an 8-core processor, not 28, though it’s a hefty 3.5G Xeon W. You get 32GB of RAM. And if I read it right you get a single Radeon Pro 580X GPU. (Maybe. It could be that the $5999 price won’t even include that.) You will have lots of expansion – eight PCI Express expansion slots total, though you may replace those with two MPX modules. Three full-length gen 3 slots round out the picture. (The eighth slot is taken up by their I/O card.)

The big question is whether Apple’s newest machines are plagued by the kinds of problems that have hit their recent models. Hopefully they’ve taken a different approach with this pro machine, and because we’ve been yelling at them pretty loudly about issues like audio reliability.

I/O is on a new Apple I/O card on the final half-length x4 PCI Express gen 3 slot. I’m guessing that means this machine won’t have the USB controller on the same board as the T2 chip, which is what has been evidently wreaking havoc on 2018 and later Mac models. There’s a mention of the T2 exactly once – regarding storage encryption. I could be wrong about that, but at the very least the presence of this new I/O board suggests some new (hopefully better) engineering.

I think I’ll probably think about getting one when… the next generation arrives and these prices drop. But the logic here makes sense: the pro market for studios has become more rarified. If Apple can make a case that these are machines that will last a longer time, I could imagine these machines becoming very popular in those core segments. Musicians, even serious pros, will probably still largely stick with capable laptops, but for video and high-end visuals, the need is real. And the pay is better for those markets, generally. (Ahem.)

https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/

Salient response from Twitter, and typical of what I’m hearing:

Too expensive. Why start the base model at 256 GB and with now old Thunderbolt 3. Also, new PCI express is coming so life cycle is not superlong.

— MattLive (@mattlivese) June 3, 2019

However, Thunderbolt 3 isn’t necessarily outdated – coming specs provide more bandwidth than even these high end video applications (and six displays) need, so the Mac Pro is a kind of showcase for how far Thunderbolt 3 can go. The issue is still to me really configuration. By making a no-compromise system here, Apple has spec’ed their machine way out of the price range of even a lot of the pro market. And yeah, that 256 GB drive is sort of a slap in the face.

The post Apple has a AV studio desktop again: power, speed, and cheese graters appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Logic Pro X 10.4.5, seen onstage at WWDC, is now available. And yes, it supports the new ultra-high-end Mac Pro – but there are fixes and performance optimizations for everyone, with or without new machines.

10.4.5 looks like the most pro-oriented Logic Pro in a long time. Apple has been aggressive with its update cadence for Logic for years running now, even with free upgrades, and this version is no exception.

This release also marks the end of the road for Mac OS X 10.12 Sierra. The new minimum OS requirement is 10.13.16 High Sierra. (Mojave is seeming stable these days, and it’s summertime, so maybe now is a good time to do a full backup and take the plunge.)

First up – yes, the banner feature from Apple’s perspective is that the new Logic runs on the new Mac Pro. Under the hood, that means support for up to 56 threads, the kind of massive multiprocessing the new Mac Pro can do.

The use case for this kind of processing power is slim, but then, that’s what the ‘pro’ concept is all about. Doing artist relations, you may have a film composer with advanced technical needs and a shelf full of Academy Awards. Even one user in your user base can be critical.

That said, I think the real story here is that Apple is shaking the tree across the whole code base – meaning these performance optimizations and fixes could benefit you even if you’re running on a beat-up older MacBook, too.

So, think really big track counts – which could be meaningful since even some mid-range CPUs can theoretically churn through a lot of tracks, to say nothing of that shiny Mac Pro tower.

Increased Number of Tracks and Channels, up to:
1000 stereo audio channel strips
1000 software instrument channel strips
1000 auxiliary channel strips
1000 external MIDI tracks
12 sends per channel strip

Way back around 2006, I heard from a Macworld reader complaining about lifting exactly these limitations and how I didn’t mention them in a review. (See above: that one user thing.)

There’s a bunch of other new features that are serious DAW improvements – and almost no mention mention of any fictional artificial drummers.

An all-new DeEsser 2 plug-in

16 ports of MIDI clock, MTC, and MMC from Logic – yeah, expect to see a Mac Pro in broadcast/film/TV applications running audio

Mixer configuration can be set to your own user-definable defaults (huge time saver there, finally)

A clever automatic duplicate erase when you’re merging MIDI recordings

And some new keyboard shortcuts to save you time when editing:

• Option + Shift while rubber-band selecting in the Piano Roll: new time Handles selection.
• Option-click track on/off button: loads/unloads the plug-ins on the channel strip (wow, easy A/B!)
• Shift-double-click Tracks background: start playback from that position.

And for the “I have an old beat-up MacBook you can pry out of my dead fingers” crowd – finally Freeze works the way it should. (How many of you were desperately freezing tracks while cursing Logic as the CPU meter refused to go down?) From the release notes:

“Freezing a track now unloads its plug-ins to free up resources.”

There are also fixes and performance optimizations and workflow and display improvements throughout. As you’d expect, fixes are concentrated on newer features – Smart Tempo, ARA, Flex, and the like.

So you don’t get any earth-shaking new features unless you’re really into de-essing, but what you do get is some evidence the Apple engineers are working through their log of stuff.

Logic Pro X 10.4 release notes (Apple support, 10.4.5 stuff is right up top)

Full disclosure: I will now this week refresh my MacBook Pro’s OS and then Logic release.

Hey, say what you will about Apple, but Logic Pro these days is pretty accessible from a user experience perspective. There’s some powerful and numerous competitors that either fail that ease of use test or that simply lack features you need to get big jobs done in scoring and the like. Maddeningly, a lot get the ease right but lack features, or have insanely powerful features but demand you contort your brain to use them. (Once upon a time, an earlier version of Logic was also far harder to use.)

I know from CDM’s own site stats and plenty of anecdotal evidence that all this matters to music makers. It’s not just Apple brand loyalty that makes Logic last.

The post Logic Pro X 10.4.5 is all about huge projects, with or without a Mac Pro appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

macOS Catalina is here as a free update today, along with updated information on Apple’s own pro apps. But music users should continue to delay upgrading for now.

I’ve already written about what changes in macOS Catalina, and why many DAWs, plug-ins, and hardware drivers will be incompatible without updates. You can read that full deep dive, which also includes resources on how to backup your system if you do want to upgrade, and how to retrieve previous macOS versions in case you want to upgrade to something like Mojave instead. (Mojave is now very stable, most readers and developers support, meaning a Mac upgrade that lags Apple’s annual upgrade cadence may make sense.) To catch up, check that article here:

The short version: Catalina adds security requirements for installers and software, and removes support for 32-bit code.

I did say I thought those permissions might be a bit overwhelming, but – here’s an idea:

macOS 10.15 Vista [tyler.io]

This isn’t an argument about whether or not those changes make sense – generally speaking, they do. (Not sure about that delivery above; let’s hope they iron that out.) But basically, if you have any need for stability and compatibility for critical creative work, you probably shouldn’t upgrade today. (And even if you do, you absolutely should back up everything first, and plan in advance how you would roll back the OS if needed.)

In fact, nothing has changed as far as the compatibility situation described in the article. Some developers do have updates ready for their latest software, as in the case of Ableton Live 10.

Most don’t, though, and it might only take one hardware driver or piece of software to ruin your day. Steinberg, for instance, referred back to their September 24 announcement and tell CDM they’ll need more. That illustrates just how fragile this can be – they’re working with Apple on issues involving their Dorico software and the Soft-eLicenser.

There’s also a lot of new technology in this update, meaning that if you really want a stable release, you need to wait anyway, even to give developers ample time to test the final build.

Update – adding a new compatibility wrinkle, DJ compatibility with iTunes appears to be broken. The Verge reports that a previously reported workaround, using manual XML export, no longer works. Thanks to Tom on Twitter for the heads-up.

We’ve gotten mixed messages on this, and have contacted Apple for clarification. That is, there appears to be an XML option in the current macOS Catalina build of Music, even as The Verge claims otherwise (while sourcing Apple). It’s unclear then whether the issue is that this XML option is set to be removed, or if the XML file format has changed or is changing, or if there’s some other issue.

Apart from software like TRAKTOR, this would end the ability to manage iTunes libraries even in alternative DJ library software like Rekordbox. And Pioneer recommend holding off on an upgrade, too. Pioneer’s statement:

A new version of the [sic] Apple’s macOS, 10.15 Catalina, is about to be released. We are currently researching compatibility of macOS Catalina 10.15 with rekordbox and all of our hardware. We will finish our initial research by the end of October 2019 and will post updates on our progress when we know more. Please refrain from updating to macOS Catalina 10.15 for the time being.

iTunes will be discontinued in macOS Catalina 10.15. This change will affect rekordbox users when using iTunes Library. Further information will be released when the details become available.

Whatever the case, the current solution is simple – wait. It’s clear that both Apple and third party developers do know that users want to be able to share the music library they use in the Music app with DJ tools, as they had in the past with iTunes. Hopefully we can report a solution soon.

Visualists – ready to jump in?

There’s better news on the visual side than musical side. If you do like the bleeding edge – like, maybe you’ve got more than one machine or are ready to try the external drive test trick – Vidvox already have a guide. (They’re the makes of VDMX, and they’re also extremely active and open Mac developers, so a good resource for anyone with macOS-running hardware doing visuals!)

VDMX macOS X 10.15 Catalina Update Guide

Apple Pro Apps updates

Here’s where I do have some news – Apple’s own pro apps are verified as compatible. (That isn’t necessarily a given, I might add.)

Apple says Logic Pro X and Motion are each compatible as of their most recent updates – Logic’s latest came in July, and Motion in March.

Now note, that does not mean you should expect entirely problem-free operation with Logic. Security changes are such that you could encounter unexpected compatibility issues with plug-ins – we simply can’t know until we have more real world testing data. You can help provide those tests, but you might not want to do it on your one and only production machine – not unless you make a separate external boot drive to run Catalina.

You’ll see in particular a significant notice in Motion that indicates that Apple has removed some deprecated media file support: “Detects media files that may be incompatible with future versions of macOS after Mojave.” (That may be related to 32-bit removals, but yeah, you might want to keep one machine around running an older OS, generally speaking.)

Logic release notes: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203718

Motion release notes: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202203

Final Cut Pro actually gets a dedicated update, optimized for the newest Apple hardware and software tech, version 10.4.7. You don’t need Catalina to run this latest FCP – Mojave 10.14.6 is the minimum – but you do get some additional functionality unlocked if you pair the latest Final Cut with the latest macOS.

What’s new:

• A new engine powered on Apple’s Metal graphics API that the company says delivers enhanced performance
• Specific Mac Pro optimizations, as expected, and support for Apple’s Pro Display XDR hardware
• Support for the Mac Pro’s Afterburner card
• Specific support for Sidecar, which lets you use your iPad as a second display (wired or wireless)
• High dynamic range (HDR) video grading, with color mask and range isolation tools (this may actually be the coolest feature, hidden in the fine print)
• HDR video is now tone-mapped to compatible displays on Catalina only – and that’s across Motion, Final Cut, and Compressor
• Select which internal or external GPU you want to use

Apple claims a 20% performance gain for editors on the current 15-inch MacBook Pro or 35% on the iMac Pro, versus the past release.

The important thing here, though, is that you get most of this with macOS Mojave. So I think there’s no huge rush to update – give this one some time so you can, for instance, test out on an external drive before you commit your production system to an OS that could ruin things. And that’s what pros should do anyway.

As always, this is a free update.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/10/final-cut-pro-x-update-introduces-new-metal-engine-for-increased-performance/

If you have further compatibility information (hello, developers), do let us know.

More on what’s new in macOS:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/10/macos-catalina-is-available-today/

The post macOS Catalina is here; Final Cut update, Logic compatibility, don’t update your Mac yet appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple Logic Pro, Reaper, and other free and inexpensive tools mean there’s no reason to stare at the walls in self=isolation. Even if your budget is hurting, you can make some music. Here’s an overview. Plus, bonus – because all these are free for the next 90s days, they’re perfect for collaborating with friends, since […]

The post Arturia, Logic, Final Cut, Reaper, and more offer these free tools while you stay at home appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple appears to have accidentally leaked an upcoming version of Logic Pro with the signature feature of Ableton Live - nonlinear pattern launching.

The post Did Apple just leak a new version of Logic with Ableton-style clip launching? appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Apple is adding Live Loops, as predicted and leaked. But the new release of Logic Pro X is far more than that, with new workflows for sampling, looping, and beatmaking on the Mac and with the iPad.

The post New Logic Pro overhauls EXS24 Sampler, takes workflow cues from Ableton and Maschine appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

Sure, theoretically you should memorize a bunch of keyboard shortcuts and painstakingly map macros for tools you use every day. Or you could use Metagrid instead.

The post Metagrid 1.5 gives your iPad shortcuts for everything – DAW, notation, Ableton Live appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.