DAW advice from Logic and PT users

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I use both sequencers extensively, it totally depends on your projects and needs.

Protools has some strong points in that you don't have to worry about a second mixer for cue mixes, like on most coreaudio systems (don't know how the apoggee is integrated). I tend to do the monitoring through PT and it is very easy to punch in and out in realtime to fix parts that need to be fixed. The playlist system is great to keep track of the different takes, the comp feature in logic does not work for me, because you can't make edits within the comps.

Logic on the other hand is really great for composing and is very efficient and well integrated into Mac OS. Logic has some nice Plugins builtin (still wish I had the EXS24 in Protools HD) and is a nice app for mixing. For recording I find it hard to organize large sessions with tons of takes and mostly do that in Protools. Editing audio is fairly straightahead, but I miss the "nudge region" feature, like in Protools where you can just slip the contents of a region by a couple ms.

Regarding sound quality I can not say one is better than the other, it mostly depends on the quality of the plugins and your gain staging working ITB. For converters both systems give you lots of choices, I work with the Digi 192 at the moment, but plan to upgrade to SSL Alphalink for more Analog I/O. Lynx converters also seem to be working for a lot of people, both can be used with Logic or Protools HD.
 
Great!  Thanks for the responses.  Still a bit confusing which is how i'd figure it would be.  So many options these days that everyone has their own proprietary setup it seems... 

For me I usually record through outboard and mix and monitor on our consoles with mostly outboard compression/EQ.  Again editing is usually based on client desires and abilities.  At this point I figure we might go for a core system and a bad ass computer.  But that changes every time I think it over.  From what I understand about Logic you can playlist like in PTs, use a grid like in PTs and tab to transient like in PTs.  These are my most commonly used editing features in PTs and would really miss them if they were not in Logic.  I have never used beat detective as I learned to chop drums manually and dont trust the computer to get it right.  As long as there are some delay and HPF plugins with Logic I really don't use much more than that in the box, maybe a compressor here or there. 

Also my biz partner is deeply involved in video production and I understand that Logic work well with Final Cut. 

I do have an MBOX so I guess if I cant do it in logic I could export and edit on that?  Not sure if that would be a real pain...
 
i´m using cubase 5 since cubase vst.
don´t bang me  :)

often, especially as the unstable version4 came out i tought about switching to protools hd.
But it seems so they did not want to let me go. I wrote so much GUI suggestion and Steinberg made a good job with the new 5.5 version and satisfied me in all points. Absolutely pro is that they have a build in vocal correction tool that sounds better than melodyne to me.
As i use waves gold, uad and powercore i can not tell much about the internal plugins but they are just ok instead of the chorus that is really crapy. The GUI is almost restyled since 5.5. You can put the cubase blue into grey that the colored elements have a chance to stay in front as in other daws... thats fine. Another pro is the mediabay. put all samples in one folder and sort, rename, vote them with the mediabay. By the way the made it almost neundo but without post features that aren´t needed for mproduction. Now the guys made a lot of Synth and plugin improvements i have to check some day... all in all a good sequencer that comes since 5.5 with really serious improvements that logic and protools don´t have [yet].
 
I ran Logic with P-Tools hardware for years, version 3/4 Logic and PT III system
Didn't upgrade the hardware, sold it off and have used Motu/RME/and now Fireface 800
with Logic 9.1

I don't see why you can't use all the great MIDI and arrangement of Logic with PT as
your hardware .... though there are much better converters these days !

I never understood the big "PT" hype - I guess it just replaces tape and became a buzz word.

Without all the fantastic/ deep programming toys of Logic, I would be lost.
MM.
 
Hi,


    We run Logic 7 and Protools HD hardware. We are on a Mac G5 Quad. This is the last generation that will work properly. Don't even THINK about trying to run this on an intel, or with Protools 8 . . .

    Yes. PT is a lot of Hype, but a lot of function as well. You know always exactly how many plugins and tracks you can run. It is always stable, never deciding on the spur of the moment not to run this many plug/tracks at random. You can monitor "inline" with effectively no  latency in record, ( without plugins, that is), and hence it sounds the same when you playback or record. Call me old fashioned, but . . .

  A while back, I found my in the box Logic mixes were getting really hard sounding as I piled on the plugs. I think that Logic "keeps going" long after it should have fallen over, just not carrying out all the calculations instead of stopping. This seemed to make it harsh as hell. PRotools HD never does this, as resources are absolute and allocated. This is probably less of a problem in the age of octo-core intel macs.


  We are sticking with our slightly outdated Logic/PT HD system, since we have the best of both worlds.



    Kindest regards,


        ANdyP
 
Hey Andy - yes I can see the "keep a good system" sense and did that for a long while
with my G5 and Logic 7 on Panther.
Got it all working great now with "octo Intel" ( self upgraded quad ) and Logic 9
I monitor a vocal input "pre" computer so avoid the Latency issue - but see how that can
be very cool in PT.

MM.
 
Regarding hardware, I've had good luck with Metric Halo.  They have an 80-bit mixer which comes standard in all their boxes, even the old ones, it's in every MH box, which rivals the sound quality of analog summing, apparently.  (I plan to do direct comparison tests eventually and will post results.)  If you get a newer box which has a 2nd Card feature, you also get some good free plugins that run within that 80-bit space.  (You can even insert these plugins WITHIN the DAW, as if it were any regular third party plugin, and it still runs in its own 80-bit space.) 

With one box you can mix 14 or 16 or 18 DAW tracks, (I forgot how many), within that 80-bit space from any DAW.  Their converters are also exceptional.  They have great routing and monitoring functions, though takes a bit to learn it all but you can get started right away it's straightforward.  Seems the best of both dig and analog worlds with the 80-bit ITB mixing and also stellar converters for analog.  (FireWire-based.  Mac only, PPC or Intel.)

Edit: their support is also exceptional, same day reply via email and also phone support M-F, I've used them a lot with many dumb questions.   ;D
 
For me, It´s all about the software. I´ve used Logic for years, DP for some time, (Motu, RME and Digihardware) and for the last four years Pro Tools. I just bought HD2 Accell (using DIGI003 and PTLE up untl recently) and I must say that this is far better than I expected it to be. With the ability to run both TDM and RTAS plugins it´s a great system for me. while not exactly cheap I still feel it´s worth the money, and using digi hardware exchange deal it should not be that bad for You either. . And the 192 i/o, well I never compared it to anything else, so I really don´t know. But I always felt that buying a bit better preamps and mics (as opposed to esotheric AD/DA) is money well spent.
 

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