Sorry if this has been addressed a million times before, I did do a quick search before I posted.

...as said, the age old question - Logic vs Pro Tools, I have an iMac, and want a decent package, plus I’m trying to get back into a recording studio at some stage this year, so which is better suited ? or are they much of a muchness these days ?

I’m not so sure they can actually be pitted against each other,

It’s not so much of an age old question, because they have both grown up very differently until quite recently, so it’s difficult to say which would be best for you without knowing a little a bit about what you want to use them for.

What do you plan on recording?

Is there much MIDI or is it mostly live/real voices and instruments?

Are you going to mix, or is someone else, elsewhere?

To add some history, Logic was a MIDI sequencing package that had audio mixing and processing capabilities added to it later on and Pro Tools was a dedicated audio recording and processing system without any MIDI implementation, then it got some, then it was more recently brought up to a good MIDI spec.

Logic has it’s roots in a package called C-Lab Notator and Pro Tools has its roots in a package called Sound Tools.

Hey Phil, ( big assumption there, but we’ll go with it )

I guess the driver for me at the minute, is that I co-wrote and recorded 3 tracks a few years ago with a studio that ran Pro-tools. I’m looking to get back into a studio later in the year to do some more co-writing / recording.

As to what is being done, a little of both. I’m looking to stuff both MIDI and audio sketches I have into whatever format is good for studios, and build those out into fully fledged songs.

I have an iMac, so I’m guessing a sensible home option would be logic, but I’m also aware that most pro studios tend to favour pro-tools. As I’m looking to use a pro studio, would it be better to spend a little more up front and get pro-tools for ease of collaboration ? or is it just as easy to work in Logic ?

I’ve been using both since the mid 90s.

Logic is the more equally balanced DAW, but Pro Tools has more going for it in terms of tracking and mixing, and as you say, most studios run Pro Tools.

If you bought Logic, there’s nothing to stop you bouncing your parts out as WAV files to take to another studio, but most of the time, studios have both Logic and Pro Tools anyway.

The problem with Pro Tools (I’m presuming you mean the domestic version and not HDX) has always been the rather expensive updates for little improvement.  Whilst you could argue that most DAWs have reached a plateau in terms of features, Avid seem to want to charge a fair whack almost yearly, and if you look at where it’s going, it looks like they want to just rent it to everyone.  They have also sought to disqualify perfectly good bits of hardware over time too which has frustrated many.  The MIDI side of Pro Tools whilst adequate, is not the best and certainly feels like the bolt on we all know it is.

Logic, on the other hand, costs less, has free updates and will be supported for longer.

My personal preference is to use both, but Logic is probably your best bet as a single solution to many problems.

You’ll also notice there are more plug ins available for Logic.

Thanks....really informative, and probably a good enough steer to not just get pro-tools because the studios use it, and I’m aiming to do studio “stuff”.

The more I learn, the more I think that for me, Logic will do everything I need it to do, and probably a million things that I’m never even going to get close to touching.....

Thanks for your help.....muchly appreciated…

Since you already own an iMac, Logic is the most efficient ( budget wise ) way to get things sorted.

Whether other DAW manufacturers like it or not we live in a ProTools world. Or possibly an Ableton Live one if your music and productions are loop-leaning. Nothing wrong with Logic or Sonar or any of the others but if you want to be on the same page as 90% of pro studios around the world then PT is your choice. If you’re not worried about compatibility and want to indulge in some clever programming and processing, using MIDI especially, then Logic or any of the others clearly are extremely capable of delivering the goods.