MAC DAW recommendations....

I use Ableton personally because I mostly just use it to jam by myself with, recording loops on the fly and layering sounds. Once you have your setup dialed it's a piece of cake to fire up Live and be jamming in no time at all.

I have, for the longest time now, meant to check out Abelton. I have friends who swear by it's workflow. The very different look of it has always scared me off a bit.
 
I recommend Digital Performer. The midi editing is killer, record/mix is fine for me, and it's stupid-simple and bullet proof for live performance (cueing and triggering backing tracks) I've gigged 7 years with it without a single issue or even a hiccup.
Digital Performer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I even had power killed by accident at a gig for 1,000 people, and because DP was running on a laptop, the backing track just kept going. I kept going in silence on guitar and singing acoustically. Power & PA were back up in less than 10 seconds, and I'd managed to stay in sync -- like driving into a tunnel while singing to radio and coming out the other side in sync…ha ha.
 
Always been a PC guy myself, but I have a couple of Mac user friends, and they swear by Logic Pro. I've been using Reaper for a little while now on PC and love it. It is also available on Mac. It's free to try the fully functional software and only $60 for a full non-commercial license after that. It's great software at any price, but unbeatable for $60.

http://www.reaper.fm/index.php
 
Hi,

Just an update for those who maybe interested.

I did purchase Logic Pro X & i'm loving it. Its easy to use & the help facility works great if your not sure how to do something. i've layered a couple of simple track to get a feel of how things work. I also like how my XL links straight in without any hassles. Its quite an awesome set up when used together.

Much appreciate to everyone who gave input.

Cheers
 
I use Logic 9. It's cheap, simple, and stable. I was really disappointed when Logic X came out as it doesn't really offer any 'pro' features that 9 didn't have already. But it's still cheap, and can't be a step backwards except for the fact it includes auto-tune so will train musicians to play shit and be happy about it :?

I've been a Logic user since Pro 8.. I've spent most of my 'Logic life' on Logic Pro 9
a few weeks back I switched to Pro X

sure Pro X takes a little getting used to.. moving from 8 to 9 was just an upgrade of something essentially the same..
moving from 9 to X is a little more radical..

as a Pro X user for about a month now, I think Pro X is far superior to 9
the work flow is much improved.. Flex is far better / quicker.. bouncing and 'bounce in place', along with audio file conversions [changing sample rate for example] are hugely quicker..
I have a 3rd party 32-bit bridge which is far more reliable than the one that came with Logic 9
the channel EQ is massively improved [much better / easier to freq sweep in detail]
there are some new FX and instruments but I've not had the chance to goof with them yet..

now that I've moved to Pro X, there's no going back for me..
 
No Pro Tools love here? You can get an M-Box interface + Protools for pretty cheap. HD rigs are ridiculously high, but it's still industry standard. It's packed full of features that are every bit as good as logic if not better. IMO.
 
Hi,

Just an update for those who maybe interested.

I did purchase Logic Pro X & i'm loving it. Its easy to use & the help facility works great if your not sure how to do something. i've layered a couple of simple track to get a feel of how things work. I also like how my XL links straight in without any hassles. Its quite an awesome set up when used together.

Much appreciate to everyone who gave input.

Cheers

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. There are wonderful tutorials. if and when you need them, at Mac Pro Video.
 
Logic 9 on 10.6 Snow Leopard has been rock solid for 5 years for me. Maybe a half a dozen crashes in half a decade with no losses. I upgraded to Mavericks to prepare for the new XL arrival and have contemplated buying Logic X.

I am stoked to see all the favorable post regarding X but when I go to the Apple store and read the reviews there are nothing but complaints about stability, crashes, etc. Makes me nervous.

Is this something that has been worked out or is this an issue whereas only people with screwed up software are writing reviews while everyone else is busy recording?
 
Logic 9 on 10.6 Snow Leopard has been rock solid for 5 years for me. Maybe a half a dozen crashes in half a decade with no losses. I upgraded to Mavericks to prepare for the new XL arrival and have contemplated buying Logic X.

I am stoked to see all the favorable post regarding X but when I go to the Apple store and read the reviews there are nothing but complaints about stability, crashes, etc. Makes me nervous.

Is this something that has been worked out or is this an issue whereas only people with screwed up software are writing reviews while everyone else is busy recording?

Ive been running Logic Pro X on a Mac Mini (8 GB ram) with 10.8.5 for about 8 months and have experienced no crashes or glitches.
 
Well I did the deed last night. The look is nice and I'm sure I will get used to the new interface but I sure misunderstood some of the hype as to compatibility with previous versions. As soon as I clicked a Logic 9 project it wanted to convert it due to not being compatible. I sure thought that this was cross platform, not a proprietary conversion. I work with 3 other studios with 2 of them on Logic 9 and one still on Logic 8. I just isolated myself from the other project exchanges unless they all upgrade or I only use Logic X for the final stages of the project.

Otherwise I guess I can export stems, on a track by track basis, and import them into an active 9 projects.
 
I have a 3rd party 32-bit bridge which is far more reliable than the one that came with Logic 9

Which 3rd party utility are you using? I have some plugins I love that I don't want to part with that are 32bit only.

On the subject of which DAW, Garageband to start. When you're hooked, Logic will probably be the most sensible.

I envy Cubase users their drum editor and ProTools the audio editing ease of functionality, but overall they do the same job.
 
1st tract completed using Logic Pro X (First time using a DAW)

Hi All,

I've managed to compose, get all audio down & convert my first attempt to MP3. Now I would like to know how I can put it on here for you guys to let me know your honest thoughts of my track.

Anyone know how to upload my MP3? (I tried & it errors every time!)

Thanks
 
Since you're buying new I wouldn't hesitate with Logic X. It literally goes hand in hand with Mac products. I will say, in my own case, I greatly prefer Logic 9. The new Logic X has some cool features such as pitch correction and auto-drumming but for my workflow they definitely broke some stuff. I'd like to smack them for what they did to the audio file editing window.
 
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Just got both the Axe FX 2 and Logic Pro going. Any tips on how to make these work well together? THX MWB
 
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