Taking aim at pros working in electronic music production, Apple surprise-dropped a major update to Logic Pro X this morning, packaging the app with a “professional” version of Live Loops, new sampling features and both new and revamped beat-making tools. Logic Pro X 10.5 is free for existing users and otherwise runs $199 on the Mac App Store.
Logic Pro X users can use the updated Logic Remote iOS app on an iPhone or iPad to further control Logic.
Primary among the updates in 10.4 is Live Loops, which lets users create music in non-linear ways. Loops, samples and recordings can be arranged on a musical grid, then used to try out and build musical ideas. Those, in turn, can be captured on Logic’s timeline, where they can be further developed using typical production methods. Remix FX brings a selection of effects to Live Loops—gates, filters and more—which can be used in real-time over individual tracks or an entire song. Along with this, the newly updated Logic Remote iOS app now can trigger sounds in Live Loops; users can also use the app for browsing and adding loops, or applying Remix FX to a session.
Sampler updates the EXS24 plug-in with new sound-shaping controls but is still backwards-compatible. Hand-in-hand with that is Quick Sampler which lets users add or record a sound, edit it into shape and then use it as a playable instrument. Sounds for Quick Sampler can be taken from Logic, voice memos recorded on an iPhone or recorded directly into the app.
Apple is also using the latest edition of Logic Pro X to dive deeper into beat-making with tools like Step Sequencer, a new editor for developing and programming drum beats, bass lines, melodic parts and more, using a pattern-style production interface. Users get control over parameters like note velocity, repeat, gate, skip, playback direction and randomization. Working with Step Sequencer are Drum Synth, a collection of various drum and percussion sounds that can be granularly controlled and edited, and Drum Machine Designer, a tool for building drum kits using sounds from Drum Synth or Quick Sampler.
