Logic VS DP in the new mac studio?

[Gate 13]

Hi folks,
Any idea if there is a possibility that logic will be more compatible and run smoother (better management in memory and CPU) in the new mac studio?
I will most likely buy DP 11 with my mac studio (when I order it!) but I would like to see if Logic can be a better option regarding optimization?

P.S. I hope I will not make people angry here...

[James Steele]

Hi folks,
Any idea if there is a possibility that logic will be more compatible and run smoother (better management in memory and CPU) in the new mac studio?
I will most likely buy DP 11 with my mac studio (when I order it!) but I would like to see if Logic can be a better option regarding optimization?

P.S. I hope I will not make people angry here...

No problem posting this but any comparison posts (DP vs XYZ DAW) goes in the OT Forum. Moved.

[mikehalloran]

There's always a possibility, one way or the other. The only way to know for certain is to test both and do it correctly. Ohhhh, this won't stop a bunch of YouTubers from comparing Audacity vs Reaper vs other cheapware. If anyone wants to make that kind of time, they can knock themselves out. I've been using DP for 25 years and Logic for over a dozen—the subject has never interested me and I can't believe it ever will. I use the tool I need for the task at hand. The new Studio is such a beast that efficiency for any current audio DAW should not be a problem.

I expect the in-depth testing comparisons to be between AV and rendering apps such as FCPx vs Premiere, MAYA vs Unity, Blender, Key Shot, Cinema 4D etc. That's what the Studio is designed to crunch. Audio is an afterthought but fortunately, we get to benefit.

Logic exists for one purpose only: It sells Macs. Apple does improve it now and then but it's not a priority. Although the same can be said for FinalCut Pro, it sells high performance Macs.

[Gate 13]

Thank you so much for your response.

[Mr Clifford]

Logic exists for one purpose only: It sells Macs. Apple does improve it now and then but it's not a priority. Although the same can be said for FinalCut Pro, it sells high performance Macs.

Just echoing Mike's sentiment above. I use both DP & Logic professionally, and have a fair bit of experience with both. Logic seems to have barely changed since the 'update' from Logic 9 to Pro X (essentially Garageband Pro). I get the distinct impression that Apple does a bare minimum of development on it and as a result there are several functions in the app that still just don't work properly (which is fine, I guess, if you don't need those functions).

It will depend a lot on what you want to use it for. Logic does seem to work best as a stand-alone music production solution, where a project starts and finishes in Logic (although, IMO, the audio editing is abominable). If you need to collaborate and need to send (eg.) MIDI files and/or audio stems back and forth with different platforms (DAW or scoring etc.) then it really starts to get frustrating with all of its quirks and caveats. DP, on the other hand, and probably because it's a smaller player in the market, has excellent compatibility in terms of importing and exporting to & from other platforms - not to mention the best compliance to MIDI file & broadcast WAVE specs (in terms of encoding the correct meta-data into the files) of all them, including Pro Tools.

[stubbsonic]

I'll just chime in that DP has really nice tools for the "adventurous" (MIDI) composer. It has more flexible quantize options. Though, Logic does have a few MIDI tools that DP lacks.

[Gate 13]

I'll just chime in that DP has really nice tools for the "adventurous" (MIDI) composer. It has more flexible quantize options. Though, Logic does have a few MIDI tools that DP lacks.

Hi,
Thanks for your post.
What tools does DP lack that Logic has?
Thanks!

[Michael Canavan]

I'll just chime in that DP has really nice tools for the "adventurous" (MIDI) composer. It has more flexible quantize options. Though, Logic does have a few MIDI tools that DP lacks.

Hi,
Thanks for your post.
What tools does DP lack that Logic has?
Thanks!

Right away, Logic can constrict MIDI channels to ranges of keys, so you can split your keyboard on a per song basis between multiple instruments if you wanted to. Logic being the domain of Apple can us AU MIDI instruments with MIDI out capabilities in a fairly elegant way, whereas DP can only use VSTs for that. Beyond that maybe stubbsonic is referencing all the non destructive quantizing options Logic has? Dunno?

[Michael Canavan]

Hi folks,
Any idea if there is a possibility that logic will be more compatible and run smoother (better management in memory and CPU) in the new mac studio?
I will most likely buy DP 11 with my mac studio (when I order it!) but I would like to see if Logic can be a better option regarding optimization?

P.S. I hope I will not make people angry here...

No anger. I recently got into it on Facebook with someone about this. Right now, on the MacBook Air here I can get far more instances of Diva running in DP than other DAWs including Logic, the PreGen feature is working really well in DP11 on the M1.

Some of the same things apply, some virtual instruments spike the CPU, but honestly having the Audio Performance meter on during composing is probably a bad idea, to this day I don't here the intermittent spikes that the meter shows, and as soon as you're done composing it goes into PreGen anyway, with no spikes..

This is another advantage to DP IMO, the "system overload" message in Logic is annoying, it's too responsive and to compensate Apple does whatever it can to turn on aggravating "features" like it's little pause on record armed tracks that you aren't currently playing, resulting in momentary note drops etc. when you do engage.

So no, so far Logic does not have an advantage on the M1, that could change for sure though, the AI (artificial intelligence) chip in the M1 could come into play big time for Logic in the future, but right now with playback of heavy CPU AUi's like Diva Logic is not showing any advantage over DP, in fact DP's PreGen is working better than Logics or Reapers at the moment.

[bayswater]

As Mr Clifford says, there are things that DP and Logic do better than the other, or does differently but whether these matter depends on what you do. I doubt there is anything one can do that the other simply can't. I like the way Logic lets to name notes and restrict the piano key editor to notes that are being used. That makes a drum editor that I find easier to use than the one in DP. Routing in general is much better in DP than Logic. In DP you can do what makes sense -- in Logic sometimes you just have to do what it says in the manual when there is no rhyme or reason, unless you want to nerd out in the Environment window.

Ironically being part of Apple does not seem to be a sure fire advantage for Logic developers. A recent significant change to AU left Logic unable to validate or use a number of plugins until an update was issued while other DAWs seemed to be fine.

On pure CPU efficiency, Logic has always performed better than DP, although the gap closed a lot somewhere late in V9 or early in V10. But it's a not a difference that matters. While DP starts to freak out around 800 tracks in my test project, I can push Logic to about 1,000. No doubt when the ultra fast new Macs are tested, we'll be able to run 5,000 tracks in Logic and maybe a paltry 4,000 in DP.

A more practical thing: if you work with others you'll need Logic because it everywhere, and probably other DAWs too unless you have total control over the entire end to end musical process. Then it comes down to the amount of time you want to spend learning the minutiae of all these DAWs.

[HCMarkus]

I thoroughly enjoying DP on my Studio Ultra. Currently leaving the buffer at 128 and opening files as part of an ongoing project that strained the old Mac Pro severely at higher buffers... the new Mac isn't breaking a sweat and is super responsive graphically, which is often what was bogging me down with the older machine.

I don't plan on doing any scientific testing; I'll leave that to the YouTubers and other interested folk. Just gonna' use and enjoy the Mac Studio and get work done.

[James Steele]

I thoroughly enjoying DP on my Studio Ultra. Currently leaving the buffer at 128 and opening files as part of an ongoing project that strained the old Mac Pro severely at higher buffers... the new Mac isn't breaking a sweat and is super responsive graphically, which is often what was bogging me down with the older machine.

I don't plan on doing any scientific testing; I'll leave that to the YouTubers and other interested folk. Just gonna' use and enjoy the Mac Studio and get work done.

That's pretty awesome to hear. I'm looking forward to getting one of these beasts later in the year!!

[Michael Canavan]

On pure CPU efficiency, Logic has always performed better than DP, although the gap closed a lot somewhere late in V9 or early in V10. But it's a not a difference that matters. While DP starts to freak out around 800 tracks in my test project, I can push Logic to about 1,000. No doubt when the ultra fast new Macs are tested, we'll be able to run 5,000 tracks in Logic and maybe a paltry 4,000 in DP.

This is IMO more due to graphics performance in Logic VS DP. I can get more plug ins going in DP right now than Logic and over the years since PreGen was introduced they've been mostly neck and neck.... but! Logic has a snappier interface, DP's graphics code is not as brutally streamlined as Logics, and when I did a test lately on large MIDI track even count's after about 400 or less in DP on the M1 Air here, which is decidedly not a great GPU machine, it gets sluggish. That's probably near zero of an issue with the new 32+ core GPU's in the 14-16" laptops and Studio.

Routing in general is much better in DP than Logic. In DP you can do what makes sense -- in Logic sometimes you just have to do what it says in the manual when there is no rhyme or reason, unless you want to nerd out in the Environment window.

This is sort of true. IMO Logic takes a "modern" approach to things like multi instruments. In DP you will literally have 33 tracks for a native multi instance of Kontakt that you want separate stereo outputs for each instrument, and MIDI input to, in Logic it's 16, each aux output from Kontakt can host the MIDI track associated with it. Ableton Live works like DP routing wise, and I appreciate that, but you still end up with 32 tracks for 16 instruments in a single Kontakt instance. I have to admit there's a certain elegance to the way Logic does it, but it's not intuitive, they give you no visible queue that the 15 instances are not separate instruments which threw me at first.

A more practical thing: if you work with others you'll need Logic because it everywhere, and probably other DAWs too unless you have total control over the entire end to end musical process. Then it comes down to the amount of time you want to spend learning the minutiae of all these DAWs.

Yep, for me it's more Ableton Live and Reaper, most of my old bandmates use one or the other.

[bayswater]

This is sort of true. IMO Logic takes a "modern" approach to things like multi instruments.

Perhaps. But it’s the typical Apple thing — do it the way we’ve laid it out for you, or go through mental gymnastics to do it the way you want. The Wizard of Oz, nothing to see here approach.

[stubbsonic]

Though, Logic does have a few MIDI tools that DP lacks.

What tools does DP lack that Logic has?

For one, Logic has a CHORD TRIGGER plugin that allows you to assign chords to single keys. Coupled with an arpeggiator, this can be a very useful thing for chords that are unplayable by mere human hands.

Logic's arpeggiator has a more pleasant GUI, but I think DP's is more full-featured. Logic also has a scripter, but I haven't explored its implications.