Logic Pro 9 vs. Cubase 6.5 vs. ?

[daBassAndDaSax]

Hey, all.

I'm looking at buying Logic Pro 9 or going with something cross-platform, like Cubase 6.5. Anyone have any good or horrible experiences using a MOTU 828mkii with Cubase 6.5? How about any good experiences using Cubase 6.5 with Mac?

I was updating my system with OS X Lion and found with utter dismay that Logic Pro 8 is not supported. (I know it might run in a fashion, but it is not supported.) Looking for something else to use with my Mac Pro and my MOTU 828mkii, and hopefully with my Windows laptop from time to time.

TIA!

[Michael Canavan]

If you want cross platform then Cubase and Digital Performer 8 are the choices really.
I know that buffer sizes for some godawful reason have to be really high in Cubase to get anything like the low buffer performance of DP or Logic on Mac. I can't tell you what DP's Windows performance VS Mac will be as it's not out yet, it's due in the next month or two.

In a quick comparison of the sequencers of the three from my own experience:

Logic is fast, but linear and clunky in rearranging a song, multi instruments etc. very good CPU use.

Cubase is the easiest to write in for electronic music, lots of features that help with that, good audio editing capabilities. Typically the least stable of the three, and the most CPU hoggish.

Digital Performer is the most advanced old school DAW in terms of remixing and vast arrangements, many great features for this. Not that set up for heavily quantized dance music production for instance, though it's possible to of course. Great audio editing capabilities. medium to good CPU use. Great interface, the only caveat is that it can be daunting at first. A lot of features/menu commands are in what I would say are 'traditional' places, so it takes a bit to learn to navigate that.


That said the other two are also guilty of this. I love DP and use it of the three, just being honest with my opinion here. I would recommend DP unless you absolutely need your sequencer to be geared towards heavily quantized dance music, and even then it's relative stability and many unique features in terms of remixing etc. are a huge plus.

[daBassAndDaSax]

That's great info, Michael! Thank you very much. Is DP for Windows also, though? I thought it was Mac only.

[mikehalloran]

That's great info, Michael! Thank you very much. Is DP for Windows also, though? I thought it was Mac only.

DP 8 is not yet shipping but it will be available for That Other OS.

The upgrade price for Logic is inexpensive. If you know an Apple employee, half of that. No printed documentation like the 10Lb brick you get w/ Logic Studio-8. It's Help files (yech!) and .pdfs you can download from Apple (infinitely easier to search) for free.

I have owned Logic for years (I live 2 miles from the Cupertino Mother Ship - everyone is Apple employee). Usually, I use it to open GarageBand, export the MIDI and audio files, throw them into DP and get my work done. I like this approach best, even on simple projects. I can't stand actually working in Logic.

[joefix413]

Just had to upgrade my machine and went to a MacPro dual and a new 424 PCI-e card to use my existing 2408 mk3. I was at a crossroads since I've been using Cubase for years but the ProTools spectre was looming large since I had to upgrade software. I went Cubase 6.5 and couldn't be happier. On this machine the latency is non-existant. The feature-set is excellent and there are no stability issues. I have used Audio Desk(DP Lite) and Logic Express and both drove me crazy with the editing features! I do mostly audio work and have always gotten excellent results from Cubase software and MOTU hardware. It's just a lot easier now on Mac versus using MOTU on pc.

[mikehalloran]

Really?

Audio editing on DP is the reason I have never seriously considered anything else. I can't imagine anything easier.

[bayswater]

I'd take Cubase over Logic any time. The main beef against Cubase is the way they dumped long standing features that were part of many users' established workflow, and replaced them with annoying things no one asked for. Couldn't trust Steinberg to keep reasonable continuity with new versions.

Version 4 was the last straw when they dumped compatibility with most plugins, including their own, added the goofy media centre, and made you load a separate instance for each channel used in a VI. There are one or two things I missed, like MIDI regions, but you can say that about any application you don't use any more.

[mikehalloran]

>I'd take Cubase over Logic any time.<

On that, I agree. But Cubase over DP? No!

[bayswater]

>I'd take Cubase over Logic any time.<

On that, I agree. But Cubase over DP? No!

Yes, I agree but didn't mention that. Didn't seem necessary.

[FutureLegends]

I switched from Cubase to DP (although that was long ago) then a short run with Logic, when DP wasn't Intel ready, and then back to DP.
I really dislike Logic. Cubase is to long ago but back then there really wasn't even a question, DP was just way better.
Unless Apple do to Logic what they did to Final Cut I will never use Logic again. However, I love FCP X and if Apple reinvents Logic like that I might check it out.