Plugins and Acoustic Recording

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by jpmist

Just as an FYI, GarageBand has automation modes that control volume, pan, echo, reverb, as well as the smart controls - compressor threshold, ratio, attack, gain as well as for plug-ins like NoiseGate, Compressor & Channel EQ.

Interesting. I didn't see those. I guess that narrows the differences even further. Logic can automate virtually every aspect of every plugin, including 3rd party plugins, but maybe GB can do that too?

I'm guessing Logic's "Looping" in GB is called "Cycles"? - "You can use the cycle area to repeatedly play a particular part of a project. The cycle area can be used for composing, practicing a part before recording, recording multiple takes, and other purposes."

No, I was talking about the "Live Loops Grid", a view where you create individual "cells" and can create a composition on the fly by clicking on them as they play to bring in different parts. Maybe GarageBand has that too, but I don't see it in the interface. it's a whole different way to assemble and record tracks, which is more like Ableton Live's support for live performance of looping.

Overview: https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/24/live-...ic-pro-how-to/

I don't personally find this useful for what I do. For electronic music, or even assembling a pop tune from pre-existing loops and samples, it would make things pretty fast.

I'll always pound the table for GarageBand for starting out, as it's a great program most of us bedroom studio engineers never really grow out of. . .

I totally agree, it's more than enough for many projects, and it's free! It's really one of those things where it's hard to explain why anyone would need to "upgrade", and as you can see, even my guesses about what features are missing aren't correct. I'd hate to be Logic's project manager trying to justify why both exist....

Since you're a GB user, does it do "Quick Swipe" comping? That, to me, is one of Logic's killer features, tho again, not something everyone needs.

[KevWind]

I would tend to agree for just basic recording of say couple guitar tracks and say a vocal etc. Garage Band is a pretty elegant Entry level DAW and ya can't beat price

That said

The only drawbacks that I noticed (which were meaningful for my workflow personally) when I have tried to use it are:: (with the caveat ) I have not tried for a couple years..

#1 It does not offer you a full feature mixer window separate from the edit window

#2 Does not have Sends and Aux tracks

# 3 Does not have Take Folders With Swipe Comping For Audio

# 4 Because you can't separate them I do not think you can have the mixer on one display, and the edit window on a second display

# 5 I do not know if you can set up outboard hardware FX as inserts in GB

[Doug Young]

BTW, google of course, knows all. Googling Logic vs GarageBand turns up several feature comparisons, like this one:

https://www.macprovideo.com/article/...to-logic-pro-x

There are a few things that stand out to me. The biggest being that GarageBand has no effect sends/aux busses, which is a pretty huge deal for anything other than the simplest mixes. It's also missing Track Stacks (basically a nice UI for submixes), Fast Swipe Comping, Markers, and a bunch of other things that may not be deal breakers, but that definitely make life easier in Logic.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by KevWind

# 5 I do not know if you can set up outboard hardware FX as inserts in GB

Logic does that with the IO plugin, which isn't there in GB. I suspect there's no other way to do it natively, tho there could be some 3rd party plugin that would handle it.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

There are a few things that stand out to me. The biggest being that GarageBand has no effect sends/aux busses, which is a pretty huge deal for anything other than the simplest mixes. It's also missing Track Stacks (basically a nice UI for submixes), Fast Swipe Comping, Markers, and a bunch of other things that may not be deal breakers, but that definitely make life easier in Logic.

Okay, that makes me change my mind then. I'd argue the OP should move up to Logic Pro because employing workarounds means he's not really going to be learning the best or most efficient way to do things. For a one-time investment of $200, he doesn't have to figure out convoluted ways to do things that are pretty simple in other daws. In the long run, $200 will save him both headaches and time.

[j3ffr0]

It's simple to start with Garage Band and then google, "How do I do x, y, z?" When the answer starts to become, "you need a pro workstation such as Logic or ProTools to do that," then it's time to upgrade. At least that's what I did.

But after arriving in Logic I still didn't know a lot of what it can do. A book like this one provides a nice tour. Some of it you may never need, but it's nice to scratch the surface of what's there.... For instance, my daughter got a singing bowl. I'm gonna sample it when I get around to it and maybe put it in a song later. Last thing I would have imagined two years ago, but now I know how to do it, so why not?

Anyway:
https://www.amazon.com/Logic-Pro-10-...dp/0136886620/

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Logic does that with the IO plugin, which isn't there in GB. I suspect there's no other way to do it natively, tho there could be some 3rd party plugin that would handle it.

Yes Studio One uses a plugin also.

But I am not sure what you mean by " I suspect there's no other way to do it natively"

Because PT handles it in an even simpler way than using a plugin, IMO.
Once you assign the I/O channels to the physical output and input channel numbers that go to the HW units from the interface. And name them in the " Hardware inserts section of the I/O matrix They automatically show at the bottom of the inserts selection dropdown window

As you can see at the bottom of the insert window in the (highlighted light blue) is the I/O selection window.... I can select either the 3U (my 2 channel tube compressor) or I can select (M7) which is my stereo M7 Bricasti
For clarity LINE 1-2 and 3-4 are the inputs for my mics,,,, and then physical channels 5-6 (renamed 3U) feed out to and in from my compressor,,, and channels 7-8 go out and in from the Bricasti

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Yes Studio One uses a plugin also.
But I am not sure what you mean by " I suspect there's no other way to do it natively"

I meant garageband, which has no busses or aux channels - at least I think thats what I was referring to. In Logic, yes, you could do it with multiple inputs and outputs, the plugin just hides the details and makes the routing look like a plugin (and makes it work with the latency compensation, I think)

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I meant garageband, which has no busses or aux channels - at least I think thats what I was referring to. In Logic, yes, you could do it with multiple inputs and outputs, the plugin just hides the details and makes the routing look like a plugin (and makes it work with the latency compensation, I think)

Ah I see yes with no aux / busses makes sense.

Yes one thing a plug in does is allow HW to be auto delay compensated.
In PT You have to offset any delay from HW itself manually (but only once then it is auto) Interestingly I could not detect any delay from the the Bricasti (even though set up analog ) and the extra conversion ... (not that it would matter much with a reverb anyway,, But I thought it was interesting

PT also hides the routing and it basically looks like any other plugin insert ...
So in both the M7 track (dark blue 3rd from right ) and the 3U (orange 2 Mix track ) the HW inserts just look like plugins