Logic Studio 9 vs Ableton live 8 Suite

[0fps]

Anything involving video or music notation-Logic
Everything else-Live

i agree, working with film or instrumental artists (bands) its pro tools or logic land for me

everything else is live ....which is 90-99% of the time

I agree with sacredgeometry.
I am a Digital Performer and ProTools HD user for multitrack recording-mixing and audio post for tv/cinema. But for anything else it's Live. Even for combination of instrumental and electronic music I think Live is the best, in terms of workflow, functionality and creativity. As the "big boss" says in one of their ads, when u have an idea u should be able to "capture" it right away and to develop it. The only straight and fast way is a clip in session view.

[timothyallan]

The more I use Logic - The more I miss Live's workflow.
Live is so intuitive-- Logic's workflow is difficult to grasp.
Pardon my slow headedness here but I have had logic for 2 days and I still cant find how to add individual FX to channels...
wHERE ARE all the FX?
Live is a lot lot better than Logic when it comes to working and creating and having fun.

Have you also only used Live for 2 days ? That's a pretty biased blanked statement.

[yush]

The more I use Logic - The more I miss Live's workflow.
Live is so intuitive-- Logic's workflow is difficult to grasp.
Pardon my slow headedness here but I have had logic for 2 days and I still cant find how to add individual FX to channels...
wHERE ARE all the FX?
Live is a lot lot better than Logic when it comes to working and creating and having fun.

Have you also only used Live for 2 days ? That's a pretty biased blanked statement.

I have used Live for 7 years now
And my statement is apt because it took me 4 hours to figure out all the basic things that are necessary for my idea to turn into sound in Live-- as opposed to Logic Pro --still learning.
FX is found on the left of the screen under a context specific inspector section.
Look - there is no doubt in my mind that Live is so popular because of a simplified UI and workflow.
Logic "maybe" supersonically better and Logic def. has excellent presets and the OOTB Library + CPU usage.
But cant beat Live's workflow

[timothyallan]

well then it looks like you are right!

[geekbeats]

Just my two cents...

If you have the talent, the software is simply the tool to express yourself. The better you know the tool, the more music you can make!!!

Things to consider:

What way do you like to make music?
What's your approach?
What are you used to?


Pattern based, with an option to be laid out in a linear format?

Linear only?


What types of music projects are you going to do?
Are they going to be extremely complex? Tons of MIDI? Scoring to motion picture?

I would have never suggested any software other than LIVE until I scored a feature film. That was painfully tedious!

LOGIC is awesome at MIDI editing and feature upon features. Even if you don't use them, they are there if you come across something that need later.

LIVE's workflow is really quick and very "music-friendly" It's a lot of fun and my favorite, but I will not use it for MIDI-detailed projects in the future.

[Supa Ninja]

I've been using Live for 2 years now. Before that my day job was mixing with Pro Tools. When I decided to quit and go all out with production I fell deeply deeply in love with Live... until things started getting serious. I'm falling in love with Logic now and the two together are priceless. Live is so much fun and so flexible and fast... until your track counts start piling up and you start stacking instruments, 5-6 automation lanes on 1 track and most importantly MIXING. I've found it gets very claustrophobic and frustrating to the point where finishing a track feels like trying to organize the electric slide in times square. That's where Logic comes in. Logic is logical, powerful and smart and is DESIGNED For major high track count projects. Live is DESIGNed for live performance - whipping up tracks on the fly. It all shows to me when I get deeper and deeper (not everybody though). In any case, starting a track is always the easiest part of making music. Live is so fun at this and so poor at finishing I almost just start making more goddamn tracks. Finishing it is always hard hard WORK. Logic pays the bills when you need to get organization, multiple windows, quick contactable automation windows as a keyboard shortcut, moving tracks vertically in the environment to visually guide you through completion. If your spending as much time as me at this, fung shui has a huge impact on how your track actually comes out in the end. Its like dating a girl. Live is sexy, hot, flexible, fun, but after a while, and after life gets serious together you start to notice things that drive you insane and and pisses you off a lot. Logic is kinda plump and serious and she wear glasses and is a neat freak, not as fun, the sex is alright but she's there for you when things are getting heavy and serious and she's flexible as hell. She will go through the necessary steps to make sure it comes out RIGHT. And no matter HOW many arguments there are out there are about sound qualty, live sounds the way it looks when you go above 30 tracks. It sounds... claustrophobic even on the bounces and I find mix levels don't always seem to be accurate with what I remembered mixing. No matter how many tests there are there's trust issues to my ears (and many more on the internet). And trust is everything when you start spending stupid amounts of time on making music. I lOVE live though, but she'll piss you off and make you lazy (probably the source of A LOT of sound issues is its so easy to throw shit in there on the fly that when your dither/sample down, it shows. But my EARS still don't trust the punchiness). I say if your serious about music, (and your not making minimal tech or shit with low track counts) go Polygamy. Learning and spending money on both pays off down the road big time. If its just for fun, than my opinion says stick to Ableton.

[esky]

Absolutly true, Super Ninja. And if Live 9 does not adress shortcomings concerning workflow, accuracy etc., i will look at other DAWs again...I'm not waiting for new plugins or new features, i want exactly what you describe Live is missing at the moment...

[Sepp Ultura]

I did two relatively big projects in Logic 8 (band recordings and mixdown) and must admit that I feel rather uncomfortable with it. Logic just feels so static and inflexible. I used to do all electronic stuff in Live and bounce it to get it into Logic, but I quickly got tired with this workflow.

I have then decided to do everything in Live and use Logic as a sample library and instrument generator only. I must say that Live's much more flexible and also more intuitive as far as mixdown is concerned. I've now finished a small project (just recordings, no electronic stuff) in Live and I'm totally happy with the workflow, and also with the result!

I will definitely keep working this way. I have now two relatively big projects coming up. Our own full length album (Post Rock/Metal) and a Pop Rock EP. I will see how that goes. I'll do everything in Live.

If you want I can post how that went.

[Supa Ninja]

With all this shit its to each his own. I know Wolfgang Gartner composes in Live and recently (through following on twitter I gathered) he started mixing in Live. And he's doing quite alright but I've seen his studio setup and he has two monitors side by side with the single Live DAW window spread across both, which I'm sure makes it less claustrophobic. (I have a laptop and haven't quite figured out how to put my monitor beside it, its above which works great for rewiring ableton to logic). He also has an analog gear orgy so probably doesn't have to do as much in the ways of stacking and all that shit us who work in the box do to compensate for thinner sounding plugs (And I have found strange phase things going on in Live when stacking instruments.. Another trust issue). Also, with my kind of work, I use LOTS of distortion and I really need the Bit Crusher for when I throw Dubstep elements in there, I need sample reduction that jitters between sample rates (which redux doesn't do). That and the #1 thing with mixing in live is that I cannot see visually see what plugs are on each track, I have to click individually through each. This drives me nuts but may go back to my Pro Tools mixing days. I'm explaining all of this cause I just wanted to re-iterate after my late night rant (where I was exhausted and PISSED) that its all to each his own, just like Sepp Ultura. But its a serious SERIOUS decision to make because learning logic takes tons of time wasted that could be used making music.

I would be curious to hear other peoples methods for using both. Do you start everything in Live and move it over to Logic? Do you just do drums and samples in Live rewired to Logic? Just the mix in Logic?

[focusrite]

I just started using my 30 day trial of Live Suite 8 and I really like it a lot. I'm not too into electronic music, I'm a guitarist and more into rock, funk, jazz... But it was definitely interest in electronic music that led me to ableton in the first place. When I started using it I was having fun with making drum loops and throwing together great sounding house tracks in twenty minutes, I loved the ease of the session view and the ability to rearrange things however you like with a click. It is literally so easy I don't know why everyone doesn't do it who likes electronic music. I couldn't listen to it without wanting to get in there and see how it is made, but I guess that is just how my mind works as a musician. Anyway getting back on topic... Then it occurred to me to try recording something more traditional, with electric guitar, bass, and midi keyboard, in the arrangement view, like a more traditional DAW would. And it actually worked out really well. The ability to just drag and select sections of tracks and move them without splitting them was really great. You can rearrange things in arrange view very fast and I got the keyboard shortcuts down quickly.

The only complaint I really have so far, is that there is no multi-take recording. That is a feature that even Garageband has.
So now I'm facing a tough decision that is the subject of this thread. Ableton or Logic?? Because I want to record in the traditional, linear way...But honestly I love the way it works in Live, except of course the lack of multi-take feature.

I think Logic probably has more to offer me in the long run. But Live probably will payoff in creative inspiration more immediately. I know that if I am serious, and I am, I will need to eventually get both. Because the way I see it these are to crucial tools for what I want to do. Oh, and the looping function in ableton seems like a great way to throw together ideas on the fly, like the ultimate looper pedal. I just need a midi foot controller...

I think I want Ableton first. But I should probably play around with Logic more before I decide. There isn't a free trial of Logic, is there?

[Saxer]

i use live for music that´s made of little fragments. repeating structures, sound mangeling, stacking, making efx... great in live!

but for compositions with longer forms, harmonic changes, polyphonic arrangements and non repeating structure, logic is my choice.

and for anything, yes anything in midi editing, live is a nightmare! if musical articulation means something for you and you use midi instruments, use logic! that concerns all kind of music that is programmed but should sound like living musicians.

[3phase]

dont forget the sound quality in mixdown in case you need to mix in a daw

[UncleAge]

The only complaint...there is no multi-take recording. That is a feature that even Garageband has.

Sad ain't it...

[hoffman2k]

The only complaint...there is no multi-take recording. That is a feature that even Garageband has.

Sad ain't it...

It has it, although it may be a bit different than in other applications.
If you record in an Arrangement loop, each take is captured in the clips that are currently recording. Each time the loop reaches its end, a new loop is added to the same Audio File.
When done recording, you can select the take you want with the loop braces, crop the file and you're done.

[Bionecteur]

Supa Ninja, this is the best statement I ever read about Live and so fucking true!

Thank!

I've been using Live for 2 years now. Before that my day job was mixing with Pro Tools. When I decided to quit and go all out with production I fell deeply deeply in love with Live... until things started getting serious. I'm falling in love with Logic now and the two together are priceless. Live is so much fun and so flexible and fast... until your track counts start piling up and you start stacking instruments, 5-6 automation lanes on 1 track and most importantly MIXING. I've found it gets very claustrophobic and frustrating to the point where finishing a track feels like trying to organize the electric slide in times square. That's where Logic comes in. Logic is logical, powerful and smart and is DESIGNED For major high track count projects. Live is DESIGNed for live performance - whipping up tracks on the fly. It all shows to me when I get deeper and deeper (not everybody though). In any case, starting a track is always the easiest part of making music. Live is so fun at this and so poor at finishing I almost just start making more goddamn tracks. Finishing it is always hard hard WORK. Logic pays the bills when you need to get organization, multiple windows, quick contactable automation windows as a keyboard shortcut, moving tracks vertically in the environment to visually guide you through completion. If your spending as much time as me at this, fung shui has a huge impact on how your track actually comes out in the end. Its like dating a girl. Live is sexy, hot, flexible, fun, but after a while, and after life gets serious together you start to notice things that drive you insane and and pisses you off a lot. Logic is kinda plump and serious and she wear glasses and is a neat freak, not as fun, the sex is alright but she's there for you when things are getting heavy and serious and she's flexible as hell. She will go through the necessary steps to make sure it comes out RIGHT. And no matter HOW many arguments there are out there are about sound qualty, live sounds the way it looks when you go above 30 tracks. It sounds... claustrophobic even on the bounces and I find mix levels don't always seem to be accurate with what I remembered mixing. No matter how many tests there are there's trust issues to my ears (and many more on the internet). And trust is everything when you start spending stupid amounts of time on making music. I lOVE live though, but she'll piss you off and make you lazy (probably the source of A LOT of sound issues is its so easy to throw shit in there on the fly that when your dither/sample down, it shows. But my EARS still don't trust the punchiness). I say if your serious about music, (and your not making minimal tech or shit with low track counts) go Polygamy. Learning and spending money on both pays off down the road big time. If its just for fun, than my opinion says stick to Ableton.