Ableton Forum

I love Live. I use it for everything production related. My question is why does Apple's Logic Pro have a reputation for being the best midi sequencer? What capabilities does it have that Ableton Live 8 lacks?

Live beats Logic for midi routing/recording options, but you get some fancy tricks with Logics midi. Better quantizing & groove options, bezier curves, group selecting and the motherload of midi mangling: the transformer

Logic's midi sounds far better than Live's.

Correct, you do get a warmth from Logic midi that Live def. does not have.

timothyallan wrote:Live beats Logic for midi routing...

Really? I thought you could route stuff all over the place in Logic's "Environment", or whatever its called.

[That was sort of a question so if I am wrong please enlighten me]

I really like Live but I have always thought its routing capabilities were lacking, or a better term might be linear.

Logic has a set of midi tools that far surpass anything Live has to offer.
The Transformer window in Logic can be used to easily create crescendo & de-crescendo, you can also use it to quickly select midi notes by specific velocity values, note values, position in a measure etc. All done in a click or two. You can create custom settings store them and use them in any project.
See the following:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/rec ... vironment/
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/pro ... er-object/

You can time stretch midi in the arrange window like you would with audio in Live, etc etc etc.
See the following:
http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/pro ... logic-pro/

Midi routing & recording is better - its similar to the Reason workflow where you patch things together. The GUI is not pretty but it should not have to be, once you get the core concepts you'll be amazed what you can do.

Logic & Live together really create the ultimate studio setup. Live is fantastic for time stretching and making fast arrangements or jamming. I even use Live as my main audio editor, its quick easy and more flexible than Peak or Audacity or any other audio editor. Final projects for me get bounced into Logic. Better automation (with curves), better in the box reverb's, synth's & FX. Logic is the opposite of Live in regards to workflow. It takes a while to get used to but once you have that A-Ha moment - you can't really go back to using any other tool. Live is a great sequencer for Logic's synths. Connect them up via IAC (Mac) or use a midi interface (on Windows) and use Lives external instrument rack and you got a killer setup for working on tracks fast!

I'm not saying one app is better than the other I'm just saying there is a strong case to use both together if you own them.

timothyallan wrote:Correct, you do get a warmth from Logic midi that Live def. does not have.

I find running my midi via a 5-pin din and through a vintage midi patch bay gives it that analogue warmth I need.

Tone Deft wrote:Logic's midi sounds far better than Live's.

Interesting....Can anyone else weigh in on this. I am always curious to find what sounds best.

Thanks for the honesty

flippo wrote:

timothyallan wrote:Correct, you do get a warmth from Logic midi that Live def. does not have.

I find running my midi via a 5-pin din and through a vintage midi patch bay gives it that analogue warmth I need.

Would you mind explaining this process a little futher for someone who is slow??

Well since MIDI is only transmitted on 3 pins, I find that I can get a nice crunchy "edge" to my MIDI sounds by removing one and only using a 4 pin din connection.

Seriously, though, Live's MIDI editing is child's play compared to the almighty behemoth known as the Environment.

If you wire Pin 4 to Pin 5 though, they sum and delivery twice the useable voltage. Basically not only are your midi notes stronger, but latency is then cut in half too. I think Monster makes cables like this already pre-wired, in case you're not handy with a soldering iron.

The Transformer is pretty awesome as well, that and Cubase's Logic Editor.

Yes, you only get the goods if you use Monster Cables and the good old serial RS232C to MIDI connectors wired to a ISA slot.

That gives the phattest MIDI sound of the lot. Madphatt MIDI performance. Less than 0.000007 picoshekels of jitter.

Cubase's Logical Editor rules. Lives non logical editor drools.

most people would dis-agree, but i ONLY use a wireless cable to record my midi data. I find that rocking out in people faces while i'm laying down a take just gives those midi notes an edge over the competition. I've even walked over to a Logic station rewired into PROTOOLS during a take to check it out and see, and turns out i was right.

I've never heard of this environment though, sounds cool. if it's as "cool" as mainstage though... meh.

Are you all serious with this talk about cables and pins? Did I miss something that obvious?

I always though Logics midi sounds better than Lives because of Lives poor warping quality

yeah. Haven't seen logic since it went apple- but even then working with automation was way easier than it is is live. The environment for max style midi processing. But some things were really technical- for instance live's arp is much easier to use