Ableton Forum

Hi all!

Bear with me on this...longish post, serious question.

I have had Live 5 (5.2 now) for a while now but due to the need to really focus on finishing my Honours thesis I haven't really used it much yet. Well, hardly at all actually!

But all that is now over and I am looking to get stuck into music. But I have a problem.

As with many people, money is tight. I have been concerned that maybe I need one of the 'big' DAW packages while I have some money so when I got my new Intel iMac I got talked into buying Logic Pro while I could still buy it at Edu price. Now, I am thinking...have I done the right thing? (I can still send it back, but I have to decide quickly)

I really want some hardware instruments (couple of small analogue or VA synths and maybe a guitar...I am a guitar player) as I feel better with hardware in the performance setup plus feels more intuitive when fooling around looking for song ideas. Now I am thinking, have I blown my hardware budget on software I don't need?

I do want a decent sonwriting studio setup with a good vocal recording setup...this will come later. So do I need Logic Pro in this scenario as a MUST HAVE? Or could Live do most of this? I won't ever be recording more than one or two external inputs at a time most likely but I do want flexibility.

Music styles cover Electronica, ambient, industrial, and dance genres ! Thanks.

I don't own Logic Pro (or anything which compares to it) and I get by fine.

Well, really this is a question only you can answer - you have Logic, so try and use it the way you see fit

then do that with Ableton

which one works better for you?

also check out http://osxaudio.com


but speaking of who needs what, why and when

my boy just got a new PC computer - he really likes this one program call making waves

he's had the computer for little under a month - with just Making Waves he's already produced a super duper jam which is getting remixed by a couple heavy hitters in the techno scene

So I left him a comment on myspace that said something about Making Waves - he denied my comment

he said he didn't want people to think he was using a "lesser" "not pro" program to make his music, he thought people would think less of his music because he's using something that doesn't fit into the PRO category

I was like, that's the beauty of it - you're using something no one has heard of and your blowing a lot of people's music out of the water

that's what I'm saying here - it's up to you, only you have the correct answer to your question

I think youd be better off with live.

you can do pretty much the same things as Logic (just remember to take warp off of certain elements that you want to keep humanized, like vocals and what not)

i find it more appealing to compose music in, takes a while to get the feel for it, but once you do its addicting.

personally i used to compose music in logic before.and this is less strenuous for me.
i used to also bounce down Live sessions and mix in Pro Tools(which could be cool if you wanna do some last mini audio suite fx on the actual recording and chop more)
but all that chopping mess can be down in live too(arrangement window)

as I learn more and more of Live, I see i really dont need Logic or Pro Tools (except for movie scoring, as Elijah B Torn expalined to me, if your scoring and the movie start Bar 1 Beat 1, you cant change it, so that the music coming in on Bar 1 Beat 1, will be say 3 seconds into the film....prolly didnt make sense, he explains it better)

besides that im liking all the shit in Live and resampling takes me back to my mpc days, so i dont run a ton of fx, simultaneously, ill get a sound i like then resample it as its own audio file(saves cpu power, just no changin back)


whew......

forgive me for my essay and/or thesis

i like logic's space reverb(the best to me, ever)

but if it were me, id return it and use the money for virtual instruments, or upgrade to live 6 get operator, and sampler and if i could afford more, a virtual instrument from another company(like Massive)


hope this helps.

let us know what happend

peace.

Adonis wrote: that's what I'm saying here - it's up to you, only you have the correct answer to your question

word adonis.

First things first. Upgrade to Live 6.

Next, what other third-party plugs do you have? If you have good instruments/effects, Logic may not be necessary.

I have Logic, and wouldn't get rid of it for two reasons: One- I think apple will do something cool with it in the future and I'll wish I hadn't sold it (probably wouldn't get that much anyways). And two- excellent bundle of effects and instruments. I particularly like the reverbs (especially space designer), EQ, and certain instruments like sculpture and es2. But the whole suit is top-notch. Things I make in Logic just end up sounding better, but that's probably the habits I have there compared to the habits I have in Live. Logic also has the guitar amp pro, and is well suited for recording live instruments. But with third-party stuff, you could do just as well in Live I reckon.

So it depends how much you spent on Logic, and what could be bought in place of it to use with Live.

Hope that helps,

grb

Thanks Guys!

Adonis, I hear you! That is why I posted...I needed some sensible feedback to help me get things into perspective because I won't have any money for quite a while after this lot has gone. I wanted to be fully set up, so to speak.

The trouble is, I just don't have much software experience, so I am finding it hard to 'visualise' how these apps will fit in to my needs, (I know Live will). Haven't been able to try Logic.

I think I will send it back! I feel like I have bought the 'Supersized Mac meal deal' just in case I wanted more! (No, I don't eat MacDonalds anymore! )

I wish i could say, yeah take it back but you probably got it at a good price $399 educational right?

it's worth it to try but on the real - Ableton can handle pretty much what you throw at it and it's a lot of fun to use ;)

Adonis wrote:I wish i could say, yeah take it back but you probably got it at a good price $399 educational right?

it's worth it to try but on the real - Ableton can handle prettymuch what you throw at it and it's a lot of fun to use

see i went thru this phase, where i wanted to use logic, because a teacher at my skool went platinum (as assistant engineer) on brandy's lp, missy elliot's own and others. he's a devout logic person even taught us a class, then my boy had given me reason didnt like it, then made beats again on mpc, then went to reason bought power tools for reason 3.0,and became a reason freak, was given a demo of live5 didnt like it at first. then went back to live and swear by it now, then another supervisor at skool makes d'n'b/hiphop/glitch and uses pro tools so i was fallin into the jump on PT bandwagon, ordered my free xpand! plug in from digidesign(which i get today) but then these past 2 days i made some shit (like how i was thinkin of doin in PT) on Live, and said where theres a will theres a way. I stick by my guns on Live after all this program jumpy jumps....now i just try to beef up live with virtual instruments and makin my own sounds and whatnot.

i hope that wasnt off topic.

@glitchrock-buddha and contra...I also have stylus rmx and absynth3 (not sure why I got Absynth)

I was looking at getting Arturia Analogue factory or Minimoog, and/or Kontakt, to round things out before the 'Logic incident' happened!.

OR... maybe a Nord lead 2x instead of all the software. (not much more than Logic Pro!)

I am used to having pro gear in the past! (guitars/amps etc) so I sort of think that way but without the budget now!

earthloop wrote:@glitchrock-buddha and contra...I also have stylus rmx and absynth3 (not sure why I got Absynth)

I was looking at getting Arturia Analogue factory or Minimoog, and/or Kontakt, to round things out before the 'Logic incident' happened!.

OR... maybe a Nord lead 2x instead of all the software. (not much more than Logic Pro!)

I am used to having pro gear in the past! (guitars/amps etc) so I sort of think that way but without the budget now!

well if thas whut your comfortable with go for it(external hardware.)
you could always record into Live withit.

andd the analogue factory is also a dope move. get all 1970's on that ass.

if, as it seems you're saying, you haven't had a chance yet to really work with either, i'd vote live -- the learning curve is way less steep for live than logic.

For what it's worth, I decided to sell my copy of Logic Pro 7 after buying Live 6. That was about two months ago (or whenever 6 was released), and I haven't regretted my decision yet.

Really the only things I might miss are the bundled instruments and fx. But if you ask me, all the interesting fx in Live are much more inspirational and fun to play with anyways. And with the new racks, you can create some pretty bad ass instruments in Live just stacking up a few simplers and/or operators.

I can appreciate the depth of Logic, but I just couldn't see myself using it anymore after buying Live. Going from concept to finished song is about 20x faster in Live than in Logic.

After all, all the nice fx and instruments in world don't mean a thing if you're not having fun making music. And I sure have a lot more fun making music in Live than I did in Logic.

Contra wrote: get all 1970's on that ass.

Hehe...now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!!!

well, a bit of this an that as well!

reax wrote:For what it's worth, I decided to sell my copy of Logic Pro 7 after buying Live 6. That was about two months ago (or whenever 6 was released), and I haven't regretted my decision yet.


After all, all the nice fx and instruments in world don't mean a thing if you're not having fun making music. And I sure have a lot more fun making music in Live than I did in Logic.

Thanks reax. Yes, I was worried about spending the next 6 months just learning to use live and logic (not to mention getting used to the mac...new user here! ) onstead of making music!

For gods sake...I just finished 5 years of university!!!!! I need a break!