Logic Pro X 10.3 Is out with touch bar support and a cool new look!

New look, new features, new almost everything but is Logic Pro’s new version of 10.3 any good or worth upgrading?

Read all about it! Read all about it!

It’s a little over 24hrs since logic released its latest update.  If you’re not running OSX Sierra the new version of Logic won’t show up in your app updates as it’s only compatible with operating systems 10.11 and higher.

Unfortunately for me to get the update I had to upgrade to Sierra which didn’t take too long so ultimately wasn’t a big deal and everything was smooth and without issue.  It’s just going to take some time to now update all my drivers for third party software.

The first and most obvious thing you’ll notice when updating to the new version is the interface has had a make over.  Even only 24 hours in the reaction has been mixed some hate it, some love it, some simply can’t get enough of it, some think it’s all a strategic move on the part of Apple to steal away those Ableton users?  Although the official line from Apple is the new interface will help  users see a session more easily and with a crisper image in a variety of lights.  I’m hoping this is true my studio has light from glass doors and a large window so that I can get plenty of light in but it can sometime cause screen reflection, which can be very annoying.  Hopefully the new look and flatter arrange page in Logic will help with that?

Either way and what ever your view point on the look I have no doubt it won’t take long to get used to.

The good news is that everything is still pretty much in the same place.  I like the way Apple are updating Logic Pro X, they aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, more adding to and streamlining what is already a great piece of software with a ton of goodies that come with it.

What’s new in 10.3 and what should I be looking at first?

Touch Bar

The first thing you’ll want to explore is the new touch bar integration if you are on a new Macbook Pro.  This is a great addition and will help users to move quickly around a session and also make full use of their hardware taking advantage of all aspects of the Apples goodies.

Track Alternative

This is just brilliant.  As a composer I am always writing new lines, putting down new ideas and changing my mind as a piece of music develops.  Track Alternatives now give you the ability to come up with multiple ideas and set them up as Idea A, Idea B and so on, so as the music develops and progresses you can come back to an alternate idea that might have been that gem of an idea that you had first but might have initially deleted.

This is such a great new way to work and means you’ll never loose a good idea again!

Selection Based Processing

This new feature allows you to render effects plugins into a section of audio leaving you CPU power and the ability to sound design audio to your hearts content without having to load endless amounts of plugins if you don’t want to.

I have worked on so many sound design jobs where this feature would have been invaluable and I can’t wait to really test drive it when I’m next on sound design duty.  I think this feature that Logic have added is going to be very much loved!

Waveform Revealed While Editing

Not a game changer but certainly extremely useful.  I really like the fact that when you are editing a region the edited part of the region that you can’t normally see is revealed so you can see exactly what you’ve cut and fine tune the edit you are making.

This is a great idea and will certainly help to speed up work flow as you are editing and moving around a LPX session.

True Stereo Panning!

Some might say ‘game changing’ for Logic X users I’ll just say thanks Apple!  This is a very nice addition, to truly pan a stereo image in Logic Pro.  Before you would have to load the Direction Mixer to get ‘proper’ panning.  The stereo pan on the track channel before simply turned the volume down on the left channel if you were moving it to the right and vice-versa if you were going to the left.  With True Stereo Panning you can now change the width or the stereo field, like you can with the Direction Mixer, and then move the whole field to a position across the stereo image.

Why is this great?  For a number of reasons but a big one is for orchestral music.  You could for example take a string section with 4 violin tracks, 4 viola tracks and the cellos and basses, create Track Stacks for each part of the section and then use True Stereo Panning to place each one in the exact position you’d find them in the orchestra.  Of course for panning in the stereo field this is a great addition and will be useful for all forms of music from club, EDM, film and well just about anything!

There are so many new updates that you really can call this new version of Logic Pro X 10.3 a major update.

If anyone was worried about Apply shelving Logic I think this update proves the future of DAWs at least will include LPX as a major part of the pro music making market for a long time to come.

If you’d like to learn more about all of the updates you can read through the release notes on the Apple website.  There’s a lot to get through so grab a cuppa and give yourself plenty of time to go through all those bullet points from the Logic X release note page!

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203718

If you’d like to learn how to master in Logic Pro and make use of the new 64bit processing engine with your great sounding music you can learn more about mastering in logic here