Logic Pro on the iPad

[burpgun]

Until such time as someone else comes up with an alternative to Drummer, I'm stuck on Logic. If it goes subscription then so it goes... I'd possibly already be on Live or Cubase or maybe back to Digital Performer if I had any choices. Don't get me wrong- Logic is wonderful. But I'd like the choice to leave the Apple ecosystem.

As someone who has probably fixated more over getting drums right than any other element in my recordings, it's pretty wild how good the Drummer software is. Key for me is to make sure it follows another more organic element in the recording, and to take what ever files Drummer puts on the timeline and route them to different beat software. Drummer also solves one of the hardest parts of programming, and that's fills.

Out of curiousity what different beat software do you route drummer tracks to?

I must be in the minority who like the Logic kits as they are, but I guess I don't have that much of a tuned ear when it comes to a good drum sound.

I route the MIDI to Reason, which has improved a lot in two key ways: One, it's now Apple Silicon native, and two, you can use it as an AU rather than have to battle with rewire. At this point the only thing I use in Reason, and I'm an owner since V1, are its various drum sound sources. I've been a big fan of what I think is called its Drum Refill, which I bought separately a long time ago. Lots of acoustic drum sounds, lots of routing and mixing options, it's been my go to for many years now. Redrum is also cool for more electronic sounds and you can route the MIDI there too, so you can keep all programming in Logic. I've started messing around with the Logic kits and they're pretty good too, if that's all you had you'd be fine.

[mediocreplayer]

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Thank you so much guys! Very helpful. I might try Superior Drummer (though Larry's complaint about not being able to upgrade seems like a big red flag)

I route the MIDI to Reason, which has improved a lot in two key ways: One, it's now Apple Silicon native, and two, you can use it as an AU rather than have to battle with rewire. At this point the only thing I use in Reason, and I'm an owner since V1, are its various drum sound sources. I've been a big fan of what I think is called its Drum Refill, which I bought separately a long time ago. Lots of acoustic drum sounds, lots of routing and mixing options, it's been my go to for many years now. Redrum is also cool for more electronic sounds and you can route the MIDI there too, so you can keep all programming in Logic. I've started messing around with the Logic kits and they're pretty good too, if that's all you had you'd be fine.

Fantastic! I also use and love Reason despite its handicaps. I started using it in V3 and have always found it to be the most fun software for making music. When I open Logic I feel I am in Business Mode and should get stuff done immediately; Reason is much more of a playground, and the combo of R12 inside Logic is the closest thing to a perfect system. I also have the drum refills so will give that a go. Thanks!

[mcatano]

Reason is a truly under-appreciated piece of software IMO.
It is truly terrible at one thing (recording and editing multitrack audio), but for me it's an incredible songwriting tool and the best approximation of analog mixing ITB.

The built in synths sound incredible, redrum is a gift for quickly getting vintage-style drum machine parts up and running quickly, the more advanced samplers are bananas, and the SSL-approximation is a joy.

[Embenny]

Well, I route Drummer tracks usually out to an acoustic drum sampler like BFD, but BFD isn't working on M chip Macs that I can find. So I decided to fire up Superior Drummer but I only have 2, and there's no upgrade path to 3, which pissed me off so I won't do business with them. So then I decided to get Steven Slate Drums, I don't love them a whole lot, really. But even they aren't working as of yesterday, so I guess I have to troubleshoot that.

I didn't know that about SD2, that's kinda lame.

I will say, though, that as someone who came in with SD3, I've been impressed by their backwards compatability with older sample packs as well as ones designed for EZDrummer. They all work with SD3. So I guess that, even if I have to pay full price for SD4 some day, I'll be okay with that as long as all my expansion packs for EZDrummer and SD3 continue to work with it.

I agree that BFD has followed a weird path. It was my first drum sample library I ever bought, and when I went to check if I could upgrade to a newer version, I couldn't figure out if it still existed at all. It seems that it does, currently, but they seem to have taken a bit of a zigzag path to where they are today.

In any case, it's a shame you've been soured on SD because it really is an amazing piece of software.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, I love the sounds in BFD 3, but I just checked, there's still no support for M1 Macs. Geist is also dead in the water.

I just went on the BFD forum, and there's a couple people asking if there's any future for BFD. There's a nice enough guy there who seems to be the owner and he is saying that there will be M1 support at some point but they are working on "other projects". No fucking idea.

They seem to have one product now and it's not working on M1 computers and those aren't exactly new. So people on the new chipset are just sitting there unable to open older projects while they develop new stuff. This is not inspiring. I am getting the idea that when BFD split from FXPansion that there was a pretty big hit on the budget and talent.

I mean, BFD was the original product that FXpansion was formed to sell. All the other stuff came later. So none of this seems like a good thing to me.

Take a look here- all the forum history pertaining to Geist has been deleted during the split, I guess, and two years ago someone posted asking if the software is still in production. No one has answered this person.

This is what it looks like when a software company fails.

Maybe I just suck it up and have to deal with Toontrack, Steven Slate Drums are not at all inspiring to me.

[northern_dirt]

Yeah, I love the sounds in BFD 3, but I just checked, there's still no support for M1 Macs. Geist is also dead in the water.

I just went on the BFD forum, and there's a couple people asking if there's any future for BFD. There's a nice enough guy there who seems to be the owner and he is saying that there will be M1 support at some point but they are working on "other projects". No fucking idea.

They seem to have one product now and it's not working on M1 computers and those aren't exactly new. So people on the new chipset are just sitting there unable to open older projects while they develop new stuff. This is not inspiring. I am getting the idea that when BFD split from FXPansion that there was a pretty big hit on the budget and talent.

I mean, BFD was the original product that FXpansion was formed to sell. All the other stuff came later. So none of this seems like a good thing to me.

Take a look here- all the forum history pertaining to Geist has been deleted during the split, I guess, and two years ago someone posted asking if the software is still in production. No one has answered this person.

This is what it looks like when a software company fails.

Maybe I just suck it up and have to deal with Toontrack, Steven Slate Drums are not at all inspiring to me.

Didn't the company that makes the Seaboard RISE products buy BFD and its pieces?
Yeah, id never buy anythng from Steve Slate... Even if hes moved on from the brand.
His douchery has made me stop my network from buying any of his products.. I just wanna smack him in the face.
EDIT: Dont get me wrong, Im a huge douche.. but I dont like it in others..
Like I get compared to Tarantino when I talk.. and I just wanna run him over with a truck. granted ive liked his
newer output.. as long as I dont have to hear him speak...