the other thing is Rags, the apple loops business which'd be new to you but i think it was in pro 7 wasn't it?
well, cakewalk sonar users have had this for ages and it's pretty similar, but i like how it's organised
in fact oddly you were asking if it's gone 'ableton'.. if anything it seems quite cakewalk-y almost.. lol... anyways Sonar does surge along in leeps and bounds, they've some amazing stuff now like piano rool edit inplace on the arrange page etc
but i digress... the apple loops is quite simple
trim any bit of audio on the arrange page or sample editor.. . for a loop, then set the right number of loop bars for the loop and adjust the temp globaly to match the loop.. the use REGION and create an Apple Loop
choose one-shot or loop, dategory, name it etc, and it's done
then if you import it to the track and change tempo, it adjusts to match
the alorithm is very smooth - say speeding a live drummer loop done in the studio (an overhead mic track I used) speeded down to 110 from 125, quite smooth and instant slow groove!
it's nothing new but fast and best of all there is this show/hide media browser on the right which has a great library applet for the potentialy hundreds of thousands of loops
it's decent media tracking and management at the flick of a switch
thats as far as i've got with it, but now i've had the chance to use it at my leisure instead of in an apple store visit, it's pretty damned good
also of course the dvd contents which cant fit on this piddling 9.something h/d
contaisn fucking thousands of these loops, and actualy while nothing super new it's good content for media people, jingles, and all that sort of work to get instant 'real playing' loops of a huge variety of instruments including absolutely shitloads of 'ethnic' ones
add that to the massive EXS library and drum library..... no dongle, 300 quid
it's SONAR!!!!!!!!... i knew it!
oh yeah, there's 2 big new synths - wel they are new to me anyways having used V 6Pro a little and not having explored the thing much cos iw as working using it and couldnt play
one is a modeller thing i think and the other is like a much bigger ES2, there's also an fm synth, bass and guitar modelling plugs (inc cab sims)
anyways, now i've got a proper pc mouse bunged on it I realise it's actualy the bloody mac mouse i've always hated i think... even on this old G4 crate it feels easier and zippier using Logic than on the 8 core mac pro in the store! it is very different, feels like a PC now just cos of the mouse which sounds weird, but it does, odd.
Logic 8 is bugged apparently in a couple of major places, but everything i've done so far with it seems solid.. it's really no different to 5 with a PC mouse and it's WAY better than Pro 6!.... It's just got better organised menus and media browsing, better plugins, and more of them, plus the included media, great drumbox!!!! seriously, not as nice a grid as battery not as nicea gui or to load etc as battery or bfd or LM Linplugs etc, looks a tad cluttered and i think the text and bits are too small, but the synthesis section is excellent and it's got multiouts galore!! and that TRX0X style drumgrid pattern creator-player
ultrabeat either shows it's synth controls and you use a front horizontal X0X style on/off light row to programme it, or you can flip to top synth bit away and reveal drum x0x horiz grid lanes for all the drums!
thats really cool.. you can also adjust stuff per-note along with the note on/off
anyways mate i think you'd dig it, .. needs a mac tho, but i tell ya after 24 hours living with osx and logic..... i think it's gotta be done sadly cos Vista REALLY looks like it's going nowhere doesnt it? (mebbe not) and i would like to go above 1.5gb of ram!
Also PRO 8 can archive whole songs inc all audio, patches, samples etc (has done this since pro6).... i dunno about you but the amount of logic songs I have strewn across my networks is crazy, but if you move something then Logic looses it and cant load song items.. a total nightmare which archiving would sort for me like a dream
i'm starting to see a very cutdown system.. an almost silent work machine with just a small onboard drive and a couple of terrabyte firewire storage disks on a network.. sorted!
really mate if you have spent years fiddling with pc's, mac's now are just an ibm pc with a different OS... it's pretty easy - it's a very clean OS man, really good gui and looks more crisply in focus than xp somehow.. i'm using like an 8 year old HP 14" flat @ 75hz | 1024 x 768 and it's crisp as anything, and the OSX even had a driver onboard for the exact make/model monitor! lol
if i can manage to get it to do a screen capture AND very basic stuff in logic i'll knock up a little video and show you round it as another 'ex V5 die hard'
yipee kiyay!
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I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!