Live & Logic

[andy663]

I already own Ableton Live 8 and am looking at purchasing a synthesiser, I have downloaded a few demo's etc but would like some advice as to what people think I should do. As a student I can get hold of the following Synths for these prices:

£70 Fabfilter Twin 2
£155 Zebra2
£160 Massive
£160 FM8
£160 Absynth

However I recently found that I can buy Logic 9 for £120, which obviously comes with a drum synthesiser, a few normal synthesisers, and a sample based synthesiser, Aswel as many effects etc. This would mean learning a new DAW but I don't think that this would be too much of a problem.

I have also heard that logic "sounds" better but am not sure how much truth there is in this.

What are your guys opinions on what I should do?

Cheers,

Andy

[damagedgoods]

I have also heard that logic "sounds" better but am not sure how much truth there is in this.

*bangs head against wall*

[oblioblioblio]

I have also heard that logic "sounds" better but am not sure how much truth there is in this.

*bangs head against wall*

I have been curious about this recently. I haven't found any objective truth about it.

Are all decent daw's created near enough equal?

[Daemonix]

If I were you: FM8 or Logic! If you like how you work with Live go for the FM8

[oblioblioblio]

about original post. it's too hard to predict what is best for you. I struggle even to work out what's best for me.

There's something to be said for limiting yourself to only a restricted set of tools. e.g. opnly using logic native effects (which I'm guessing are of decent quality).

I think Zebra and Fabfilter Twin are really interesting and useable software synths.

There's no major rush. Work thru demos of each and see how the different programs feel to you.

[thomasjaldemark]

I would say, get logic. Theres dozens of synths and great effects built-in that would be more bang for the buck.. 120 is fairly cheap!

Its not that different from live, watch some tutorials and the you're got to go.

[damagedgoods]

I have also heard that logic "sounds" better but am not sure how much truth there is in this.

*bangs head against wall*

I have been curious about this recently. I haven't found any objective truth about it.

Are all decent daw's created near enough equal?

As far as basic DAW audio facilities are concerned, yes. As far as EQs, FX, facilities, workflow etc are concerned obviously not. Don't underestimate the psychological effect of working on a DAW with a pretty (or ugly, or streamlined, or brushed metal looking, etc) GUI.

By basic DAW audio facilities, what I mean is that you can be pretty damn sure three identical audio channels mixed in Logic and Ableton are gonna sound exactly the same, and that both DAWs will have a decent amount of mixing headroom before you get any kind of degradation. Not unlimited headroom, but with Ableton for example, we're talking 60 dB or so before you get any more than quantization noise (see http://www.mnml.nl/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=53646 for a more detailed account). The effect at that point is not subtle, but who runs their channels 60dB into the red?

To answer the original poster - to me, it's a tradeoff between workflow and, well, not much. Some people feel that Logic's instruments, plugins, fx, EQ etc are better and offer better features than Ableton, but personally I never really enjoyed Logic's workflow and I'm satisfied enough with the sounds I get out of Ableton for there not to be any real contest. I mean, you can always use 3rd party plugins if you're not happy with the ones you've got (although obviously price comes into play).

Anyway, I'm no Ableton snob - if you like working with Logic then by all means go for it. But please don't do so on the grounds that it has a better sounding mixer.

[andy663]

I do quite like live, and quite like the demo of FM8, however FM8 costs £160, and part of me thinks Ill be getting much better value if I go with logic?