Logic Express frustrations, Garageband Joys

Every time I sit down and really try to dive into Logic I get frustrated, close the program, and use Garageband instead. I think I am starting to hate Logic and regret my purchase.... It feels like the most counter-intuitive program I have ever used to record music. I've used Cubase for years to record live acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, bass, sequenced keys and drums, rewired it with Reason, all with no troubles. With Logic I can't even figure out how to get a guitar signal into the *&%! thing. Can anyone recommend a good tutorial website or book? The Logic manual/helpfiles are not easy to figure out at all with no real "getting started" tutorial. I'm very close to selling my copy on eBay!

I switched from Cubase when Logic was first out the door with an OS X version. Then I was invested into it. I agree that Logic Express is far more complicated than it needs to be. Take a look at Final Cut Express. Apple took a very complex feature set and created an interface that made it manageably easy to use in a fairly short period of time.
After using Logic for about two months (and yes, I read the manual, printed portions of the full-blown help files, bought two videos and a good 3rd party manual), I walked away from it.
About a year later, I gave it another try. I started from scratch, followed the tutorials in Martin Sitter's Logic Pro and Logic Express book, and learned it step by step. I am still learning, but now that I've got the basics, I am really glad I have the program. I only wish I had the dough to upgrade to Pro.
One thing I have learned in the process: if you can think of something you want to do with your studio, either hardware or software, Logic probably has a way to do it. It might not be the easiest way, but it is there.

Similar Messages

I am trying to connect Garritan Personal Symphony to Logic Express and Garageband. A dialog box pops up and asks for plugin Garritan-P. Where do I find it and what do I do with it. I can't locate this plugin doing searches on any of the porgrams.

I am trying to connect Garritan Personal Symphony to Logic Express and Garageband. A dialog box pops up and asks for plugin Garritan-P. Where do I find it and what do I do with it. I can't locate this plugin doing searches on any of the porgrams.

I'm not sure which version of Garritan Personal Orchestra you have or when you are getting a window pop-up, but check this link for starters:
http://afjohnston.blogspot.com/2009/11/using-garritan-personal-orchestra-gpo.htm l

Can you make iPhone ringtones (M4R) in Logic Express without GarageBand 08?

Can you make iPhone ringtones (M4R) in Logic Express without GarageBand 08?
If so how?
Thanks,
Ed

Not exactly ... while you can make a ringtone with any application that you would like, Soundtrack Pro 2 and Logic do not have a conversion to the ringtone format. Mv4R or something like that. GarageBand does.
I answered my own question I guess
Thanks anyway,
Ed

Loops in Logic Express

First of all I best say that I am new to Logic Express and Garageband, in fact the Mac thing so forgive the basic nature of this post. I have had some funny goings on with my mac since a failed software install so I decided to rebuild everything including the OS. Having re-installed Garageband and Logic Express I find most of the loops are missing. Some are there but all drum loops and others have gone. I tried to look up options to see if there is a tick box to install them but nothing. If I look in library, the loop directory is also missing. Can anyone suggest anything?
Thanks
Tetleyted

Thanks for the reply. took a look but the directory structure as follows: HD/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/User Loops (Apple doesn't exist. I have a feeling that garageband and Logic Express hasn't completed the install. I have tried to re-run it but the same thing happened - no loops. Any suggestions welcomed.

How do you add Jam Packs to the Logic Express 8 Loop Library?

I'm new to both Logic Express and Jam Packs. I just installed the new Voices Jam Pack and it is installed in the audio folder in my user library but it isn't recognized by logic, since the loops don't show up in the loop browser. I do not know how to add them to my loop library so if anybody knows how to add them I would greatly appreciate any advice. Also, when I installed logic express, my garageband loop library disappeared; is this just because all the loops were converted to a new format for logic to use?

Simply drag & drop your Voices Jam Pack folder into the LE8 loops browser and they will be indexed and added to the library. See page 644 in the manual for more information.
Re: GarageBand loops, you can check your HD/Library/Audio and your ~/Libray/Audio for all your Apple loops to make sure you still have your GB loops in either .aif or .caf formats. I still have both versions on my iMac, but if I remember correctly, when I installed LE8 I created a new folder for Apple loops in order to preserve my originals. Once you find your GB loops, try dragging & dropping them into GB's loop browser. If their format was changed perhaps GB just needs you to point to them.

Channel strip inserts Logic Express 7.2.3

When I click on the inserts of an Audio Inst track channel strip I may choose Instruments from Logic Express, GarageBand, and Jam Packs 2,3 and 4. When I try this on an Audio Track the insert offers only the Logic Express and GarageBand Instruments but no Jam Packs. After reading ALL the pdf manuals and the M Sitter book, and spending 3 hours every day the last 6 months reading this forum I still don't know the current corrrect file paths for the garageBand and Logic Express 7.2.3 or the Jam Packs 2,3 and4. At the local Apple Store I was shown a version of Logic Express which had ALL these Jam Packs in BOTH types of Audio/Audio Inst tracks.
Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.8) M-Audio 49e USBMIDI Controller

Jam Packs contains loops and instruments, not channel strips. To view your loops go to Audio>Loop Browser. Then you will be able to view all of you JamPacks loops. Also, JamPacks contains new software instruments. To use the software instruments that come with jampacks, go to a software instrument track, then use the EXSP4 sample player as the I/O for the track. Navigate down to GarageBand and the instruments from jampacks should be there. It's not something that really stands out. It's just that it increases the number of instruments by a lot. And with the loops, you can sort out just the jampacks loops to see what it offers.
Matt

Logic Express for podcasting?

Hi all,
I'm really new to the podcasting thing and am trying to research podcasting software for my workplace. They're getting a Mac Pro and obviously it'll have Garageband but they want another step up. How is Express for podcast editing? My workplace will mostly be creating interview podcasts, possibly some videopodcasts down the line and maybe some audio slide shows.
Does anyone know if it enables users to create the XML feed, RSS feeds easily? I'm also looking into Adobe Soundbooth and would do iPodcast Producer but it is PC-only.
Any suggestions are welcomed.

I'm new to logic Express but Garageband is pretty good for podcast and easy enough for anyone to use. You may want to give it a look first.

Do people who use Logic Express 9 still have uses for Garageband?, Do people who use Logic Express 9 still have uses for Garageband?

Does Logic Express 9 make Garageband obsolete? Is there anything you can do in Garageband that you can't do or wouldn't want to do in Logic Express 9?

Does Logic Express 9 make Garageband obsolete?
Depends on what you want to do. If you are new to DAWs and just want to make simple songs without having to learn about the finer points of tracking & mixing, then Garageband is perfect. If you want to get serious about recording, engineering & mixing, then Logic Express & ultimately Logic Studio will be far more useful.
Is there anything you can do in Garageband that you can't do or wouldn't want to do in Logic Express 9?
Yes: create your first song without getting so frustrated you feel like murdering someone.

Opening GarageBand project in Logic Express 9.

Just loaded Logic Express 9. Trying to open GarageBand project I get "Sorry, can't load this project because it is created by a newer Logic Express version. Please update Logic Express." I was under the impression that any GB project could be opened in LE9. Any suggestions?

You don't specify but have you updated LE to v.9.1.7?
Sometimes Logic can be a little picky as to how you open the song file, so if one method doesn't work, try another. For example:
1) Drag the GB file onto the LE icon.
2) Right-click on the GB file and choose "open with Logic Express."
3) Select the GB file from Logic's Browser tab in the Media window on the right.
I'm assuming that you already tried File>Open from the LE menu bar.
Once you do manage to open your GB file inside LE you will be required to save it as a Logic file.

Opening Garageband Project In Logic Express

I have successfully opened / saved a garageband project in Logic Express and everything seems to have come over fine. In the arrange window, the 'Input' button is highlighted on many tracks (the button next to mute, solo, etc.). Should the 'Input' be selected or de-slected? It seems like its automatically sending it to a Bus. Any suggestions / basic ground rules?

Well, the Input monitoring button activated live input monitoring. So, if it is activated (and you have selected input monitoring in the preferences, of course), Logic will pick up any audio signal coming in via the selected inputs and feeds it into the channelstrip, even if it's not running. You can also play along without recording. Recording, however, activates monitoring either way.
Maybe you have an open mic, which might produce feedback or other disturbing noises. Turn off input monitoring (and disarm record, of course) to mute the live input monitoring.
Basically, only the channels you need to hear should have Input monitoring activated.
Fox

Logic Express takes 4-6 hours to load a Garageband project!??!!

When I open projects I have made with Garage Band in Logic Express, it takes 4-6 hours to load the song. Thats obviously not the way it is supposed to be.
On another machine I have Logic Pro. There opening a Garageband project is fast -30 sec or so.
Maybe I am crying for help? Or maybe there is something wrong with the software?
I have all my Garageband instruments on the startup volume, while I have most of my loops on another volume. That works just fine with Garageband. It also works fine with Logic Pro under 10.3.9.
The Garageband loops are on an external USB disk, and this hard disk is spinning constantly during those hours. Logic Express puts up messages like "Loading Audio Files for "Cellos.exs"" during this time. Incidentally Logic Express is not responding during this time, The above dialog say one can press command period to cancel the operation, but that does not work. All that is working is killing the application process.
The above behaviour occurs wether I have any loops in the project or not.
Is there a solution to this? Having all loops on the startup volume is not possible.

Thank you very much 'Windham Hillbilly'.
Yes, saving the song as an archive from GarageBand gives fast loading in Logic Express, fully comparable to my Logic Pro loading of non archive songs.
So, this takes care of the issue for me.
Now, if there really should be a 4-6 hour load time in the first place is a different matter.

Garageband and Logic Express 7.2.. HELP ME!

Hello,
I have had my secondhand mac for a week. It came with Garageband08 and I have just bought Logic Express 7.2 to have some fun with
Needless to say I am completely new to this ans have a few problems..
Can anyone please tell me how I get Garageband to recognize the Apple Loops/Jam Packs that came with Logic Express as they don't seem to pull though in the Virtual Instrument browser or the Apple Loops
Also, even before I bought Logic Express some loops seem to be duplicated. I guess this means they are stored in two different folders - where is the best place to store them (and which folder should I look to delete)
Plus.. when I pull up the loop browser it says I have 600 odd loops, but the scroll down box shows barely half that amount?
Lastly, I have a few Prosamples cd's - where do I store these so they pull through into Apple Loops (this may help the problem above)
Any and all advice given to this newbie would be REALLY APPRECIATED!!

Can anyone give me a few pointer on how to rewire
ableton with le7.2??
The problem i have is that rewire DOES show up in the
environment page, but i just dont know where to start
from there. I always get intimmidated by that
environment thing in logic.
First, you don't need to do anything with the Environment if you don't need to send MIDI TO Live. If all you want is to get audio FROM Live, follow these instructions:
1. Create a new track in the Arrange window. You should be given the option to create a ReWire track. If so, select it. Your new track appears in the arrange.
2. In the parameters window on the left of screen, you'll see a value called "Channel". Click and hold, then select "Audio", then "Rewire", then "Ableton Live", then "Mix L/R"
3. Now launch Live. Any audio you play should be piped into Logic via the channel you created.
If you need to control Live via MIDI from Logic, all you need to do is create a Rewire object in the Environment, call it "Live", and change the "Device" parameter (again in the parameters box on the left of the screen) to "Live" and change the "Bus" parameter to whatever device you want to control within Live (or Reason, or any other Rewire slave). This is detailed on page 238-239 of the Logic Pro manual, which is available here (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/LogicPro7_ReferenceManual.pdf).
Sorry that I'm not in front of Logic at the moment, and some of the names of things might be slightly different. But this should get you started.

Garageband sounds vs Logic Express

Hi All,
I'm new here and I apologize if this has been covered in an existing post. I've searched a lot and not found an answer to my specific question...
I've read that the loops that come with Logic Express sound better than those that come with Garageband. I understand that Logic's instruments sound better. I'm thinking about upgrading to Logic Express for this reason (and others).
But what I would like to know, is upon upgrading to Logic Express, will my existing Garageband loops sound any better?
If a Garageband loop is just a simple audio sample, then I wouldn't expect any improvement. But if the loop is based on a MIDI instrument - then would it make sense that Logic could provide a better "engine" for all those existing instruments?
To take it one step further, how do the Jam Packs apply to this? I'm thinking of getting one of them. If the instruments in the Jam Pack only sound as good as Garageband instruments, then is it really worth getting it if you have Logic?
Any advice is much appreciated!
macboook core 2 duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Hi noeqplease
I think my problem is that I still don't understand exactly what makes up a "loop".
If a loop is just an audio sample, then I understand why it will sound the same using any software. I also understand that Logic will be able to get more out of that sample - because it has more tools to apply to that sample.
However, take a look at this quote from the following Jam Pack review article:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/reviewof_garagebandjampacks.htm
"In a typical Jam Pack you get loops AND audio instruments. The "blue" loops are straight audio loops and are typically of high quality. They can be stretched, compressed, effected, like any other audio track. But the "green" loops in the browser are actually an audio instruments with a MIDI track associated."
After reading that, it sounds like some loops are really just MIDI files which point to a certain instrument. Therefore, if you get all new (and better) instruments with Logic, then maybe all those loops will sound better.
So here's where I ask again:
-is it true that some loops aren't hard samples, but rather depend on the quality of your instrument synthesizer?
-if so, will installing Logic make those loops sound better? (i.e. does Logic have better instruments to use for all the old Garageband loops? - OR does Logic only provide new and better instruments for the new loops included with Logic?)
-if so, what % of Jam Pack loops are "green" and would get the benefit of being used with Logic vs GB?
thanks again!!
macboook core 2 duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Garageband Files on Logic Express and vice versa

My daughter uses Logic Express at school (sorry, I don't know which version). She has been trying to do her homework on our eMac (OS 10.3.9) using Garageband 1 and her M-Audio midi/usb keyboard via USB.
Her teacher says that Garageband files should work fine with Logic Express and vice versa.
The problem is they don't. We have tried importing files, also saving in one programme and opening in the other - all to no avail.
Presumably we are doing something wrong somewhere. Does anyone know how to get Logic Express to use Garageband 1 files and vice versa, please?
One more point of information, she saves the files to a 'PikaOne Slim Flycase' 40gb Portable HD to take to school to use on an Apple Laptop type computer (Powerbook?). Both home and school machines appear to be working perfectly with this device.
She also has some software called 'Logic Hit Kit' but I don't think this is has anything to do with Logic Express. It's files do not work with Logic Express either
PM6500/300 (603e) Mac OS 9.1.x

That is correct, and you still have your level
status, it just doesn't show. I read in The Lounge
(for level 4 & 5) that they were planning to return
the level status and custom icons to the forum. But
it has been a long time now, and they haven't. I miss
my custom icon
Yes, apparently they intend to at some point. But, they have more pressing things to attend to first, so it might be a while. I have discovered that there's a special forum about this.

Garageband iPad to Logic Express 8?

I cannot import files from the Garageband iPad app to Logic Express 8 (I get the message that the file was created in a newer version of Logic). Can anyone confirm that these files can be opened in Logic Express 9?
Thanks

The current version of Logic Express (9.1.5) will be able to import "Garageband for iPad" projects.
Best,
21

Logic Express frustrations, Garageband Joys

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