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Most of the action in Logic Pro 8 happens in one screen

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However, the two most headline-grabbing changes do concern recording and editing. Logic Pro 8 introduces both multitake recording of audio and MIDI, and a new feature called 'Quick Swipe comping' for audio. Multitake mode kicks in whenever you record in cycle mode or record over an existing take - this is the default mode for audio and an option for MIDI. Recording in this way results in a 'take' folder, which you can then unpack to edit.

For MIDI, that's where the fun ends; however, for audio it's where the fun actually starts, because double-clicking the folder reveals each take stacked up in order. You can then cursor-select or 'swipe' regions on each, creating a comp.

By default, it doesn't leave any gaps (although you can add them by holding Shift), and the automatic crossfades it uses follow your preference settings. When you're happy with your comp, you can then 'flatten' it to reduce it to one track visually, or 'flatten and merge' it to produce a completely new, consolidated audio file.

Clearly, this system draws on techniques used in Pro Tools playlists, but we found it intuitive to use and probably the quickest system we've tried for comping, and it even works on grouped multitrack takes. The only downside is that you can't import multiple audio takes from preexisting wave files and apply Quick Swipe comping to them, which is a shame.

The interface

Logic Pro 8 sports a completely revamped single-screen workspace, which will no doubt anger as many users as it pleases. If you really can't get on with this way of working, the basic individual windows (Arrange, Score, Event and so on) can still be used, as can screensets.

The workspace is vaguely reminiscent of Ableton Live, and Apple have taken this opportunity to rename and revamp a few things as well, with the Matrix Editor becoming the Piano Roll Editor, for example. The result is four main areas - Arrange, Inspector, Media/Lists and Editor - plus a transport bar at the bottom. All can be folded away, apart from the Arrange window and the transport bar.

The Editor and Media/Lists areas both use tabbed windows to grant access to their various options, such as Hyper Editor, Score and so on in the Editor section. The Media/Lists section contains not only audio files but presets and channel strips as well, and includes the Spotlight-supported browser and Tempo and Event Lists. Furthermore, both the Editor and Media areas can link to the Arrange window, so clicking on, say, a software instrument's slot will bring up the list of available patches for that instrument in the Library list.

The Inspector area includes both part and track parameters, and dual channel strips - one each for the selected track and its output, although clicking on any output on the left fader (send, bus, etc) will bring up the corresponding fader to the right. It's easy to get to grips with and should certainly speed up workflow.