Apple has announced new versions of Logic Pro for Mac and iPad, both of which expand on the AI features that made their debuts in versions 11(Mac) and 2 (iPad) respectively and will be available on subscription as part of the company’s new Creator Studio bundle.
The new features start with the news that Logic Pro’s AI Session Player line-up is getting a Synth Player, which is capable of creating both chords and bass parts. This joins the existing drum, bass and keyboard Players.
Said to be “like having access to a skilled synthesist that can instantly take a musical idea in new directions when needed,” by default this draws its sounds from Logic’s library of synths and samplers, but can also be used to control third-party plugins or even hardware synths. As with the other Players, you do still retain a certain amount of control over your parts’ complexity and intensity, along with various performance options.
The Synth Player and the other members of the family also have access to the new Chord ID feature, a promising sounding “personal music theory expert” that’s designed to turn any audio or MIDI recording into a ready-to-use chord progression. Up until now, one of the limitations of the Session Players has been their inability to respond to a keyboard or guitar part (for example) that you’ve already written, but that’s about to change.
It’s not a realtime thing, by the sounds of it - harmonic content needs to be analysed and the resulting information used to populate the Chord Track - but Chord ID promises to make the Session Players significantly more useful to songwriters.
Elsewhere, there’s the obligatory update to the sound library, and Logic Pro for iPad gets the Quick Swipe comping feature from the Mac version. There’s a further bonus for iPad users in the form of the Music Understanding features, which use “AI-based awareness” of Logic’s sound and loop library to find what you need for your project using either ‘natural language’ prompts or an existing recording.
The new versions of Logic Pro will be available both individually and as part of Apple’s new Creator Studio subscription package, which them with Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage (plus new AI features and premium content in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers) at a price of $12.99 a month or $129 a year. This is a universal purchase, which means that you’ll get access to both the Mac and iPad versions of the apps.
The standalone price for Logic Pro on the Mac stays $200/£200 - the ongoing price for just the iPad version (which is currently only available on subscription for $/£5 a month or $/£5 a year) is still to be confirmed.
Apple Creator Studio and the new versions of Logic Pro will be released on 28 January. Find out more on the Apple website.
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