Some Serious Issues with Logic Pro 8
Many people have reported some very annoying bugs and issues with Logic Pro 8.
Some very basic and important instruments seem to have gone missing in many people’s installations of Logic Pro 8, including (for example) the String Ensemble patch and the Pop Kit. These are pretty useful starting points for songwriters who like to use Logic as a sketchpad, so lots of people are a tad annoyed. The issue doesn’t cause much hassle when you are creating a new song, but when loading a version 7 song where these patches were used, the song tries to load these patches, and takes ages to fail, unless you stored the sample files with the song. You just have to sit there knowing the thing’s never gonna load properly, and wait for it to finish. Apple, please sort this issue out!
Note: For those of you planning an upgrade who have projects on the go, I would highly recommend you “save as project” and tick all the move/copy associated files boxes, including sample instrument files (and impulse responses – what’s the harm?). Personally, I never did this, as I saw it as unnecessary duplication, and now I’m sorry I didn’t, as some files are taking 10 minutes to load.
Allegedly, a reinstall of the Logic application may fix the problem, but in my personal experience, it didn’t. I expect that even if a reinstall does work for some people, it’s not a solution many are that happy with, especially if you’ve lost a lot of time on the issue, as I have.
Also, there seems to be a lot of confusion of the new .CAF format. CAF (Core Audio Format) is a new audio format developed by Apple. It does have many advantages such as having lots of metadata possibilities, not having an upper file size limit, and limitless ability to use codecs and sample/bit rates, as it is, essentially, just a wrapper around another file. However, all the new Jam Packs are in this .CAF format, which is not compatible with pre-iLife ’08 versions of Garageband. Effectively, it is very aggressive encouragement to Logic Pro users to update their Garageband to ’08.
Finally, and most disturbingly for those who mix other people’s projects, or work with live bands, I attach a quote directed to Apple from Jim Frazier from a discussion on the Apple web site:
“In Logic 8, the lack of a “Import session Data” feature, meaning a way to import plug-ins, routing, volume and pan information, from one song to another, quickly, is a glaring omission in Logic 8.
Also, there are times, when exporting tracks to another DAW platform, when there needs to be a way to remove ALL plug-ins quickly, from a song, as the export feature imbeds (sic) the plug-in onto the exported audio file.
Both of the features were available in Logic 7, from within the audio configuration window. With that functionality removed, using Logic Pro 8 in a professional recording environment can be a hindrance to productivity.
With all the nice advancements in version 8, there was some basic functionality lost, like the two examples above, that have severely compromised this application.
I urge your developers to get that functionality re-instated with a future update, ASAP.”
I reckon, given the pain and suffering of having to put up with what is obviously a still in Beta version of Logic Pro 8, we should all get a copy of iLife ’08 for free, no?
CAF Specs
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MusicAudio/Reference/CAFSpec/
Session Data Import Issue
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1139980&tstart=0
http://community.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=37301
http://community.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=37295