Ableton/Logic

jtsuited

So following on from the DAW poll thread where it seems there is a general discontent with Ableton's production capabilities, I thought I'd thought a thread solely devoted to it.

For the past year and a half, I've been an absolute Ableton-nut, using it for everything. But as time went by I gradually grew more frustrated with it and I couldn't put my finger on exactly what.
It was great for knocking up a track in under ten minutes and it was easy to get into a good workflow.
But finishing tracks was a bloody nightmare. The bundled plugins really sounded amateurish and I didn't really have too many decent VST's to do the job (I was more of a PT man, so all my good plugins were in rtas format.
Anyone who has done any serious mixing knows how hit-and-miss a process it can be. And ableton wasn't helping things. At all.
Rewiring into protools was the only way I could get a decent sounding mix, but it was a fairly convoluted process to do so.

Most of all, the mixer in Ableton was just a nightmare. It's the most stripped down mixing enviroment ever, and things like sidechaining were so much hassle.

So eventually, I said to myself "You have to get logic". I had used old versions of logic (even back when it was made by emagic) and had liked it. I've also done a few recording sessions with it and found it very good at certain things. I had never really thought of using it my main sequencer.

But last week, after another abysmal ableton mixing session, I decided to get Logic Pro 8.
I'm still getting used to it right now, but I absolutely love it. The instruments like Ultrabeat and the ES2 are the most phenomenal sounding things I've ever heard. There's feck-all of a learning curve and the manual is by far the best software manual I've ever read.

The bundled plugins are unbelievably good. A lot of big name producers have been harpin on about logic's plugins for the past while, but I never really understood why until now.

Apple have really outdone themselves with this software. Haven't used Logic Express but I imagine it's much the same. And an absolute steal at the price.

Anywho, has anyone else been finding Ableton a bit too restrictive when it comes to the finished article?
If you have, seriously consider Logic.
Now to go and throw away PTLE!

cornbb

I've had a chance to play around with Logic Studio and I like it too, the interface and routing options are much better and the fact that it bundles great instruments like EXS24 makes it great value.

Surely its not necessary to completely throw out Ableton though, maybe you could individually export each track once you've got the instruments/arrangement right and bring them into Logic for post production? You get to cut out the messy rewiring that way.

ICN

My fingers are burning.. I feel responsible for bringing on the Hate!!! LOL

Yeah, sidechaining is a breeze in Logic. Synths & FX are seriously brilliant - Grown-up when compared to Live.

Loving the "repeat section" button too!!

Just spent my first full day on it today.. Still messing around, finding out where everything is.. but its a seriously brilliant piece of software.

I feel like I'm getting somewhere at last. I think I will get to grips with it very quickly.