Apple has unveiled new versions of Logic Pro for both Mac and iPad – versions 11 and 2 respectively.
Leading the way in each edition are new AI-powered features: Bass and Keyboard ‘Session Players’, which do for these instruments what Drummer does for drums; Stem Splitter, which breaks apart stereo material so that you can create remixes; and ChromaGlow, a new effect that promises to add “instant warmth”.
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Both Bass Player and Keyboard Player are designed to follow your defined chord progressions, and offer various levels of customisation. You can choose from eight different virtual bassists – these are said to have been trained “in collaboration with today’s best players” (we’d be keen to find out who) – and control the levels of playing complexity. There are adjustable slide, mute, deadnote and pickup hit parameters, too, and 100 Bass Player loops are provided so that you can hear what it can do.
It’s a similar story with Keyboard Player; here, there are four different styles, and you can generate everything from simple chords to complex voicings.
In each case, you can define and edit your chord progressions using the dedicated Chord Track, and you can access the sounds that Bass and Keyboard Player draw on using the Studio Bass and Studio Piano plugins.
Stem Splitter, meanwhile, does what it says: breaks apart mixes. As is becoming customary with tools like this, audio is split into Drum, Bass, Vocal and Other instrument tracks, with these immediately being put into Logic Pro’s timeline.
On the subject of ChromaGlow, Apple tells us that this ‘warmth generator’ models the sound of “the world’s most revered studio hardware” and comes with five different saturation styles.
We’ll have more on the new versions of Logic Pro when we’ve had a chance to try them: they’ll be landing on 13 May with prices remaining at $/£200 for the Mac version, and $/£5/month or $/£49/year for the iPad edition. Both updates are free for existing users.
Find out more on the Apple website.
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