The 10.7.5 version
On November 2, 2022 Apple is offering Logic Pro users a so-called minor update to its mao software.
And honestly it’s an interesting event because the latest update of Logic pro to version 10.7.5 brings some features and improvements that will delight many people.
Free Logic Pro update!
For those of you who are users, this Logic Pro update is free and if you look closely, it’s been almost 10 years that Apple has been offering free updates to this music production software to all registered users. I think that’s unheard of…
For those of you who don’t know Logic Pro, I’ll let you click on the button below to download a free trial version of Apple’s daw to try it out for 90 days. Attention, Logic Pro only works on Mac.
Two points...
Let’s jump into the heart of the matter and start with this version 10.7.5 and its double dot in the version title.
You should know that this is a Logic Pro maintenance update that fixes a large number of bugs and also brings improvements to the application for the benefit of its users.
But let’s talk about the improvements of this Logic Pro update.
In number 1...
The number one on our list, which I’m sure will please many professionals, is Track Stacks which now allow for an additional level of hierarchy. You can now nest track stacks within a track stack as shown in the image below.
You can even use the keyboard shortcut: Shift + Cmd + D (⇧⌘D).
You can collapse everything or show everything. It’s quite convenient to have a reduced composition space according to your need. When everything is displayed, the Track stack name appears with a slight colorization of the track in the Logic Pro arrangement window. I love this visual aspect, very useful to find your way in the arrangement window, it’s a very good idea brought by this Logic Pro update.
The Free Tempo !
In number 2 in the Logic Pro update, it’s the Free Tempo record button. This is something that will not appear automatically in the Logic Pro display, you may have to set it up, as I had to do in my Logic Pro work window.
To set it up, it’s very simple: right-click in the settings bar at the top and select “customize the control and display bar”.
While we are in this mode, take advantage of this to check the synchronization box, we will need it later in this article on the Logic Pro update.
Free Tempo recording makes it easier to implement intelligent Tempo in your projects. Instead of having to dive into the Smart Tempo options and remember to turn off the click, just press the Free Tempo Recording button and it takes care of all those details for us, both for a new project and for an existing one.
Remember that when you press this button, you won’t have a metronome. You won’t hear the tracks you’ve already recorded in both midi and audio. Everything will be disabled and the track you are using will be in solo mode, so it allows you to write down an idea and then see how to adapt it to your project.
I find this idea really interesting when you want to sample without necessarily being set to the tempo and then play with the sound material you have recorded.
This allows you to record a guitar track which for example can be very slow compared to the original tempo of the project. Then you can work on the placement and the sound in relation to the project. Don’t worry, Logic Pro offers to adapt your recording to the tempo of your project or the tempo of your project to that of the recording. You are free to experiment as in the image below.
A new dialog box asks between the following 4 options:
- Logic can apply the region tempo to the project,
- apply an average region tempo to the project,
- apply the project tempo to the region I recorded,
- not analyze the region tempo or change the project tempo.
To finish on this point, if you open your global track, you will see the changes made in the tempo track based on the detection of your audio recording.
All my audio tracks have flex and follow enabled so that the tempo is adjusted on the relevant portion to match the project tempo updated from the recorded file.
Of course it works the other way around. In this case, if we apply the project tempo to the region using flex mode, everything will be adapted to the project and, as an added bonus, the Free Tempo recording supports both audio and midi recordings! This is a nice Logic Pro update!
How do I adjust the volume in my region?
In the previous version of Logic Pro you had to select a region and then go to the region inspector to change the gain of that region, which was a lot of back and forth.
I like the ability to tweak audio regions to the nearest dB, but it’s very time consuming because of the back and forth and it can be discouraging.
Apple’s developers have created a new gain tool in this Logic Pro update that allows you to quickly and easily adjust the volume of regions without going back and forth with the region inspector. Personally I find this feature really useful!
Little LOGIC PRO tip! This concerns the use of the shortcut T in the Arrangement window to get the gain tool quickly. Another possibility is to set a keyboard shortcut as in the picture below (in my settings it is the letter O).
Speed and efficiency guaranteed because you only have to do T,O,TT (“T” to display the toolbox, “O” to select the Gain tool and “TT” to reselect the pointer)…
I have been using this trick for a long time with other tools. It did not appear with this Logic Pro update…
Is it possible to record midi plug-ins?
- I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked this question when I’ve given courses or training sessions.
I’m really happy that Apple is offering a midi plug-in recording mode in this Logic Pro update. Honestly, it’s like a bomb!
As shown in the picture below I used 2 midi plug-ins on my slice with the retro synth software instrument set to an analog synth emulation.
- A chord trigger
- An arpeggiator
When you select a midi plug-in there is in the list of the drop-down menu a new functionality called “Record midi on track here” (Don’t look at the translation typos, we all made them when we translated documents).
Depending on my positioning on the plug-in I will be able to specify the plug-in recording I want, for example :
Selecting this setting on the chord trigger plug-in will record the chords that will be generated by this plug-in.
- This same setting applied to the arpeggiator plug-in will record the accumulation of the chord trigger plug-in with that of the arpeggiator.
This is very interesting when you like to work with virtual instruments in midi in real time.
It's time to talk about Smart Tempo.
The Logic Pro update brings major improvements to Smart Tempo when it comes to the analysis of audio files and recordings. This analysis has been significantly improved with a brand new machine learning based analysis system called ML.
If you look at the Smart Tempo editor, you can see that there is a brand new orange button in the header as shown in the image below.
This button turns on or off a brand new indicator mode. With this new feature, you hover your mouse over the top third or bottom third to add what is called a low time index or a time index.
Before this update we had several options:
- Assign the high time
- Move the marker
- Change the scale of the selection
- Change the scale to the left, move to the right
Now the indicator mode makes it easier to make decisions: if you move your mouse over the top third, you can add a highlight indicator.
If you move your mouse over the bottom third you can add a time indicator.
Once these corrections are made, you can click on the button: “apply the modifications”.
Finally, if a portion of your audio file is correctly detected, you have the option of locking a section by selecting it with the mouse and right-clicking on the location of the area and then enabling the Lock Range function. This range of the audio file will not be affected by any realignment you may wish to make to the file.
STOMPBOX WITHOUT THE PEDALBOARD !
So frankly I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!
The 35 pedals of the Logic Pro pedalboard are now available as individual plug-ins and I, who do a lot of sound design, find it very interesting.
Of course, using the pedalboard allows you to shape the sound in your own way.
But now, with the plugins available individually, it will be interesting to be able to use them directly in an audio slice or with a software instrument to give boost, saturation, echo, EQ, flanger or anything else that could redefine and bring a specific treatment to a sound.
Ableton Link !
I’ve been waiting for this mode for years! Logic Pro can now be in sync with Ableton Live thanks to the link mode. Imagine doing a live session with Logic Pro and Ableton Live. It’s just great!
Earlier in this article, when we made the setting for the free tempo, I asked you to also check the sync box in our top right bar.
So normally you should see a Sync button on the right. Click and hold the button. Several options appear, but the new option we’re interested in is Ableton link.
Once the Ableton link mode is engaged, the Sync button displays link, the tempo and the word link appear in the blue display.
I’m not going to explain how the link mode works, I rather invite you to click on this link to go directly to the Ableton Live website.
32-bit audio file!
Logic Pro is now able to work directly on 32-bit audio files without any conversion to 24-bit. This Logic Pro update allows you to drag and drop a 32-bit file onto a Logic Pro audio track.
Custom Dolby atmos listening!
Logic Pro can also take advantage of the brand new custom spatial audio settings created with iOS 16, which customize the Dolby Atmos experience to your personal physiology.
This requires you to have an iPhone with a true depth front camera running iOS 16. This is an analysis of your entire head to identify how you personally hear the world around you. Once this custom spatial analysis has been performed, you can take advantage of it in Logic Pro.
The various monitoring formats require a Mac with an M1 processor running Mac OS Ventura and a pair of Apple headphones.
For this Logic Pro update, I’m not going to go into this extremely advanced feature right now.
Libraries
This Logic Pro update also brings a new library in Apple Loops format and kits for the Drum Machine Designer, called Beats Tape, the whole bank introduces drum kits, loops and samples for beatmakers.
Also new for the mixer part: on the audio output slice for mastering, three new settings named Knock A, Knock B and Knock C have appeared with this update. You are free to test this when you have updated Logic Pro.
Once the Logic Pro update is done, don’t forget to go to the Logic Pro > Sound Library menu and to launch the downloads in the missing banks. I make this little aside because very often, when I give courses, Logic Pro is well installed but we rush to use it without updating the sound bank library. Considering the quantity of loops and presets made available by Apple, it would be a pity to deprive oneself of it.
In summary
Thanks to this Logic Pro update, Apple has gratified us with an evolution of its music creation software through the tools it provides for audio and Midi, but also for the DAW part with the gain tool, Ableton Link and the possibility offered by the personalized Dolby Atmos. Of course this new format proposed by Apple in this Logic Pro update is not within the reach of everyone, but we are only at the beginning of these new tools for mixing and mastering.
I’m sure this new Logic Pro update will bring a lot to your workflow. Feel free to tell me in comments what you think about it.
I’m really curious to know what new version or update Logic Pro Apple has in store for us in the future.
For those of you who want to improve your skills on Logic Pro, I invite you to discover my courses!
To close this article, I wish you all excellent productions, compositions and recordings in your home studio!