Apple Logic Pro X and GarageBand music apps get major updates

Apple has released major updates to its Logic Pro X audio recording and editing software for macOS and the lighter-but-free GarageBand app for iOS, introducing big new features and improving compatibility between the two apps. A more minor update to GarageBand for macOS, which includes no major new features but compatibility updates for the iOS version, has also been released.

Logic Pro X version 10.3 is the latest app to pick up support for the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. It adds controls for skimming through and tuning specific tracks on the Touch Bar’s screen, as well as a touchscreen keyboard and drum pads and customizable key commands.

There are updates for the Touch Bar-free majority of the iOS userbase, too. An updated UI expands the number of colors available to label your tracks, can auto-zoom horizontally as your songs get longer, and can show the waveforms for audio files that are being trimmed. The tweaked design also “improves legibility in a variety of lighting conditions.” On the production end of things, you can create playlists of different regions and edits on a track to listen to alternate versions of a song you’re working on and get better control over your stereo channels, among other things.

Though GarageBand still primarily serves as a “light” version of Logic built around the same engine, version 2.2 allows iOS users to save tracks directly to iCloud-synced Logic files, which could be useful for jotting down ideas when you’re not at your computer. It picks up a version of the Alchemy synth feature added to Logic back in 2015. And it also adds support for third-party effects that use Audio Unit Extensions, a “multi-take recording” feature that lets you quickly record over, compare, and replace different takes on a given track, an Audio Recorder feature, and more.

The full release notes for both apps are below:

Logic Pro 10.3

• Support for the Touch Bar on MacBook Pro
  • View your entire project at a glance and navigate with touch in the timeline overview
  • Adjust Smart Controls on the selected track to fine-tune the sound of instruments and effects
  • Play and record software instruments using a musical keyboard with piano keys or scale mode
  • Trigger drum pads to create beats while controlling velocity and note repeat
  • Access your favorite shortcuts using a set of customizable key commands
• Updated Interface
  • New modern design with improved legibility in a variety of lighting conditions
  • Expanded color palette offers 24 more colors to label your regions, tracks, and notes
  • Horizontal auto-zoom helps keep everything in view
  • New region editing design reveals waveform for entire audio file while trimming
• Audio Production
  • Track Alternatives let you create and switch between different playlists of regions and edits on a track
  • Render any combination of effect plug-ins to a selection of audio using Selection-based Processing
  • True stereo panning provides more control and discrete manipulation of stereo signals
  • Apply fades across multiple regions at a time
  • 64-bit summing engine
  • Use 192 additional busses
• Additional Features
  • Share to GarageBand option allows you to remotely add new tracks to your Logic project from your iPhone or iPad via iCloud
  • MIDI plug-ins can be used to creatively control plug-in parameters
  • Directly assign Software Instruments as sidechain sources
  • Import Music XML files

GarageBand 2.2

• Play and record using the new Alchemy Touch Instrument with over 150 synth patches
• Quickly find Touch Instruments and patches with a redesigned sound browser
• Capture your voice or instrument and apply studio-class effects like pitch correction, distortion, and delay with the new Audio Recorder
• Use new mixing effects, including Visual EQ, Bitcrusher, and Overdrive
• Add third-party effects using Audio Unit Extensions
• Record multiple times over any song section and choose your favorite using Multi-Take Recording
• Perform with Chord Strips from any keyboard instrument
• Add comments or lyric ideas to your song with an integrated notepad
• Remotely add new tracks to your Logic Pro X project from your iPhone or iPad via iCloud
• Stability improvements and bug fixes