Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which later went by Emagic. Apple acquired Emagic in 2002 and rebranded Logic to Logic Pro, adding it to their list of pro apps. In 2026, the software was included as part of the Apple Creator Studio suite of applications, receiving a visual refresh. It was the second most popular DAW – after Ableton Live – according to a survey conducted in 2015.
A consumer-level version based on the same interface and audio engine but with reduced features called Logic Express was available starting in 2004.
Apple's GarageBand comes free with all new Macintosh computers and iOS devices and is another application built on Logic's audio engine. On December 8, 2011, the boxed version of Logic Pro was discontinued, along with Logic Express, and as with all other Apple software for Macs, Logic Pro is now only available through the Mac App Store and the iPad App Store, or with a discounted Pro Apps for Education Bundle for students through the Apple Store online. In May 2023, Logic Pro for iPad was introduced and has been available since May 23.
Features
Logic Pro provides software instruments, audio effects and recording facilities for music synthesis. It also supports Apple Loops – royalty-free, professionally recorded instrument loops. Logic Pro and Express once shared many functions and the same interface. Logic Express was limited to two-channel stereo mixdown, while Logic Pro can handle multichannel surround sound. Logic Express only handled up to 255 audio tracks, depending on system performance, while, as of version 10.4.5, Logic Pro can handle up to 1,000.Logic Pro can work with MIDI keyboards and control surfaces for input and processing, and for MIDI output. It features real-time scoring in musical notation, supporting guitar tablature, chord abbreviations and drum notation. Advanced MIDI editing is possible through Logic Pro's MIDI Transform Window, where velocity, pitch, pitch-bends, note length, humanize, and precise note positioning can be edited.
Software instruments
The software instruments included in Logic Pro X include: Drum Kit Designer, Drum Machine Designer, ES, ES2, EFM1, ES E, ES M, ES P, EVOC 20 PolySynth, Sampler, Quick Sampler, Step Sequencer, Klopfgeist, Retro Synth, Sculpture, Ultrabeat, Vintage B3, Vintage Clav, Vintage Electric Piano. These instruments produce sound in various ways, through subtractive synthesis, frequency modulation synthesis, wavetable synthesis, vocoding, sampling, and component modeling techniques. As of version 10.2, Logic Pro X also includes Alchemy, a sample-manipulation synthesizer that was previously developed by Camel Audio. The software instruments are activated by MIDI information that can be input via a MIDI instrument or drawn into the MIDI editor.Audio effects
Audio effects include amp and guitar pedal emulators, delay effects, distortion effects, dynamics processors, equalization filters, filter effects, imaging processors, metering tools, modulation effects, pitch effects, and reverb effects. Among Logic's reverb plugins is Space Designer, which uses convolution reverb to simulate the acoustics of audio played in different environments, such as rooms of varying size, or emulate the echoes that might be heard on high mountains.Distributed processing
The application features distributed processing abilities, which can function across an Ethernet LAN. One machine runs the Logic Pro app, while the other machines on the network run the Logic node app. Logic will then offload the effects and synth processing to the other machines on the network. If the network is fast enough, this can work in near real-time, depending on buffer settings and CPU loads. This allows users to combine the power of several Macintosh computers to process Logic Pro's built-in software instruments and plug-ins, and 3rd party processing plug-ins. As of version 10.0.7, Logic can access 24 processing threads, which aligns with the capabilities of Apple's flagship 12-core Mac Pro.History
Creator and Notator
In 1987, C-Lab released Gerhard Lengeling's MIDI sequencer program for the Atari ST platform called Creator. From version 2.0 onwards, released in 1988, a version with added musical notation capabilities was also available, called Notator, made with the help of Chris Adam. A later bundled multitasking utility called Soft Link rebranded the packages as Creator SL and Notator SL.In the United States, its main rivals at the time included Performer and Vision, whereas in Europe its main rivals were Steinberg's Pro 24 and later Cubase. Most MIDI sequencers presented a song as a linear set of tracks. However, Notator and Vision were pattern-based sequencers: songs were built by recording patterns with up to 16 tracks each, then assembling an Arrangement of these patterns, with up to 4 patterns playing simultaneously at any one time in the song. This more closely resembled working principles of hardware sequencers of the 1970s and 1980s.
When it was released, Notator was widely regarded by both musicians and the music press as one of the most powerful and intuitive sequencing and notation programs available on any platform. After the later introduction of competitor Steinberg's Cubase, however, track-based sequencing prevailed over pattern-based, resulting in the eventual greater integration and hybridization of the two methods in later versions of both Cubase and Logic. As Phil Hartnoll of Orbital said about a later version of Creator, "Cubase is much better for arranging: you can get an overall picture so much easier. They tried, with C-LAB, with that block arrangement, but I do like to be able to see an overview."
Notable users of Creator included Coldcut, Fatboy Slim, The Future Sound of London, LFO, Clint Mansell, Nightmares on Wax, The Orb, Orbital, and System 7.
Logic
The C-Lab programmers left that company to form Emagic, and in 1993 released a new program, Notator Logic, which attempted to fuse both track- and pattern-based operation. While rich in features, early versions of Logic on the Atari lacked the intuitiveness and immediacy of either Cubase or Notator, and never achieved the same success. However, by this time the Atari was becoming obsolete, and part of the reason why Notator Logic had been written from scratch with an object oriented GUI was to make it easier to port to other platforms. The Notator prefix was dropped from the product name and the software became known as simply Logic.As later versions of the software became available for Mac OS and Windows platforms, and acquired ever more sophisticated functions to take advantage of increased computing power, Logic, together with the rise of the PC, gained popularity again.
Apple acquired Emagic in July 2002. The announcement included the news that development of the Windows version would no longer continue. This announcement caused controversy in the recording industry with an estimated 70,000 users having invested in the Windows route not wishing to reinvest in a complete new system. Despite much speculation in various Pro Audio forums however, exactly how many users may have abandoned Logic upon its acquisition by Apple, or abandoned the Windows platform for the Mac version, remains unknown, but Apple Pro Apps revenue has steadily increased since Apple's acquisition of Emagic,.
Versions
Early versions
Logic 5 featured significant improvements in user interface, and increased compatibility with more types of computers, operating systems, and a wide range of audio interfaces. Logic 5.5.1 was the last version to be released for Windows. From Logic 6 onwards, the software would only be exclusively available on Mac OS.With Logic 6, Emagic added the availability of separately packaged software products that were closely integrated add-ons developed specifically for use with Logic, including software instruments, the EXS sampler and audio processing plug-ins. The Logic 6 package also included the stand-alone program Waveburner, for burning redbook audio CD standard-compliant CDR masters for replication, however, that application was considered a free bonus feature; it was not advertised as part of the package and did not include printed documentation. PDF documentation was included on the installer disc.
In March 2004 Apple released Logic Pro 6, which consolidated over 20 different Emagic products, including all instrument and effect plug-ins, Waveburner Pro, and Pro Tools TDM support, into a single product package. Apple also released a scaled down version of Logic called Logic Express, replacing two previous versions that filled that position called Logic Silver and Logic Gold. Apple began promoting Logic Pro as one of its flagship software 'Pro' applications for the Macintosh platform.
Logic Pro 7
Logic Pro 7 was released September 29, 2004. Most notably, Apple modified the interface of Logic 7 to look more like a product that was developed by Apple.Additions to Logic Pro 7 included: the integration of Apple Loops, Distributed Audio Processing, 3 new instruments including Sculpture and Ultrabeat, and 9 new effect plug-ins including Guitar Amp Pro, and a linear phase corrected version of their 6 channel parametric equalizer. In total, Logic Pro 7 now included 70 effect plug-ins and 34 instrument plug-ins.
Pro-Tools TDM compatibility, which had been a feature of Logic since version 3.5, was not supported by Logic 7.2 on Intel-based Mac computers; TDM support returned with the release of Logic 8.
Logic Pro 8
On September 12, 2007, Apple released the Logic Studio suite that included Logic Pro 8. Logic Pro was no longer a separate product, although a limited version Logic Express 8 was released on the same day, and remained a separate product.Significant changes were made for Logic 8. Logic Pro 8 was now mainly Cocoa code, but still included some Carbon Libraries. Alongside changes such as the new processing plug-in, Apple included features such as Quick Swipe Comping, similar to Soundtrack Pro 2, and multi-take management.
Apple also made changes to ease of use. These include the discontinuation of the XSKey dongle, and a streamlined interface. Each plug-in used in the channel strip opens in a new window when double-clicked. Many of the features found in Logic 7 have been consolidated into one screen. Other additions to the new interface included consolidated arrange windows, dual channel strips, built in browsers and production templates.