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It's time to upgrade, and I've been teetering back and forth between these two programs. I know they're both solid applications. I know the price difference. I'll be running it on a dual 2.0 G5, 4GB ram, etc...etc... and a G4 iBook for some mobile tracking (which will get dumped to the G5 for any real work. MOTU interfaces (896HD some times, 2408mkIII-24i/o other times)

Mostly I'm concerned about features.

I know Logic comes with an assload of plugins, virtual instruments, and all that, and I also know that for the same money, I can get DP4 and some third party stuff, but will it compete with Logic without breaking the $999 price? I have my other 3rd party plugs that I like (using PTLE right now) and am not worried about those, they all have AU versions. I don't have any virtual instruments (other than reason adapted, which I use as a glorified metronome mostly).

What I'll be mostly be doing with it is recording rock bands, some voice-over work. Typical recording studio duties, nothing outrageous that I can forsee.

I also understand that with Logic I can install it on both systems, and just switch the USB dongle to whichever I'm using at the moment. Will this be a problem with DP4? I plan to just keep things on FW drives for switching computers.

Thanks for any input.

Comments

anonymous Fri, 07/15/2005 - 14:12

I'm a Sonar/PC user so I don't have too much to add. However, that Beat Detection Engine that DP4 has now is pretty darn attractive. Breaks the PT/Beat Detective monopoly.

On the other hand, Beat Quantizer works pretty well too (I've been messing around with the demo and it's pretty cool) so you could always grab that regardless of your software choice.

maintiger Fri, 07/15/2005 - 14:29

DP4.6 you can install on all your computers without a dongle, which is cool. However if you get mach Five you will need a dongle. DP4 does come with a fair assortment of plugins but no VI's. I am biased towards DP as I've been using it for years. The only reason I would consider changing to logic would be if I got heavier into film work. The integration with all the apple programs, final cut, soundtrack pro, logic etc is really nice and its bound to get better as time goes by.

gdoubleyou Mon, 07/18/2005 - 13:30

I like both programs, they are both wide and deep apps. To me DP surround features are better. It took me a while to get use to the window navigation. I will have to upgrade to experience the improved virtual instrument handleing, it was an akward multistep process.

If you are using MOTU hardware it has integrated support.

I currently give the nod to Logic Pro for the excellent virtual intruments.

As a compromise I would get both, DP competitive upgrade...$395 (why pay full price?)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DigPerfComp/

Logic Express, would give you Apple Loop and Garage band compatibility, Sampler, Basic versions of the Logic synths, best of both worlds.

8)

anonymous Mon, 07/18/2005 - 14:55

Both programs are going to be overkill for what you want to do. No harm in that!

Logic has extensive MIDI capabilities and features, it's what I use for sequencing. For recording and mixing though, I don't go near it, because there is better for much much less. Who knows though, you may really like Logic's audio editing/mixing capabilites.

I've never used DP, but I've used Audio Desk for years, which I think is a stripped down version that is just audio. It worked flawless for me recording rock bands and basic mixing.