Writing or composing great music may now be in your blood. In many different respects, however, recording, mixing, and mastering seem to be things that could be out of reach for the average musician. Writing music, from composition to arrangement is difficult enough, and recording music can become very frustrating. Though it can't be avoided that engineering that musicians dip their feet wet in the realm of audio engineering, at least somehow it could be arranged that a recording suite could be designed in such a manner that it's within the musician's grasp of working knowledge. Streamlining the technical side of things, Apple Logic Pro 9 is now out to make your musical life a little less difficult.

Logic Pro 9 was designed with musicians in mind, enabling them to have a seamless workflow within a comfortable environment. All of the editing tools and content browsers are all integrated in one single window. This gives you a simpler interface for faster workflow. All the necessary shortcuts, toolbars, and transport bars are right there for instant access, not hidden in a maze of windows and menus. Your workspace can be customized as well using 99 storable screen configurations as well as over 1000 definable key commands. All in all, this gives you that fast and efficient setup for your workflow.

Instantaneous setup is possible with various templates for writing, recording, mixing, and mastering. These templates are also customizable and you can store your own templates via "Compose templates", which gathers all necessary items for writing and tracking in various genres. In a blink of an eye, you get a studio full of typical instruments for tracking and processing already connected and configured so you get to jump in and play right away.

Want to incorporate previously recorded ideas into new projects? The Selective Track Import function permits easy transfer of setups and track content between projects. Components are selectable on a track-by-track basis which makes it easier for you to grab a one track and incorporate it into another.

Navigating through thousands of effects settings, instruments, Apple loops, as well as your own sounds is possible with Logic Pro 9's built-in library browsers without even leaving a track you're working on. Nondestructive editing allows you to play around with your tracks without messing up the original recording. You also get ability to transform any audio region in your project into a sampler instrument which also includes a MIDI track that will trigger the samples, allowing you to modify or resequence the part easily.

MIDI editing options provide you immense control over your MIDI sequences. Choices for MIDI editing include both traditional music notation and piano roll interfaces. The Piano Roll Editor allows you to graphically manipulate note velocity and length. The Score Editor gives you traditional music notation to work with and features a complete set of music notation tools such as instrument transposition, drum notation, adaptive lyric input, and comprehensive layout and print options. You also get the ability to have generate guitar tablatures which incorporate ornaments for notating hammer-ons, bends, fingering, etc. Chord grids can be easily placed with snap guides, which you can choose from a selection of over 4000 as well as create your own. Film scoring and sound design is easier with flexible video display options that allow you to view videos (QuickTime movies) within the interface or on a separate monitor via applications such as Digital Cinema Desktop. You can also locate scene changes via a thumbnail track or use the scene detect option to automatically mark transitions.

Logic Pro 9 gives you impressive recording and audio editing options. Multiple takes can be organized according to take folders that Logic Pro 9 automatically creates. Organization of these folders is up to you to decide whether you want to organize them according to song section or keep them in a simple playlist like manner. Editing and moving takes, punching in and out without creating a new take lane as well as color coding your best ones are all possible. Making notes about your tracks provides you with good documentation on your recording processes. Project note allows you to document things about your entire project, and markers let you flag and recall important locations or segments of your project. Since these notes allow up to 20,000 characters, you can even narrate a short story about your tracks and projects without resorting to abbreviation. Powerful audio editing features include the following: Flex Time (a collection of tools that allow you to quickly manipulate timing and tempo in your mixes), Quick Swipe Comping (new track creation from the best sections of each take and with seamless crossfading, Bounce-In-Place (quick rendering of an entire track or some of its regions), Beat Mapping, Track Groups (allows you to edit a single track and affect an entire group), Click Zone (turns your mouse into an assignable control apparatus), and Drum Replacer (drum track enhancement and correction). Add to that a unique Low Latency Mode, a dropout-free recording with virtually no timing problems is possible.

FlexTime Allows for simple, full-project tempo shifting, and audio region quantizing

Covering the mixing aspect appears to be one of the easiest things you can do in Apple Logic Pro 9. You can mix and master up to 255 audio, software instrument, and auxiliary channels via an intuitive console-like interface, which also is inclusive of 32 mix groups and as many hardware output channels your audio hardware has. As recording busses, integration of outboard hardware into your mix, and other things and processes in a recording studio can be easily taken care of, there is no longer the need for an external DSP card. That big load can be handled by your Mac by itself. Logic Pro 9 also permits of instant channel strips, surround-sound mixing, track grouping, and complete automation to further broaden your control over any project you handle.

If you’re a Mac user, Apple Logic Pro 9 is a surefire winner that will make you forget any other DAWs present in the market today. With its vast array of tools that encompasses the entire production route, it is no surprise if you've already thought about switching to Logic Pro 9 and deleting all of the other stuff that's making a mess out of your computer. Logic Pro 9 is included in the Apple Logic Studio package which costs 499.00 USD.