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Logic Pro 11 is hot off the press from Cupertino, and it brings some exciting new features to music producers. First, we are getting some bright and shiny objects in the form of virtual session players, along with new instrument and effect plug-ins (described as AI-driven in Apple's official press release), while under the hood, a couple of less visible enhancements will help improve our workflow.
Let's explore the new Logic Pro 11 features.
How to upgrade to Logic Pro 11
The Logic Pro 11 update is free for existing users. To install Logic Pro 11, open the App Store on your Mac, search for Logic Pro and click the Install button.
I recommend you first back up your current Logic Pro version before updating, should you need to revert to it. To back up, in the Finder, Control + click the Logic Pro app file and choose Duplicate. Rename the copy (I like to give it the name of its version number, for example I named mine Logic Pro 10.8.1), then install Logic Pro 11 from the App Store. You'll end up with both Logic Pro 10.8.1 and Logic Pro (now updated to Logic Pro 11) sitting next to each other in your Applications folder.
Logic Pro 11 requires macOS Ventura 13.5 or later to be installed. You can install Logic Pro 11 on an Intel Mac however you won't be able to use the new ChromaGlow plug-in or Stem Splitter which both require an Apple Silicon chip (M1 or newer).
Bass Player
The BIG new features in Logic Pro 11 are the new AI-driven session players.
Choose Track > New Session Player SI Track (or press Option + Command + P),
Select Bass Player,
Click Create.
You get a new Bass Player track with an 8 bar Session Player region, similar to the Drummer tracks from earlier Logic versions. In the ruler, the chords present in the Chord global track are displayed. I'll cover the Chord track later.
In the Session Player editor, click the Bass icon to choose a different style. The Complexity and Intensity sliders replace the XY Pad that was present in the Drummer editor in earlier Logic versions: Complexity adjusts how busy the performance is, while intensity adjusts how loud the musician plays.
Below the bass icon, the circular arrow button lets you refresh the performance in the Session Player region to a new variation based on the current set of parameters dialed in the editor.
At the top left of the editor are two pop-up menus to edit chord progressions and choose presets.
Click the pattern in the middle of the editor to choose a different pattern.
Patterns are represented as dark and light dots over a grid of four beats containing four 1/16th notes each. The dark dots represents the main accents while the light dots show where Bass Player adds notes when you raise the Complexity slider.
Below the patterns, you can adjust the type of melody (to play only the root or melodic lines with more notes), choose to play different octaves, and adjust how long the notes are sustained with the Phrasing menu.
There are more parameters to customize under the Details tab to adjust muted notes, dead notes (percussive notes with no pitch), pickup hits (percussive sounds on the upbeats), slides, double stops (two notes at a time)... and more.
In my opinion, the big game changer is the manual pattern feature: click the Manual tab and click steps on the row below to create your own custom pattern, and the session player will follow your new pattern!
The best way to get a feel for Bass Player is to experiment, so have fun and don't hesitate to exaggerate the parameter values to truly hear what each parameter does, then dial them back to more reasonable settings for a musical result. Also keep in mind that some of the parameters are interactive. For example, you may not hear many slides if the melody is set to root only and octaves is set to none.
Keyboard Player
In the Keyboard Player editor, you can choose chord progressions, presets, styles and enter your own manual patterns as with the Bass Player.
The Keyboard Player editor also has its own keyboard related parameters: it allows you to mute the left or right hand, and also to position where on the keyboard to position the left and right hand so the keyboardist plays in lower or higher ranges.
You can adjust the voicing types for each hand the style (from simple to complex) of the left hand and the note range of the right hand with the movement menu. In order to focus on the effects of these parameters, I suggest you mute the right hand while adjusting the left, and vice versa.
The Session Players generate performance that are really MIDI sequences under the hood. You can select a Session Player region and open it in the Piano Roll or the Event List to see the MIDI data inside them. You can change the instrument on the channel strip, which means you can have Keyboard Player play for example a B3 organ, a mellotron, or any 3rd party instrument. I've used it to trigger a Studio Horn section and it can be a fun way to come up with new parts!
New Drummer editor
The Drummer editor got a facelift to match the other Session Player editors. You no longer reach to the Library to chose a Drummer style, you just click the drum kit in the editor. Drummers no longer have a first name! Just a style, and a type (Acoustic, Electronic or Percussionist).
You can choose a pattern for hi-hat, toms or cymbals, and another pattern for kick and snare. You now mute individual kit pieces by clicking their icon to the left of the pattern menus.
And remember that as with other session players, you can create a custom pattern in the Manual tab.
When Follow is set to Chord Rhythm, Drummer may play a kick or a snare where you have a chord change, which gets really interesting when the chord change doesn't fall at the beginning of a bar.
Studio Bass and Studio Piano instruments
Logic Pro 11 has two new instruments: Studio Bass is the default instrument played by Bass Player and Studio Piano by Keyboard Player.
Studio Bass
You can choose between six bass models:
Classic (Fender P-Bass)
Sixties (Paul McCartney's iconic Höfner bass)
Rock (Rickenbacker bass)
Session (Fender Jazz Bass)
Modern (Music Man StingRay bass)
American Upright (acoustic double bass)
For each model, you can choose a playing style (fingers, pick or slap), and the last articulation played is displayed below.
Studio Bass has many articulations (different fingers, pick strokes, harmonics, dead notes, slides, grace notes, pickup hits etc. and some of them can be selected automatically (for example when the Articulation is set to All (Auto), the bass player alternates between playing the index and the middle finger, or between up and down pick strokes.
You can use two sliders to adjust the amount of string muting and definition (attack transients), and knobs let you dial in the volume and tone of each pickup, according to the circuitry of the actual bass emulated by the model you've selected.
The Details pane lets you adjust the amount of pick scrapes (only when playing with a pick), string noise (produced when the left hand slides over strings to change position), hum & hiss generated by the bass' circuit, and the release noise (at the end of the notes) helps adding a rhythmic element to the performance.
There's much more going on under the hood, and you can for example direct the bass player to favor playing on a specific string or in a specific neck position using MIDI channels (see Studio Bass string and position MIDI channels in Logic Pro for Mac).
Studio Piano
Studio Piano is a simpler instrument with four models:
Studio Grand
Concert Grand
Vintage Upright
Studio Grand (one mic)
Sliders let you dial in the level of each microphone, and four parameters allow you to dial in:
Pedal Noise (when pressing and releasing the sustain pedal),
Key Noise (when pressing and releasing keys),
Release Samples (buzzing noise of the damper muting the string when releasing keys)
Sympathetic Res (resonance of strings other than the one currently playing)
Chord track
The Chord track is a global track that determines which chord progressions the Session Players follow. Even Drummer can follow the rhythm of the Chord Track by accenting a chord change with a kick or snare hit.
To open the Chord track, click the global track button at the top of the track list or press G.
If you have created a Bass Player or Keyboard Player track, a default chord progression is already present in the Chord track.
Double-click a chord to select it, and double-click the selected chord to open the Edit Chord dialog.
You can enter the full name of a chord directly in the Chord field, such as Am, Gsus2 or Fb13, and you can press Tab or Shift + Tab to go to the next or previous chord. Note that if there are no chords on the right of the selected chord, pressing Tab creates a new chord on the next bar, which really speeds up chord entry.
ⓘTo enter a chord by playing it on your MIDI controller keyboard, in the Edit Chord dialog, click the MIDI Input button. Press Tab to get ready to enter a chord in the next bar.
ⓘTo analyze the chords in a MIDI region and enter them in the Chord track, try the hack described in this post by @anp27 in the forum.
You can select, move, resize, copy and loop chords and chord groups the same way you edit regions. Control + click a chord group to ungroup the chords, then you can select the desired chords and group them again.
In the Loop browser, the loops that show a chord symbol contain their own chord progression.
Dragging the loop to the workspace pastes the loop's chord progression to the chord track (if there are no chords present in that location) so that Session Players can follow along.
Control + click any region that contains a chord progression and you can choose to Paste Region Chords to Global Track.
The region inspector has a new Pitch Source parameter that can determine which chords the region follows (the choices available depend on the region type).
After years of ditching the original chord track in earlier versions of Logic, this "new" chord track is making its debut in Logic Pro 11, and it is still limited. For example, it can't be used to transpose regular MIDI or Audio regions, or even Apple Loops, and you can't have Logic analyze the chord progression of a MIDI or Audio regions to enter the chords in the chord track. Apple hasn't announced anything more but many are hoping that this kind of functionality will be added in a future update.
ⓘTo create a MIDI region that contains simple voicings of the chords in the chord track, drag the chord progression to a MIDI track.
ChromaGlow
ChromaGlow is available only on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or later).
ChromaGlow is a saturation plug-in that adds texture, warmth and character. It can be added to individual instruments or to an entire mix. Saturation extends the harmonic range of your instruments and helps them find their place in a mix, and as such, it has long been the best kept secret of professional engineers. ChromaGlow reproduces the harmonic distortion and compression sound of an entire palette of vintage analog equipment.
You can choose amongst five models that emulate a wide range of equipment from analog tape machines, the intentional pushing of a compressor, to the sound of mic preamps. Each of the five models has two options that you select in the Style pop-up menu. The options differ depending on the model you select. You can read detailed descriptions of the models and their styles in the Logic Pro manual.
The Bypass Below setting lets you adjust a crossover filter so that the lower frequencies bypass the saturation circuits and stay clean while the higher frequencies are distorted.
The main drive knob in the center adjust the amount of saturation.
At the bottom of the plug-in, two filters (Low Cut and High Cut) can be dialed in and added before or after the saturation circuit to precisely sculpt the desired sound. Because of the extended harmonic range brought forth by the saturation process, filtering becomes of paramount importance to help focus a sound in a specific frequency band.
As with any tool, do not hesitate to exaggerate the settings to really hear the difference between models while experimenting and learning the tool, but for the best results, I recommend you use only subtle amounts of saturation on your tracks while mixing.
Stem Splitter
Stem Splitter is available only on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or later).
Stem Splitter is a function that can take a mixed song and separate the instrument into up to four individual tracks:
Import your full mix on a track.
Select the audio region.
Choose Functions > Stem Splitter.
Select the individual stems you need to serparate.
Logic creates a track stack with your individual stems.
So then, how does Stem Splitter sound? Let's hear an example:
full mix:
vocals:
drums:
bass:
other:
Note that the 'Other' stem contains all keyboards, guitars and all other sounds. I hope that in the future it will be possible to separate keyboards from guitars.
Internal MIDI input
In the Track inspector, a new parameter, Internal MIDI In, lets you route MIDI from one software instrument track to another. Here Track 1 (Constellation Map) is routed to track 2 (Classic Electric Piano). The MIDI region on track 1 will trigger both tracks 1 and 2.
If there are MIDI effect plug-ins on track 1, the processed MIDI notes at the output of the MIDI effect plug-ins is routed to track 2.
If there is a software instrument on track 1 that can output MIDI, then that MIDI data is routed to track 2.
The Logic Pro for Mac 11.0 manual has this exhaustive diagram that sums up all possible routings.
Note that if you have recorded a MIDI region on track 1 and choose to record it on track 2, then you'll want to se the Internal MIDI In back to 'Off'. Otherwise, when track 2 is selected or R-enabled, you'll hear double MIDI notes from both MIDI regions on tracks 1 and 2.
Beware, as some users have reported getting hanging notes with this feature (see this post in the forum).
Real time bounce in place and freeze
There is now an option to bounce in real time when working with external instruments or effects.
When bouncing in place, Logic Pro automatically detects if you're bouncing a region routed to an External Instrument plug-in, or a software instrument channel strip that has an I/O plug-in inserted, and in that cases it bounces in place in real time.
When bouncing the project or a section, the Mode includes a new 'Automatic' option that will automatically bounce in real time if at least one external instrument or i/o plug-in is used in the project, and offline otherwise.
Musical Typing & Logic Remote MIDI input
In the Track inspector, the MIDI In Port has been renamed MIDI Input, and now gives the option to select Musical Typing & Logic Remote as a MIDI input for the track.
Marquee key commands
The transpose key commands have been given additional functionality, they can now be used to move the top and bottom edges of a Marquee selection up or down 1 track.
Option + Up arrow = Move top edge of Marquee selection up one track
Option + Down arrow = Move top edge of Marquee selection down one track
Option + Shift + Up arrow = Move bottom edge of Marquee selection up one track
Option + Shift + Down arrow = Move bottom edge of Marquee selection down one track
The Nudge Region/Event Position and Length key commands have also been extended to working with the Marquee, you can now use them to nudge the left edge of the Marquee selection (Marquee Start) or its right edge (Marquee Length).
Option + Left arrow = Nudge left edge of Marquee selection to the left
Option + Right arrow = Nudge left edge of Marquee selection to the right
Option + Shift + Left arrow = Nudge right edge of Marquee selection to the left
Option + Shift + Right arrow = Nudge right edge of Marquee selection to the right
Here you can see these new key commands in action.
Force Legato with overlap
In earlier versions, the two following force legato commands...
Edit > Trim > Note End to Selected Notes (Force Legato)
Edit > Trim > Note End to Following Notes (Force Legato)
... would result in a small gap between the notes (9 ticks).
While this can be a useful result with some instruments, patches, or libraries, it was always an issue with other sample libraries that would not produce a true legato sound because the notes weren't overlapping.
In Logic Pro 11, we have two new commands:
Edit > Trim > Note End to Selected Notes (Force Legato) With Overlap
Edit > Trim > Note End to Following Notes (Force Legato) With Overlap
These new functions (and their accompanying assignable key commands) make the MIDI notes overlap (one note ends 3 ticks after where the next note starts), which helps produce the desired legato effect with many instrument libraries.
Bonus tip: Additional new features
Software Instrument tracks now have an Input Monitoring button. This allows you to be able to play a software instrument track in real time while you're recording another track.
Wav is now the default format when recording audio in Logic Pro. This decision is in line with recommendations by the Audio Engineering Society to use Broadcast Wave Files for professional delivery. See: Technical Document AESTD1002.2.15-02 Recommendation for delivery of recorded music projects (PDF)
To participate in discussions related to the Logic Pro 11 release, check out the two following threads in the forum.
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