Apple Logic Pro X gets a big update, Live Loops, beat sequencer

Apple published a significant update to Logic Pro X today, adding Live Loops, a beat sequencer, a revamped sampling tool, and more. Apple calls it the app’s “biggest update” since the music production software launched under its current name, Logic Pro X, in 2013. The new tools are primarily focused on electronic music, hip-hop, and beat making.

Live Loops enables musicians to produce beats out of a series of flexible loops that can be dragged and dropped around a grid, and a new Step Sequencer feature allows you to create rhythms by programming a pattern that they’ll play on.

This update also introduces a significant revision to Logic’s sampling tool, which has been throughout for decades. The latest tool streamlines the process of building multi-sample instruments, offers a new synthesis and modulation features, and has an automatic sampling tool that lets Logic analyze a recording and convert it into a playable instrument.

There’s also an auto-sampler feature that can catch the sounds of a connected instrument like a modular synth and convert it into a recorded device. Records still save in the same format used by Logic’s older EXS24 sampler and are backwards compatible so that they can be passed between apps, but some of the new features accessible in Logic may not be supported elsewhere.

Apple has stated the updated Live Loops in performing in a “new freeform and nonlinear” way. The Sampler has a unique design with all its functionalities intact, including the industry-standard EXS24 plug-in. Apple is also adding Step Sequencer, Drum Synth, and Drum Machine Designer to create original beats on Logic Pro X.

All the changes and new features are now available as a part of the Logic Pro X 10.5. It is a free upgrade to existing users of Logic Pro X while new users can buy it for $199.99 from the Mac App Store. Apple is also stimulating the Logic Remote, and the upgrade is available as free software from the App Store on Macs.

“The Mac and Logic Pro X are necessary tools used by the world’s top musicians and producers to compose the music that we all love,” stated Susan Prescott, vice president of Apps Product Marketing at Apple.

“Logic Pro X 10.5 describes the biggest update to Logic since the launch of Logic Pro X, with powerful new tools that will encourage every artist — from those just getting commenced with Logic, to those already using it to produce Grammy Award-winning albums. We can’t wait to hear what these artists create next.”