Hi Forum- My apologies if this isn't in the correct place, but I defaulted to "Logic Pro" as I feel Logic is most likely the platform I'll be using. I'm a musician, have used Garage Band for a few years (but only for editing audio tracks - not really recording instruments), and looking into upgrading to Logic Pro X. I play in a rock band and create promotional videos for upcoming gigs and would like to create my own tracks for these videos and avoid copyright issues, videos getting pulled down, warnings, etc. My promo videos are anywhere from 20 seconds to 2 minutes. Right now I'm purchasing various tracks from several sites but I never feel they're the "right" track for my stuff. I've scoured several subscription sites that have tons of tracks, but it seems 75% of the tracks aren't what I'm looking for. I love the "creative" aspect of Logic and think I would be able to create tracks with the existing loops, beats, etc. I'm looking for ease in creating these tracks, so using what's existing in Logic is a bonus. Since I've been researching online, I've seen other software packages that might be able to do the same thing, namely Captain Plugins 5 (and several others but honestly can't remember some of their names, as I've been inundated with all of these ads coming up in my social media feeds....ugh). I've also seen ads for "bundles" with tons of MIDI files to help you create tracks. The problem? My fear is they won't be geared toward more of a rock (or pop) based genre. I know Logic is a much bigger beast than Garage Band, but thought since I was a little familiar with GB it wouldn't be that much of a shock when I got into it - this is the reason why I was thinking Logic in the first place (as opposed to Ableton or Cubase). Just looking for some insight from the pros (given "the book" above) since I'm a total newbie here. Thanks for reading and appreciate any replies!

Hi - I'd say you're on the right track -- GarageBand IS Logic under the hood, just with the more advanced features disabled. While Logic is much more powerful, you should feel at home right away -- you should be able to slide right in to working in it, and then you can gradually learn the more advanced aspects that you'll want to take advantage of, without feeling like you're starting from scratch. And of course you can open any existing GB Projects in Logic and pick up where you left off.. Just as with GB, a lot of the Instruments and Apple Loops are well suited for rock/pop genres -- if you download the entire [70+ GB] library you should have plenty of appropriate musical tools to work with. And of course, to fill in the gap between GB and Logic, you can check out the Logic courses here. You could start with the one I linked to this thread [GarageBand to Logic Pro], and then if you do decide to make the jump to Logic, the most recent core Logic courses would cover the basics.. https://www.macprovideo.com/library/application/logic?afid=E470KLQ7r9 Coming from a long-time Logic user, if you choose to go for the upgrade, welcome to Logic..

Thanks for the quick reply Joe! Much appreciated and I will definitely check out the course link you provided as well! A follow-up for you (or anyone for that matter) - outside of the 70GB Logic library, are there any "go to" MIDI packs/bundles that I should look into that you would consider "a must" given what I'm trying to accomplish? Just checking. I wasn't kidding about being inundated with all of these ads that place heavy emphasis on the words "producer" and "beats." When I listen to those samples tracks, they just feel the exact opposite of what I'm wanting to do. I'm looking to make tracks with (somewhat) easy chord progressions, rock and bass guitars, a drum kit, and keys - not necessarily "beats" per se with thundering bass hits, etc. Thanks again!

The Logic library is actually pretty good for those kinds of sound, but there are also tons of third-party libraries as well.. I don't know that I'd point to any one particular collection as a "go-to" set, since the sound and -- most importantly -- the playability of virtual instruments is largely a matter of personal musical taste, but there are some good libraries that would seem to fit the bill. Off the top of my head, of course there are the many libraries that use the Kontakt (or Kontakt Player) engine, like the Abbey Road drums and Scarbee basses, and sampled keys from Arturia; there are also modeled instruments which are very "playable", like the drums and basses from IK, and keyboards from Modartt (Pianoteq). But there are tons of others as well.. To be honest I tend to roll my own sounds when it comes to the main instruments I use (drums, bass, keys, etc), but I'd maybe start off with the Logic stuff to get a feel for what you want/need, and then try to audition other sounds to fill in any blanks..

Much appreciated Joe! You've given some great info and look forward to diving into Logic!