What's up with quantizing being completely useless when editing multiple takes/multiple mics, and various random/inconsistent usage issues?

[boneswald]

I'm a producer who uses Logic and Pro Tools interchangeably. This isn't a hate post, but I find Logic to be lightyears behind Pro Tools' editing for the most basic of quantizing tasks. I often will have a problem and google it, find a post on this forum from 2007 that usually ends with "we'll look into this for a new update", and over a decade later I'm dealing with the same problems.

Some select complaints:

• Manually editing drum mics sometimes just doesn't work. Group editing enabled, should be able to easily shift individually hits around and have all the tracks for different mics follow the edit, right? But this only works sometimes. Sometimes one track's file will be slightly different in length, usually cut off at the beginning or end - and when this happens, Logic doesn't sync it with the other tracks anymore when editing. Why? Shouldn't it always sync the tracks within a group even if the regions are slightly different lengths? And why would they be different lengths to begin with? I know there's no ghost in the computer manually changing file lengths, but it sure feels like there is. 

• Flex, in all modes, does not work without very noticeable artifacts for quantizing drums, guitar - any remotely complex source. I don't understand why there is no equivalent to Beat Detective. All I want is to be able to cut up the audio based on transients, move a few around even if manually, and batch fade all the regions. As far as I know, that's not a feasible workflow within Logic. Why? Seems so simple.

• More about flex. Slicing mode always puts the edit point for each transient in the wrong place. Often the very beginning of a transient will be separated from the rest of the note/hit, and dragged early; so you hear a blip of the transient, a short empty space, and then the rest of the note/hit, which is obviously wrong. And you can see this in the audio - every time. Meanwhile, rhythmic mode is so artifact-y that I've never found a good use for it. And that concludes the list of recommended flex modes for quantizing.

• Selection-based processing does not work within take folders. Say I want to apply auto-tune to one word in a vocal take. If I use selection-based processing within the take folder, it cuts off the start and end of the audio exactly where the edit point is. So there's an artifact at the edit points, and crossfading it doesn't work because the audio has been cut off. So selection-based processing is essentially unusable until you're done comping and flatten the take folder. But there are so many times I would want to use it while comping together vocals, drums, guitar, etc. before flattening the take folder, because maybe I will like that one part of the take with the autotune/whatever processing, or maybe I won't, but I won't be able to find out until after I flatten the take folder, which is very frustrating and seems like an oversight in design.

• A new issue I've been having on an M1 MacBook Pro running Logic in Rosetta is that every once in awhile, I won't be able to click on something. Just won't register the click. One specific thing at a time will not be clickable, and the way to fix it is to click around on various things until the one thing you're trying to click finally lets you click it. Doesn't matter what it is, it's happened to me on everything - a mute button, adding an automation point, opening a take folder, anything.

I wish so much that Apple gave a bit more effort into testing Logic with real/professional users and then updating it to work better, as I know they do for their main products (iPhones and laptops). I assume 99% of people using Logic are not using it for multi-mic drum editing or anything like that, but some people are and it's a drag that I either have to suffer or export my tracks to Pro Tools to edit and then reimport them. 

Many of my issues with Logic feel like either a design oversight, or like a ghost is inside my laptop making random small changes trying to screw with me. Pro Tools has issues too, but it's rock solid in both of those categories - the issues are always predictable, widely experienced, and can easily be repeated. With Logic, it feels random.

My takeaway from reading other posts on this forum is that the people working behind the scenes at Logic really do care about making it better, so I'm just listing these here in hopes that they'll have some minimal impact. I'm complaining, yes, but mainly hoping to help.

[polanoid]

5 hours ago, boneswald said:

Sometimes one track's file will be slightly different in length, usually cut off at the beginning or end - and when this happens, Logic doesn't sync it with the other tracks anymore when editing.

I assume this only happens with Take Folders? In which case you should flatten the Take Folder first to work around this. Speaking of Take Folders, as you're comparing PT and Logic, since which version does PT actually feature Take Folders? Been a while since I looked into PT.

[polanoid]

5 hours ago, boneswald said:

every once in awhile, I won't be able to click on something. Just won't register the click.

Do you have any 3rd party tool installed (like BetterSnapTool) that might be intercepting mouse clicks?

[polanoid]

5 hours ago, boneswald said:

All I want is to be able to cut up the audio based on transients, move a few around even if manually, and batch fade all the regions. As far as I know, that's not a feasible workflow within Logic.

Which part of that isn't feasible?

[polanoid]

5 hours ago, boneswald said:

Selection-based processing does not work within take folders

Well it obviously does work, but what you describe is a clear bug (of course the rendered audio file should provide enough additional data to be able to crossfade) - did you report it to Apple already? I guess that would be better than just counting on them reading posts in this forum.