Apple Enhances Stem Splitter, Adds AI Writing Tools in Logic Pro

Apple has unveiled Logic Pro 11.2 for Mac and Logic Pro 2.2 for iPad. Both apps get some new features, some refinements to existing ones, and some bug fixes.

We’ll know for sure when we test it, but the star of the show appears to be Enhanced Stem Splitter. The regular version first appeared last year and lets you separate stereo audio into vocals, bass, drums, and “other.” That “other” category is still there, but the new Enhanced Stem Splitter now separates out piano and guitar as well, for a total of six stems. It also comes with presets for a cappella and instrumental with vocal, among others.

Enhanced Stem Splitter (Credit: Apple)

For years, Logic has been able to capture your MIDI performances even when you didn’t have the record button. Apple has rebranded it as Flashback Capture; the big addition is that it can pick up audio now, a crucial addition, while Cycle mode lets you improvise takes on a loop. The idea is that you can capture good ideas without the pressure that often accompanies being in Record mode.

This being the age of AI in everything, Logic now has its own Writing Tools; it’s turned on by default if your Apple-Silicon Mac or iPad can run Apple Intelligence, macOS 15.4, and has the ChatGPT extension enabled. Say you have a couple of verses and a chorus but need an extra verse; you can ask it from the notepad feature within Logic Pro to come up with another verse and bounce around ideas off of it.

(Credit: Apple)

New Search and Select tools now let you find tracks in large projects using the keyboard, the way you already could with plug-ins. You can search by name or number.

A new Dancefloor Rush pack in Logic Pro for iPad 2.2 brings some up-to-date drum and bass loops to your fingertips, complete with hundreds of loops, custom kits, Alchemy patches, and a Live Loops grid, and you can pull out individual samples. The iPad version also gets new in-app purchases for lessons on new features, as well as ground-floor stuff like making beats, doing your first mix, and so on.

Learn MIDI (Credit: Apple)

Finally, the iPad version of Logic Pro has a new Learn MIDI feature that lets you plug in a MIDI controller with faders, knobs, and other features and then assign anything to those physical controls. When you activate Learn MIDI, it starts “listening.” Grab a knob on your controller and twist it; it will show up on-screen, and from there, you can tap on something to attach it to, such as a control inside the EQ or Compressor plug-ins, or on a synth. You can also set it so that it’s either specific to that one track or plug-in instances, or for any track that’s in focus.

Both versions are available now and are free updates for existing Logic Pro owners (on Mac) and subscribers (on iPad). For new users, Logic Pro costs $199.99 as always and now requires macOS Sequoia 15.4 or later; there’s also a 90-day free trial available. Logic Pro for iPad 2.2 costs $4.99 per month or $49 per year, with a one-month free trial. Stay tuned for our full reviews.

About Jamie Lendino

Editor-In-Chief, ExtremeTech

I’ve been writing and reviewing technology for PCMag and other Ziff Davis publications since 2005, and I’ve been full-time on staff since 2011. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of ExtremeTech since early 2015, except for a recent stint as executive editor of features for PCMag, and I write for both sites. I’ve been on CNBC and NPR’s All Things Considered talking tech, plus dozens of radio stations around the country. I’ve also written for two dozen other publications, including Popular Science, Consumer Reports, Computer Power User, PC Today, Electronic Musician, Sound and Vision, and CNET. Plus, I’ve written six books about retro gaming and computing:

Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming
Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games
Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation
Faster Than Light: The Atari ST and the 16-Bit Revolution
Space Battle: The Mattel Intellivision and the First Console War
Starflight: How the PC and DOS Exploded Computer Gaming 1987-1994

Before all this, I was in IT supporting Windows NT on Wall Street in the late 1990s. I realized I’d much rather play with technology and write about it, than support it 24/7 and be blamed for everything that went wrong. I grew up playing and recording music on keyboards and the Atari ST, and I never really stopped. For a while, I produced sound effects and music for video games (mostly mobile games in the 2000s). I still mix and master music for various independent artists, many of whom are friends.

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