...and it gets an official Quantec plugin (!), plugin search, and draggable mixer channel strips!

(Note: Requires macOS Sonoma 14.4 or later.)



Quantec Room Simulator

• Access the only authentic hardware recreation available as a plug-in, built using the original schematics, algorithms and code from the Quantec founder and inventor, Wolfgang Buchleitner.
• Add the legendary sound of the Quantec QRS and Quantec Yardstick hardware reverb, the most acoustically accurate room simulation ever created.
• Select the vintage Quantec QRS to add naturalistic acoustic space to your music while preserving its sonic character.
• Choose the Quantec Yardstick with enhanced room simulation algorithms for more accurate modelling of acoustic spaces with improved clarity and detail.

Plug-in Search

• Find and add any plug-in directly from the plug-in menu.
• Use the Search and Add Plug-in key command to quickly find and add plug-ins without ever clicking a channel strip insert.
• Easily search by categories, company name or even part of a plug-in name.

Enhancements

• Drag channel strips to organise your mixer layout.
• Send your mix directly to Voice Memos and preview on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.
• Click any plug-in slot while holding the Command key to quickly remove plug-ins.
• Quickly set input, output, side chain source or bus routings using in-menu search.
• Use key commands to move Marquee selections in all directions to speed up editing.

Sound Library

• Download the new Modular Melodies sound pack and discover hundreds of loops crafted from patchable hardware synths and a collection of meticulously designed Alchemy synth patches.

Apple acquired the Quantec stuff, this isn't just an attempt at simulating the original. Very cool.

And it seems like it has essentially zero CPU hit on my laptop, both Savant and Relab Quantec emulations come with a major CPU impact on my computers.

This looks like an awesome update, but I’m still on Ventura and am in a hotel and corporate gig until tomorrow night, so I’ll have to wait until I get home to update the OS and logic. I’ll be doing it Friday for sure though.

I had no idea Apple acquired Quantec, that's crazy!! Wow, what an update!

I haven't updated any of machines to Sonoma yet and this might be what pushes me to do it. Seems like a pretty safe and stable OS at this point for most music software, yeah? Any red flags for anyone yet?

We don’t know that Apple acquired Quantec - in fact, the very prominent Quantec branding in the plugin suggests to me this was more of a licensing thing, rather than an Ip acquisition that Apple now own.

Sonoma has been great, easily the best and least consequential macOS upgrade until Sequoia… back up responsibly though.

I read the word “acquired” in one of the Apple documents. Otherwise it would have said licensed. Either way it’s using the original algorithms it seems.

Sonoma and Logic 11.0.1 have been very happy bed fellows for me on Mac M1 Ultra. I would say that it's been one of, if not the most, stable setup for me on Logic, going back a lot of years.


Are you saying that Sequoia has been just as or even more stable than Sonoma?

Would it be churlish to complain that I'm going to need to upgrade my OS to get draggable channel strips?...

What next - Logic 12 - Ultrabeat reskinned at last! - (requires M6 processor to run)

yes

Yes, Sequoia has also been excellent for me too, just like Sonoma was.

Mixer channels can still only be reordered along with the main window (which, IMO at least, serves that purpose better, as you also have control about the actual music content that gets moved up/down). Further, when moving a bus, a mandatory track in the arrange window will be created automatically. Sure, you can use the hide function, but I for one usually don't want most busses in my main window.

Plugin Search is nice, so is the reverb. Being able to remove plugins and sends by CMD-clicking is something I will defenitely use, too.

Yet, the most horrible bug (for me at least) hasn't been fixed, namely Logic not being able to deal with audio files properly once their peaks get below around -40dB (and yes, that happens easily when you're using amp sim plugins and your guitar's volume pot). On analysis (before, say, normalization), Logic will have the guts to tell you that the file contains complete silence. Also, changes via region gain aren't reflected visually. The waveform zoom doesn't work anymore, either. Yes, you can still change gains (non-destructively or destructively), but this bug shouldn't have slipped in in the very first place. A DAW (digital *AUDIO* workstation) shouldn't have issues dealing with -40dB files. The bug exists since version 11 and has now made it through one smaller and one bigger update. And yes, it's reported numerous times by numerous people. Quality assurance has left the building (long time ago already).

Also, the Studio Bass' default setting (which isn't anything spectacular) is still completely unplayable under 32 and 64 samples buffersize (at 44.1), regardless of the interface used. Instant crackling. On an M3 MBA in my case (confirmed on other M machines as well). See quality assurance. And fwiw, I can play vastly more complexed Kontakt, HALion, Alchemy and what not patches, so it's defenitely the very Studio Bass (or whatever scripting bringing the underlying (EX)Sampler instances together).

Further, this version requires Sonoma. That's the second to latest OS. For most other Logic versions, you could run them on the 2 previous OS versions, sometimes on 3 and some years back even on 4. Essentially, at least for those relying on using up to date Logic versions (for which there are some good reasons), this simply shortens the lifespan of your computer by one year. I could absolutely imagine that in a rather short amount of time, they will tighten that schedule again so you'll have to use the most recent OS version.

In the end, for me this update, while coming with some useful things, is not worth the money.
Oh right, as usual, it doesn't cost a penny. Which, IMO, is one of the larger issues with Logic. If they asked for update money, they'd possibly feel a bit more pressure to actually work on important things.
I for one would more than happily pay the price of admission again for a bug-fix-only update.

Has anyone compared this plugin to the original hardware?

Aha, that makes sense! I must have misread something. But honestly I think that would be better, it would be a shame for that venerable brand to be inaccessible to non-Logic-users.

Great, thank you! I'll update my machines today, I reckon, and don't worry, as a former Apple tech support guy I'm a Time Machine junkie...

EDIT: Totally conflated Sonoma and Sequoia... I'm already on Sonoma with everything so I don't need to do an OS install after all, just updated Logic. Looking forward to trying these out! (And I'll still wait a bit for bug-sorting before installing Sequoia.)

You might indeed be right, we just don't know. Given Quantec's state in the last few years going on posts here, with the founder passing away and his wife keeping the business running in a limited capacity, we've seen new units very slow to ship and repairs go silent, and no new development, so it's entirely possible that they did sell the IP to Apple outright and wind up the company, or arrange a deal so Quantec could continue to sell and service hardware units.

Given past history, when Apple buy a company, they tend to absorb that tech into Apple-branded products - we don't see Redmatica or Camel Audio logos in Logic, for example (or even emagic ) - so the Quantec branding suggests to me that they didn't buy the company outright (and we'd have likely seen some signs of such an acquisition), but whatever the details of the deal, clearly Apple dropped some cash their way in exchange for access to their tech to build it into a plugin in Logic, so "acquired" still works in all those contexts!

Cmd + Option + P to search and add plugins to any highlighted tracks is gold. Already using it here.

Other companies sell quantec emulations as 2 separate plugins (savant), or just 1 version (relab for QRS).

You get both versions with Logic, at no extra cost.

I wonder when Apple may partner with or acquire someone like Orchestral Tools and get wonderful large sample libraries added - they could do it with pocket change from their standpoint.

Others may see that as a monopoly though.

I've been testing against hardware 2496 today. Very impressed. There's a couple of extreme filter positions on small room sizes where I'm hearing a little leakage at a low level, but otherwise this is nulling against hardware pretty consistently. Bravo Apple, bravo.

Probably close to the top for "best stock reverb in a DAW" to date?

Also very cool how Apple are respecting Quantec's legacy (eg, click on the Quantec logo in the plugin). Very cool of them.

I'd rather have LP9's zoom functionality back instead of more plugins. I can buy those. But I can't buy essential functionality.

Where is this information from, especially the first bullet point? I can't find it in Apple's press release or release notes. You should always provide a source.

I was waiting for you to complain about the zoom functionality.

Can't let an update go by without complaining about that one...

The App Store blurb for Logic. And the info window when you click on the Quantec logo. And the Apple documentation.

I have reason to believe that Apple acquired IP, not licensed it.

They were cleaning their books for a while, sending replacements for repaired units that were in storage for many years. Friend of mine who sent his Yardstick for repairs 9 years ago just got a replacement - 2496-S, their website is cleaned, they (Quantec) made efforts to close any outstanding deals.

Don't forget how long it took Relab to recreate QRS only, it was definitely in work for a while.

Of course not. And why would I?

Anyhow, the "low level audiofile" bug is pretty much as horrible as it's showcasing how little love Logic is seeing these days at Apple.
Either their QA department doesn't care or their programmers are incompetent. There's no other options. Pick your poison.

I assume you’ve filed a P0 support request with Apple support? What did they say?

P0 meaning that the bug is critical and utterly breaks your workflow.

Sure there are, but don't let that affect what you want to believe, as you've been saying Logic's developers are incompetent for years (decades) now.

Meantime, the rest of us are enjoying a great app, which, like all of them, isn't perfect...

Plugin search alone is a *massive* win for me, it's the thing I've wanted for decades (so much so that I built my own app to do it, which works essentially exactly like Logic's implementation of Command + Control + P) - if the update just had that, and the usual list of bugfixes, I would be pretty happy.

The authentic Quantec is just chef's kiss...

If you don’t ask you don’t get. I think a lot of people complain but they never picked up the phone and create a high severity support case for Logic.

I work at an IT company and that’s how stuff gets fixed, by people calling support. If enough people call, stuff gets prioritized.

Support departments don’t normally peruse GS.

It's not about perfect or imperfect. It's about essential functionality being broken and not getting fixed. That's incompetent.

Believe me, I must've used Apples feedback site and phone support more than almost anyone else.

Another great thing that for me is not of minor importance is the fact that now you can remove the mastering plugin from the stereo master channel, if you don't use it as in my case it was a nuisance, it is very easy to open it accidentally and get... tinnitus