Big updates for Logic Pro and GarageBand add features for audio pros

Enlarge / Apple has added Touch Bar support to Logic Pro along with a bunch of other features. (credit: Apple)

Apple has released major updates to its Logic Pro X audio recording and editing software for macOS and the lighter-but-free GarageBand app for iOS, introducing big new features and improving compatibility between the two apps. A more minor update to GarageBand for macOS, which includes no major new features but compatibility updates for the iOS version, has also been released.

Logic Pro X version 10.3 is the latest app to pick up support for the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar. It adds controls for skimming through and tuning specific tracks on the Touch Bar's screen, as well as a touchscreen keyboard and drum pads and customizable key commands.

There are updates for the Touch Bar-free majority of the iOS userbase, too. An updated UI expands the number of colors available to label your tracks, can auto-zoom horizontally as your songs get longer, and can show the waveforms for audio files that are being trimmed. The tweaked design also "improves legibility in a variety of lighting conditions." On the production end of things, you can create playlists of different regions and edits on a track to listen to alternate versions of a song you're working on and get better control over your stereo channels, among other things.