Apple’s Latest Logic Pro Update Quietly Adds An AI-Powered Backing Band, ‘Lightning Fast’ Stem Splitter, and More

A new Logic Pro update has added several AI-powered features. Photo Credit: Apple

Apple’s Logic Pro has added a number of AI-powered features – among them a full “backing band that responds directly to feedback.” The Apple Music developer unveiled the latest Logic Pro offerings earlier in May, but the news didn’t attract an abundance of attention out of the gate. Whatever the reason for the announcement’s flying under the radar, it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of fresh tools for the DAW, which Apple says takes “music-making to the next level.”

Elaborating on that bold statement and the mentioned backing-band buildout, Apple noted the arrival of “Session Players.” This feature expands on the existing drummer option with “key improvements” as well as the addition of AI-driven bass and keyboard “players.”

On the bass front, Apple said the AI had been “trained in collaboration with today’s best” bassists, the result being eight different performer options in Logic Pro. Besides the expected capabilities therein (like support for adjusting the complexity of the AI’s outputs), users can access “advanced parameters for slides, mutes, dead notes, and pickup hits,” per Apple, which further acknowledged 100 loops to help one “draw new inspiration.”

Moving beyond the other elements of Logic Pro’s AI bass player, the keyboard counterpart was “designed in cooperation with top studio musicians,” has four style options, and “can play everything from simple block chords to chord voicing with extended harmony — with nearly endless variations,” per Apple.Also featured is a “lightning fast” stem splitter – several non-Apple products likewise harness AI to isolate certain components of recordings – and “ChromaGlow.” As described by the appropriate company, the latter encompasses “five different saturation styles to add ultrarealistic warmth, presence, and punch to any track.”

Bigger picture, it goes without saying that AI is fueling many unprecedented trends – including in music-making, where there’s a growing opportunity to try and secure income through machine-generated outputs as opposed to genuine artistry.

Of course, the industry-specific expansion of AI (complete with far-reaching economic effects) is hardly limited to Logic Pro or SoundCloud’s bevy of AI tools; different offerings yet are currently providing access to comparatively sweeping music-generation options.

To be sure, ADA-distributed Boomy says its “artists have created 19,583,332 original songs,” Google earlier in May showcased its Music AI Sandbox, and Universal Music-backed Soundful per its website generates “royalty free background music at the click of a button for your videos.”

Last year, a study found that nearly 30 percent of artists had “used some type of AI music tools” – despite the fact that 77 percent of respondents said they feared being replaced (in a professional sense) by artificial intelligence.