For just a quick down and dirty audio recording from computer source, Audacity is a no-frills solution that any user can get up and running with quickly without the intimidating functions seen in most standard DAWs. This would be a great tool to start with to record church services, or basic live performances where someone wouldn't want to use a full DAW like Ableton Live or Studio One.
Logic Pro X is excellent for anyone already in the Apple ecosystem because it's based on a similar style of user interface and integrates well with other Apple products (iPad, etc.). It's great for recording live instruments, as well as electronic music production and podcasting, etc.
With no subscription fees unlike other products on the market, I am very confident I will continue using Audacity for my simple audio editing needs. I'm not an expert in audio editing, I'm sure what works for me as a more general user in a public institution would not suit someone more experienced, but I'm very happy with the quality of work I'm able to produce.
Audacity is for audio prodcasts only and not for video podcasts. Audacity does not have a transcript development feature. Audacity can not edit using the transcript feature that does not exist. I use another program to develop a transcript and edit using that transcript. Then I move the file into Audacity for final processing.
Like every DAW, it takes some time and getting used to, but Logic's tools and interface just make sense to anyone who is familiar with Apple products and music tools.
Audacity is great for this, it doesn't require a network connection once downloaded, and previous versions of the software are still functional in my experience. I have never experienced the program crashing, lost work, corrupted files, anything of the sort.
I have never had issues with speed in Audacity, I don't integrate it with other software but the program runs smoothly even with larger jobs. I haven't measured the CPU while using Audacity, but I imagine it's not high compared to other, more professional or specialized programs in the same category.
We have not used direct support for Audacity, other than using the information available on their website, which resolved the issues we were experiencing so we had a good experience in that regard. As this is Open Source FREE software, I don't believe there is direct support available. In saying that, it has the following great support options:
Online documentation and FAQ
Online tutorials covering all functions
Online user forums where questions are asked and answered by other users
Online wiki with more information
With these options most issues should be able to be resolved to get full use from Audacity.
The user community of Logic Pro X is vibrant, responsive, and lively. There are many great forums out there where you can solve any problem you encounter, whether it's sound card latency, a certain plugin not working, audio routing, multitrack issues, or virtually anything else you run into. The community is so helpful that I'm giving Logic Pro X a 10 in this department, despite having never contacted their official support department. I've never had to, since there is such a great user community.
Again I found it helpful to write up a step-by-step tutorial for coworkers based on our institution's standard practices. This combined with support from coworkers to answer questions is very effective for simple everyday use of Audacity. The support in-program is minimal but troubleshooting in the internet age is straightforward.
While the comparison it's really apples-to-apples, since Audacity is only designed for audio editing, and I use other tools like Camtasia and screenflow for both audio and video, the other tools do make it convenient to edit the audio within the same software as I edit the video, rather than having to do both in separate software solutions.
Logic Pro X is like the big brother to GarageBand - it can do SO much more and has many more attractive features. The workflow and interface are similar enough to make onboarding a little easier if someone has used GarageBand, but the effects and plug-ins of Logic make it a far better product in the long run. Logic is able to utilize more of the computer's power, as well, taking full advantage of Apple's processors in bouncing and rendering the final products
I feel that Audacity is useful, simple, and suited both to casual users and more advanced use cases. There are options for expanding functionality in complex situations, but the option to not mess with it as a beginner is perfectly fine and suited to most everyday uses in my institution.
Powerful sound tools, centralized in one place for relatively very little money (when we purchased it, it was $200/user for a perpetual license)
Simplified workflow, since we handle all our sound needs in one place
We used to do our sound editing and mixing in Adobe Premiere, right along with the video. Moving sound production to FPX has DRAMATICALLY improved the quality of our soundtracks.
