Apple rounded out today's NAMM announcements with a peek into what's next from Apple's music software. The "next generation" of Logic so far sounds a lot like this version of Logic, but with enhanced support for Apple Loops, the looping technology built into Apple's Garage Band and Soundtrack software which the company is pushing as a "powerful open-standard file format for real-time matching of audio loops and sound effects." Let's hope Apple promotes this "open-standard" approach; it'd be great to see Apple Loops in MOTU Digital Performer or even Ableton Live.

Most of what Apple's revealing about the next Logic is in the form of new software synths and effects: Sculpture, a new component-modeling based synth for physical modeling of instruments with extensive modeling and resonant body control, UltraBeat, a percussion synth with FM, subtractive, sample-based, and component modeling, and a new Guitar Amp simulator presumably related to the guitar amps in Garage Band.

Of course, the bad news for those of us who prefer Cubase, DP4, or Pro Tools is that Apple may now only let you buy these soft synths as part of Logic, a favorite DAW among a dedicated user base but still unpopular with other users for its steep learning curve. It's not entirely clear whether these will be available standalone: Apple, if you're listening, please, unbundle some of these synths in the way that you'veunbundled Soundtrack from Final Cut -- more choices for your customers is a good thing.

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