i just skimmed through the thread, but since you have macbook pro, i would def use logic. the 199 pricepoint is golden to boot!
you will have all the right tools to edit (and you can even customize your own key commands) mix and master right out of the box. its pretty amazing how many plugins and instruments they bundled with logic. there is also more usable ones than not usable ones imo, and some of them are even really expensive sounding too!
back when logic was around 500 dollars, my old audio teacher told us he knew a few people that bought logic just because of 1 instrument in there called sculpture, ( if you like synthesis at all youll love this, i didnt ever get it myself, but i only sample, i dont play an instrument) another ridiculously crazy thing they put in there was a convolution reverb, its easily worth the 200 dollar price tag too! with this reverb and a few other tools you can create your own custom reverbs of the room that you are in.
another great thing is the ability to customize pretty much every key command. a few of them i use all the time are this
shift+z:mouse pointer
shift+c marquee tool (i use this instead of the scissors as you can highlight a section and it will chop both ends)
shift+v fade
shift+p pencil tool
[ and ] i use to move forward a bar and move backwards a bar,
R i use to start recording
X opens up the mixer window (it splits the screen half way so the arrange page is still on top and the mixer is on bottom)
P replaces the mixer window with the piano roll editor (or if i push it first it will bring it up as the piano roll instead of the mixer)
ect ect. there is so many options. another really cool thing is the ability to build custom screen sets with the touch of a button. you assign them to the numeric keys, then lock them. then after that you push 1, 2, 3, or 4 ect. and your custom screensets come up.
if you make a template out of these you can get organize your mixes and songs very fast. i usually set my 1 to arrange page, 2 to mixer, and 3 to piano roll.
if you do end up going with logic, there is one key thing you should do right away though. for some reason apple made the metering in logic by default to be set to exponential instead of linear like every other daw in the world. so i would recomend changing it to linear right away then you wont have to worry about wonky meters ever again. just set it and forget it.
here is a link to show you what i am talking about:
http://600hz.blogspot.com/2009/12/look- ... eters.htmloverall, if your looking for an all in the box solution without breaking the bank, that has enough effects right out of the box to mix and master all your tracks, i would def go with logic. i like it way more than protools, and to some people that def says something.
along time ago (version 7 and earlier) logic used to be very hard to use as you could customize everything (and you still can) but after version 8 came out they made it (the gui) way more user friendly, and i would say that it just as easy to learn as any other daw. in the past, alot of people only liked logic for its use as a compsition tool, and it really shines in that respect, but now it does mixing and audio just as well as any other daw.
the one thing that protools might do better is editing of audio files, but once you get to know logic, it can be just about as good as protools imo, you just have to fiddle around with some key commands to get it to work how you want it to.
another really cool thing that logic has that protools lacks is the ability to bounce a song to almost any format you could desire. aiff, mp3, wav, ect ect.
you can also click 1 drop down menu button and select "export all tracks as audio files," with alot of other DAW's that ive used in the past, this process is much harder to do.
imo logic is by far the best DAW for bouncing tracks and exporting multitracks.
im still using version 8 and havent had the need to upgrade yet. ive ditched my protools long ago to go logic exclusive. good luck on whatever you choose, but if i were you, id def go logic!
