Apple’s professional applications for photo editing, audio production, and music editing are fantastic, but the Mac and iPad versions have historically been sold separately, with the Mac versions only offered through expensive one-time purchases. Now, there’s another option for getting all of them: the Apple Creator Studio subscription.
Apple Creator Studio is a new package that includes the Final Cut Pro video editor, Logic Pro audio workstation, and Pixelmator Pro image editor. You get the Mac and iPad versions of each app, which is the first time they have been sold together. This is also the first time Pixelmator Pro has been available for iPad.
The subscription is available for $13 per month, or $129 per year, and a discounted rate of $3/month or $30/year is available to “college students and educators.” That’s far less expensive than Adobe’s various subscriptions—Creative Cloud Pro with Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, and Acrobat Pro is $70/month on annual billing.
Thankfully, the one-time purchase versions of these apps are sticking around, but they are still limited to the Mac. You can get Final Cut Pro for $300, Logic Pro for $200, Motion for $50, Compressor for $50, and MainStage for $30 from the Mac App Store. The Pro Apps Bundle for Education is also still available for $200 if you’re a student or educator, which is a fantastic deal.
Final Cut Pro is Apple’s professional video editor, comparable to DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere Pro. It has more of a learning curve than more basic tools like Clipchamp or iMovie, but I enjoy using it, especially with recent improvements like magnetic masking. Logic Pro is an audio workstation for music composition or general audio editing—I use it for making podcasts. Finally, Pixelmator Pro is an alternative to Adobe Photoshop or GIMP.
The one missing app from this new bundle is Photomator, the alternative to Adobe Lightroom developed by the same team as Pixelmator. It still costs $8/month, $30/year or $120 for a lifetime license. It’s a bit strange that Apple left it out of the Creator Studio package, especially since it’s already available across Mac and iPad.
This also unlocks additional features in Apple’s Keynote, Pages, and Numbers applications. You get a library of photos, graphics, and illustrations for use in your documents, along with new “premium templates and themes.” Keynote can also create a first draft of a presentation from a text outline, and Numbers can generate formulas for you based on text prompts.
Apple Creator Studio will be available starting January 28 for $13 per month, or $129 per year. Some new Mac and iPad purchases will also include three months of the subscription.
Source: Apple
