It seems we weren’t the only ones surprised by Logic 7.2 shipping early — only, if you’re a plug-in developer trying to finish a Universal Binary for the new Intel Macs, you might not be so pleasantly surprised. Such seems to be the case with Audio Damage who planned to finish plug-ins in time for the arrival of Logic Pro, expected to be the first Intel-compatible host in March.
Is this bad news? As far as I can tell from 7.2’s documentation, it doesn’t look like there are significant changes to plug-in handling as there were with 7.0x and 7.1, so if you don’t have an Intel machine, 7.2 should still be ready to go. (As always, of course, you’ll want to test and be ready to downgrade if necessary!)
Overall, I think that Apple is ahead of the curve is likely a very good thing. Ableton Live is also expected to ship soon with Intel support, as are a long list of drivers, applications, and hosts (we’ll be updating that Mactel list by early next week here at CDM). So while, er, while right sthis instant is probably a premature time to take the plunge into Intel-based Macs, March or April and after could be about right. Put a new MacBook Pro on your St. Patrick’s Day wish list, or better yet, April Fool’s. (The perfect day, as the launch date of the original Apple I, and the only date you’d expect to see a Mac with Intel Inside.)