Logic Pro - level of professionalism & interface

3 questions:

Ok. Shoot.

1. Logic Pro is an ABSOLUTE professional software? The built-in sounds/samples are enough professional in order to be used on official studio recordings?

Yes. If a Casio VL-1 is "professional" enough to be used on official studio recordings, then Logic's instruments certainly are. That doesn't mean you can't get better in any given category, and it really depends on your tastes and requirements.

2. There are sound/sample plug-ins additional softwares recommended by Apple for Logic Pro 8?

Again, it depends on your budget and requirements. There are a million plugins and sample libraries out there, from cheap to hyper-expensive.

3. If I will want to record a guitar I'll need an interface, right?

Er yes, if you want to be an "ABSOLUTE professional".

Which are the recommended interfaces?

If you want something simple, good quality, working great with Logic, then you can do worse than something like the Apogee Duet, unless your requirements mean you want more I/O.

The recording performance on iMac is not determined/dependent by the quality of the sound card?

The quality of the sound card's electronics (especially the preamps and A/D convertors will determine the quality of all your recorded audio.

The quality of the audio interface drivers will determine how efficiently and how well it works with the audio software.

Therefore, getting a decent, reputable audio interface is recommended.

An iMac with 3.06GHz and 4Gb has a good sound card which to permit professional recordings?

No, internally it has crappy, consumer level audio, a consumer mic input with no phantom powering. While you can certainly monitor from it if nothing else is around, it doesn't qualify as being ABSOLUTE professional... 😉

The one you recommended, Apogee Duet, is one of the "reputable" ones?

Do you think I would recommend something that was cheap garbage? That wouldn't be much of a recommendation, eh?

Yes, the Duet is a great interface at a budget price, if it has the features you need.

Bee Jay:
Do you think I would recommend something that was cheap garbage?

It's the most expensive with these specs, I believe...

Cheap garbage is overfutzy™ - and you can never Futz it up™ to quality...
🙂

You can use whatever you want. YOU'RE THE CAPTAIN!

you cannot buy an iMac with a different internal soundcard.

If you wanna be really absolutely professional get an Apogee Duet or similar.
But consider some things first...
How many inputs do you need to record simultaneously?
How many outputs will you need? e.g. 2=stereo monitors (speakers), more would allow you to have Surround Sound output...

Logic is plenty professional enough. Absolutely! 😉

In this case, what would be your recommendation?

For the third time now:-
A P O G E E D U E T

You can use whatever you want. YOU'RE THE CAPTAIN!

Thanks.

Now I need a new cup of coffee and a mop...


😉

For all intents and purposes an audio interface is essentially a sound card!

Look - an Apogee Duet will allow you to record instruments IN to your Mac and allow you to hear sounds coming OUT of your Mac.

Look at the Apple Logic studio website. You should see a recommendation for the Duet.

The Apogee Duet is NOT a sound card, it is an audio interface.

Audio interface = External sound card

It's circuits to record and playback sound, with A/D convertors (sound in), D/A convertors (sound out and associated drivers.

The only difference is that a "sound card" (from the PC world) is usually something you put inside your computer, and audio interface is a "sound card in a box". You can't put stuff inside an iMac, hence, if you don't want to use it's inbuilt audio hardware in your iMac, you need to buy better, external audio hardware.