Apple officially shot down a rumor about the demise of its internal pro audio group in a response to a concerned user. Music marketing head Xander Soren responded to an e-mail on Monday, originally sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying the pro audio team is safe and sound, according to a copy seen by MacRumors. Soren added the team is "hard at work" on the next version of Logic Pro.

Apple's commitment to its pro users has been increasingly called into question since the release of Final Cut Pro X in mid-2011. Numerous users of Apple's previous versions of Final Cut Pro were put off by the changes and perplexed by the number of useful features seemingly dropped from the new release. Combined with Apple's lengthy gap between major Mac Pro hardware releases, pro users have begun to loudly voice their concerns about Apple's commitment to their sliver of the market.

This sentiment, no doubt, is what fed a recent rumor claiming Apple's pro audio team had been "decimated," according to sources speaking to Pro Tools Expert. The sources claimed Apple's European team was down to two employees with no replacements in sight, and that the "next big audio application from Apple will be for the iPad."

But Apple was apparently having none of it. Like Cook's rebuttal to an e-mail inquiry about the death of the Mac Pro, Soren responded to a user's e-mail about the future of the pro audio group. "As the lead for our music creation apps, I always want to hear what our users are thinking," Soren wrote. "I want to assure you the team is still in place and hard at work on the next version of Logic Pro."

As noted by MacRumors, the last major Logic Pro release came in mid-2009. The app and its live-performance companion MainStage 2 were moved to the Mac App Store last year, while Logic Express and Soundtrack Pro were left behind. Still, the software was otherwise left untouched. Perhaps it's time for that long-rumored Logic X to make an appearance?