Bare with me as this is a LONG post. I spent about 10 minutes with GarageBand today and spoke to a high level product specialist who answered some of my questions. Some things AREN'T listed here as they have been covered on this forum already.
Instruments:
The system is very modular. You can pick a pre made instrument, or you can choose one, change the settings (including the actual instrument of choice) and save that as a new instrument. So you have a set of actual instrument types, and then you have a set of instrument presets that have all the settings you like for that instrument. These you can change and save as much as you want.
In each preset window, you can change things like Instrument (as mentioned earlier), Compression, EQ, 2 Effects (including Audio Units), Echo and Reverb. So all this can be saved
It?s a bit confusing at first because of the two different ?instrument? types, but after a few minutes it makes sense. I only wish they?d name the presets something like Favorites instead of instruments.
Drums:
There are a BUNCH of preset drum kits in there, not sure how many, but more then 10 I think. I mention this just as an extra, but they work the same as any instrument, so you can make a preset that has say, a techno set, and change the compression, echo, effect, etc.
Other things of importance?
If you have a Core Audio compliant device, you can use it with GB. That means the Mbox and M-audio devices SHOULD work, as long as they are CA compatible.
You can record TWO DIFFERENT MONO tracks at a time, but only with something OTHER than Apple?s built-in audio input. That means if you have say, an M-audio 2 channel input device, not only can you record a stereo instrument, but you could record TWO different mono guitars at the same time to DIFFERENT tracks. Very cool.
You cannot keyframe/envelope effects. You can do this for volume, but not effects. This is expected with a consumer app. If you need super power, buy Logic.
Quantizing appears to only work to the 32nd note. I played a messy beat in with some fancy bass drum patterns?hitting the Fix Rhythm button actually changed my pattern quite a bit.
You CAN turn on a click track, AND a 4 count count-in to your recording (which I was HOPING was in there).
Track editing:
ANY midi loop or midi recorded track can be edited for pitch and beat. Plus you can view the track by Note, Modulation, Pitchbend, and Sustain, and you can do things like EDIT pitchbend using a dot and line system just like the envelopes in Soundtrack or the volume in iMovie. I assume you can change the other items using the same system. Very nice stuff.
There?s a transpose slider on each track, though I didn?t play with it at all. Drum tracks also have a Velocity slider, which I didn?t test.
Loops:
Two kinds, Midi and AIF. Green loops mean Midi, blue loops mean Audio, and you can actually see a symbol that looks like a mini wave form for the blue loops to help you differentiate the two.
There is some crossover with the ST library, but it?s not a total duplication.
Loops work fine in BOTH apps because the Midi loops contain an AIF file, so they are SUPPOSED to work in Soundtrack just fine.
Midi loops are fully editable, just like a Midi track. Audio loops are just like those in ST, you can?t mess with individual beats, etc.
Export:
Here?s something interesting. All you get is Export to iTunes. Thankfully, it?s in AIF format, and NOT Mp3, so you can convert it to something else, but it will always spit the file out and drop it into your iTunes library. This confirms my thoughts that this really IS an iApp, to compliment iMovie for making songs for your movies, which will of course, be in iMovies music list since it taps the iTunes library.
GarageBand looks amazing, but does anyone know if you can record midi or audio from virtual synths like Absynth or Battery and does it have effects options like normalise and reverse track? (A long shot, I know.... seing it's only just been unveiled!)
Im running Digital Performer with a MOTU 896 and, while I love the power, most of the time I dont need it....... Garageband would simplfy my recording process and selling the MOTU and DP will fund a new powerbook .... IF..... I can still use my Virtual synths....!!!
So you can't record to to two separate tracks using the built-in two-channel line input? You have to use something like MBox? Seems strange to me. Maybe the iMic is a cheap way around this.
On a related note, I realized I don't have a microphone input on my machine (15" FP iMac). I'm thinking I'll have to get a Griffin iMic or something. The home studio dream keeps getting a little more expensive. $50 for iLife, another $100 for the GarageBand add-ons, USB audio adapter, some kind of MIDI interface so I can plug in my Korg, ANOTHER interface so I can plug in guitars and microphones...
If GarageBand takes off (and it should), the trickle of fairly low-cost audio capture devices right now could turn into a flood, which will make things really easy for the average user to get going.
For instance, M-Audio just put out a USB, bus-powered pre-amp/interface. It's essentially the same product as their Duo USB (which I own), except that it's bus-powered, has plastic housing, and costs $149 instead of $250-300. Edirol and TASCAM also are coming out with inexpensive audio interfaces, and before long, there will be a cheap $99, 2-input, S/PDIF-out, 16/24-bit, USB or FireWire preamp/audio/MIDI interface for the masses. I would think Creative Labs might get involved as they're the big player in the overall computer audio market, but they've never batted an eye at the musician niche.
I stopped recording regularly last year, as I turned my attention towards writing literature, not music. But GarageBand is the thing to get me back in the groove, and as it's been 5 years since I've bought a computer, this is just the thing to get my arse in gear! The next PowerBook 12" rev with iLife 04 and the Jam Pack are mine.
On a related note, I realized I don't have a microphone input on my machine (15" FP iMac). I'm thinking I'll have to get a Griffin iMic or something. The home studio dream keeps getting a little more expensive. $50 for iLife, another $100 for the GarageBand add-ons, USB audio adapter, some kind of MIDI interface so I can plug in my Korg, ANOTHER interface so I can plug in guitars and microphones...
You need to shop smarter. There are devices on the GB accessories page that have MIDI I/O + Audio & preamps.
I have an iMic that I don't need laying around collecting dust. PM me if you are interested in it.
Man, those GarageBand sites that are open right now, they are just plain stankifyingly UGLY.
A story d'MacMinuté :
Quote:
Less than a week after the introduction of GarageBand, three new Web sites are ready to serve users of the music creation software. Among them isGarageBandExchange, GarageBandCreations, and SonicCat. Be sure to check back with these sites after GarageBand ships on January 16 as part of iLife '04 to see what features they will offer users.
I almost got a seven string (used) back in college. But even used it was more than I could afford.
But I drooled over it for a good three months.
I don't know about today, but six- and seven-strings became very popular when I was in college. RHCP were huge--and didn't suck yet --so of course everyone wanted to be the "next" Flea (and what better way to be better than to play a bass with more strings... ). And people were even beginning to hear of a band called "Primus" and some guy named Les who did the wierdest things with a bass and made it sound like an instrument that was destined for greater things than a mere rhythm keeper. I stuck with my puny, sad, cheap but reliable 4-string Fender and became a decent--though by no means great--player.
Gawd. Even thinking about playing that 7-string monstrosity at this point makes my fingers hurt! But maybe I'll be able to once again someday soon...
The instruments on that site are pretty wild! They do have pages for guitars and basses, but it looks like they blur the difference between the two to some point. I wish they had prices up so I could see just how unaffordable those works of art are.
Actually I've seen these things go for < $1,000 used at the local GC. They had two Conklin 7 strings for the longest time. I believe they aren't that unaffordable. In fact there are 2 Conklin 7 string basses for sale on Ebay right now and the bids are at $650 & 700 US.
I almost got a seven string (used) back in college. But even used it was more than I could afford.
But I drooled over it for a good three months.
I don't know about today, but six- and seven-strings became very popular when I was in college. RHCP were huge--and didn't suck yet --so of course everyone wanted to be the "next" Flea (and what better way to be better than to play a bass with more strings... ). And people were even beginning to hear of a band called "Primus" and some guy named Les who did the wierdest things with a bass and made it sound like an instrument that was destined for greater things than a mere rhythm keeper. I stuck with my puny, sad, cheap but reliable 4-string Fender and became a decent--though by no means great--player.
Gawd. Even thinking about playing that 7-string monstrosity at this point makes my fingers hurt! But maybe I'll be able to once again someday soon...
How about this 8)
Note, the world's only double neck fretted/fretless 7 string bass
Oh yeah, these aren't mine, I'm a 4 string purist, but I still think that 7 strings are pretty neat.
Comments
Bare with me as this is a LONG post. I spent about 10 minutes with GarageBand today and spoke to a high level product specialist who answered some of my questions. Some things AREN'T listed here as they have been covered on this forum already.
Instruments:
The system is very modular. You can pick a pre made instrument, or you can choose one, change the settings (including the actual instrument of choice) and save that as a new instrument. So you have a set of actual instrument types, and then you have a set of instrument presets that have all the settings you like for that instrument. These you can change and save as much as you want.
In each preset window, you can change things like Instrument (as mentioned earlier), Compression, EQ, 2 Effects (including Audio Units), Echo and Reverb. So all this can be saved
It?s a bit confusing at first because of the two different ?instrument? types, but after a few minutes it makes sense. I only wish they?d name the presets something like Favorites instead of instruments.
Drums:
There are a BUNCH of preset drum kits in there, not sure how many, but more then 10 I think. I mention this just as an extra, but they work the same as any instrument, so you can make a preset that has say, a techno set, and change the compression, echo, effect, etc.
Other things of importance?
If you have a Core Audio compliant device, you can use it with GB. That means the Mbox and M-audio devices SHOULD work, as long as they are CA compatible.
You can record TWO DIFFERENT MONO tracks at a time, but only with something OTHER than Apple?s built-in audio input. That means if you have say, an M-audio 2 channel input device, not only can you record a stereo instrument, but you could record TWO different mono guitars at the same time to DIFFERENT tracks. Very cool.
You cannot keyframe/envelope effects. You can do this for volume, but not effects. This is expected with a consumer app. If you need super power, buy Logic.
Quantizing appears to only work to the 32nd note. I played a messy beat in with some fancy bass drum patterns?hitting the Fix Rhythm button actually changed my pattern quite a bit.
You CAN turn on a click track, AND a 4 count count-in to your recording (which I was HOPING was in there).
Track editing:
ANY midi loop or midi recorded track can be edited for pitch and beat. Plus you can view the track by Note, Modulation, Pitchbend, and Sustain, and you can do things like EDIT pitchbend using a dot and line system just like the envelopes in Soundtrack or the volume in iMovie. I assume you can change the other items using the same system. Very nice stuff.
There?s a transpose slider on each track, though I didn?t play with it at all. Drum tracks also have a Velocity slider, which I didn?t test.
Loops:
Two kinds, Midi and AIF. Green loops mean Midi, blue loops mean Audio, and you can actually see a symbol that looks like a mini wave form for the blue loops to help you differentiate the two.
There is some crossover with the ST library, but it?s not a total duplication.
Loops work fine in BOTH apps because the Midi loops contain an AIF file, so they are SUPPOSED to work in Soundtrack just fine.
Midi loops are fully editable, just like a Midi track. Audio loops are just like those in ST, you can?t mess with individual beats, etc.
Export:
Here?s something interesting. All you get is Export to iTunes. Thankfully, it?s in AIF format, and NOT Mp3, so you can convert it to something else, but it will always spit the file out and drop it into your iTunes library. This confirms my thoughts that this really IS an iApp, to compliment iMovie for making songs for your movies, which will of course, be in iMovies music list since it taps the iTunes library.
Originally posted by Nebagakid
can it open MiDi Files as multi-tracks?
That's what I want to know too.
Originally posted by BRussell
mmmmmmmmm
I have to have it now. Damn it.
Im running Digital Performer with a MOTU 896 and, while I love the power, most of the time I dont need it....... Garageband would simplfy my recording process and selling the MOTU and DP will fund a new powerbook .... IF..... I can still use my Virtual synths....!!!
Any help on this would be appreciated....
Thanks
B
Originally posted by Carson O'Genic
Them is some nice guitars.
BASS guitars
those things have a 34"+ scale length and low F# strings
On a related note, I realized I don't have a microphone input on my machine (15" FP iMac). I'm thinking I'll have to get a Griffin iMic or something. The home studio dream keeps getting a little more expensive. $50 for iLife, another $100 for the GarageBand add-ons, USB audio adapter, some kind of MIDI interface so I can plug in my Korg, ANOTHER interface so I can plug in guitars and microphones...
For instance, M-Audio just put out a USB, bus-powered pre-amp/interface. It's essentially the same product as their Duo USB (which I own), except that it's bus-powered, has plastic housing, and costs $149 instead of $250-300. Edirol and TASCAM also are coming out with inexpensive audio interfaces, and before long, there will be a cheap $99, 2-input, S/PDIF-out, 16/24-bit, USB or FireWire preamp/audio/MIDI interface for the masses. I would think Creative Labs might get involved as they're the big player in the overall computer audio market, but they've never batted an eye at the musician niche.
I stopped recording regularly last year, as I turned my attention towards writing literature, not music. But GarageBand is the thing to get me back in the groove, and as it's been 5 years since I've bought a computer, this is just the thing to get my arse in gear! The next PowerBook 12" rev with iLife 04 and the Jam Pack are mine.
Originally posted by mlnjr
The built-in line-in on what?
On a related note, I realized I don't have a microphone input on my machine (15" FP iMac). I'm thinking I'll have to get a Griffin iMic or something. The home studio dream keeps getting a little more expensive. $50 for iLife, another $100 for the GarageBand add-ons, USB audio adapter, some kind of MIDI interface so I can plug in my Korg, ANOTHER interface so I can plug in guitars and microphones...
You need to shop smarter. There are devices on the GB accessories page that have MIDI I/O + Audio & preamps.
I have an iMic that I don't need laying around collecting dust. PM me if you are interested in it.
A story d'MacMinuté :
Less than a week after the introduction of GarageBand, three new Web sites are ready to serve users of the music creation software. Among them isGarageBandExchange, GarageBandCreations, and SonicCat. Be sure to check back with these sites after GarageBand ships on January 16 as part of iLife '04 to see what features they will offer users.
I think I'm going to have to take a trip down to the local Guitar Center to see what they recommend.
Thanks, PBG4, but I actually have a closer connection here.
Originally posted by Carson O'Genic
Them is some nice guitars.
It's a bass.
I almost got a seven string (used) back in college. But even used it was more than I could afford.
But I drooled over it for a good three months.
I don't know about today, but six- and seven-strings became very popular when I was in college. RHCP were huge--and didn't suck yet
Gawd. Even thinking about playing that 7-string monstrosity at this point makes my fingers hurt! But maybe I'll be able to once again someday soon...
Originally posted by DCQ
It's a bass.
I almost got a seven string (used) back in college. But even used it was more than I could afford.
But I drooled over it for a good three months.
I don't know about today, but six- and seven-strings became very popular when I was in college. RHCP were huge--and didn't suck yet
Gawd. Even thinking about playing that 7-string monstrosity at this point makes my fingers hurt! But maybe I'll be able to once again someday soon...
How about this 8)
Note, the world's only double neck fretted/fretless 7 string bass
Oh yeah, these aren't mine, I'm a 4 string purist, but I still think that 7 strings are pretty neat.