Did Fedex come yet? Post Garageband reviews/comments here
Lots of people have started getting their Garagebands today, so I thought we could post reviews and comments here. I don't have a full review yet, but I've been playing around for a couple of hours, and have a few comments.
My biggest fear has been alleviated - you absolutely CAN transpose "track regions." So in other words, if you find a nice guitar lick in the provided loops, and it starts in C, you can set it to go for 12 measures. Then you can go in and changes measure 5 and 6 to F, then to G, etc. So you can do chord changes and have a limited band-in-a-box functionality.
For example, they have several really simple guitar loops where it's just strumming one chord for one measure. You wouldn't want that going the whole song, but you could transpose the chord up or down so it changes along with the chords of the song. It doesn't sound the same as a real guitar changing from C to F to G (unless you're just using the same barre chord and moving it around
), but it's not bad.
Of course, you can't change the color of the chord from major to minor to 7, etc., but there is a search function that allows you to search for minor or major loops, so that's a start anyway. And you can edit the notes, and other stuff, in the software instruments, so at least theoretically you could add a 7th or whatever other color you wanted that way - but only with the "green" tracks, i.e., the software instruments (either Apple-provided or the ones you record yourself).
Also, the MIDI editor isn't bad. Not a lot of power like some MIDI editors, but it does the job. I haven't found a way to export or import standard MIDI files, and I think that would be a huge whole in the program, but I don't want to say for sure that there's no way to do it just because I haven't found it.
My biggest fear has been alleviated - you absolutely CAN transpose "track regions." So in other words, if you find a nice guitar lick in the provided loops, and it starts in C, you can set it to go for 12 measures. Then you can go in and changes measure 5 and 6 to F, then to G, etc. So you can do chord changes and have a limited band-in-a-box functionality.
For example, they have several really simple guitar loops where it's just strumming one chord for one measure. You wouldn't want that going the whole song, but you could transpose the chord up or down so it changes along with the chords of the song. It doesn't sound the same as a real guitar changing from C to F to G (unless you're just using the same barre chord and moving it around
), but it's not bad.Of course, you can't change the color of the chord from major to minor to 7, etc., but there is a search function that allows you to search for minor or major loops, so that's a start anyway. And you can edit the notes, and other stuff, in the software instruments, so at least theoretically you could add a 7th or whatever other color you wanted that way - but only with the "green" tracks, i.e., the software instruments (either Apple-provided or the ones you record yourself).
Also, the MIDI editor isn't bad. Not a lot of power like some MIDI editors, but it does the job. I haven't found a way to export or import standard MIDI files, and I think that would be a huge whole in the program, but I don't want to say for sure that there's no way to do it just because I haven't found it.
Comments
Hey, how do the software instruments sound? The bagpipes and pedal steel in particular? Pretty good?
Do you have a keyboard? That M-Audio one?
I'm glad what you reported about the key change/transpose thing. I was starting to get a bit bummed at the prospect of everything staying in one key for 3 minutes.
I don't have a keyboard, so I'm at a severe disadvantage playing with GB. I've started to work on the CFO, telling her how cool GB is, and how much fun the kids would have with it, but it will take time. Heck, it took two years to get that iPod!
Originally posted by pscates
Well, post a song!.
Hey, how do the software instruments sound? The bagpipes and pedal steel in particular? Pretty good?
Do you have a keyboard? That M-Audio one?
I'm glad what you reported about the key change/transpose thing. I was starting to get a bit bummed at the prospect of everything staying in one key for 3 minutes.
I've got a big honkin' piano-sized Yamaha, and the Edirol UM-1 MIDI-USB interface, and everything works flawlessly. As far as their sound, I don't have enough experience with different sounds to say. It sounds fine to me, but I really can't make any comparisons.
I didn't see bagpipes or pedal steel, either in Software Instruments for the keyboard or in the Apple Loops. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place, or maybe they're in the Jam Pack - I ordered it but haven't received it yet. I did see a loop called "Armpit Fart, Eb minor, 94 beats/minute" though. Weird, huh?
I also haven't tried the guitar amps yet - my PowerBook doesn't have line-in, I don't have a guitar-USB interface, and my iMac doesn't have a DVD drive to install Garageband. Maybe I'll figure something out this weekend.
One thing I underestimated the coolness of is all the effects. You can run anything - loops, mics, guitar, MIDI keyboard - through Garageband and have at your disposal a zillion effects-pedal type effects. Reverb, wah, echo, compression, flanger, etc. etc., not to mention basic things like equalizer-type functions.
My keyboard has a ton of built-in sounds, and I noticed that I could set the Software Instrument to "DLSMusicDevice" (no idea what that stands for), and as I cycled through the instruments on my keyboard Garageband would pick one up every once in a while and play it. Not sure what was going on there, though - maybe it was matching a Software Instrument it had built-in in Garageband to what was in my keyboard.
Originally posted by BRussell
I didn't see bagpipes or pedal steel, either in Software Instruments for the keyboard or in the Apple Loops.
Hmm...
I THINK that's a bagpipe on this pic from Apple's GarageBand section on their site:
Between the trombone and harmonica? Or is it a mangled, headless duck?
And I saw a little icon for a pedal steel guitar SOMEWHERE, but can't remember. Cool.
I can't wait until I get mine!
Bagpipe music huh? Great, I can hardly wait.
Got GarageBand today. Playing with it, it appears frighteningly similar to the "trackers" that were popular in the late eighties/early nineties (remember OctaMED?) Of course, it's a whole level of sophistication ahead with samples replaced with loops and virtual instruments. That's 12 years of R&D for you...
Disappointed there's no score view. Other than that it seems a nice app and I'm looking forward to wasting my weekend in front of my PowerBook...
I've made 3 tracks so far, no songs yet, what I've made are just 1 minute long 'crashes' just learning how to use the program and such.
I used an Oxygen8 keyboard, it worked right off the bat, no drivers, no nothing, I love it when things work so well.
The program is COOL everything is very intuitive, and easy to figure out.
there are surprisingly little menu options, which I'm not used to, also there is no Right click drop down menu, which is doubly weird, but there doesn't really need to be because the program is so straight forward.
it's so nice to be able to plug my bass in direct, hit record and just play!
without worrying about amplification and such.
The presets
Are fantastic, all the effects and sound processing doohickies are clearly labeled, easy to access, and fairly easy to modify.
the virtual instruments
In Pscates' thread I posted a list of all the Standard included instruments, I have gone thru most of them, and am very pleased with them.
the drum kits leave MUCH to be desired, but there are some cool sounds in there, but there are only like 6 kits, which stinks!
But there ARE many many many awesome drum loops, so that's been tiding me over for now.
All in all, I LOVE THIS PROGRAM! it is exactly what I've been waiting for, and it's better than I imagined it would be.
Originally posted by crazychester
What about different time signatures?
Bagpipe music huh? Great, I can hardly wait.
time signatures offered:
2/2
2/4
3/4
4/4
5/4
7/4
6/8
7/8
9/8
12/8
not bad, but I wish you could set your own like in reason.
As I understand it, it won't let you play loops in different time signatures against each other even tho' musically this is possible. It won't let you play a 2/4 loop against one in 3/4 will it? But you could create a "round" couldn't you? Like say repeat the same loop in several tracks but offest the first beat in the measure.
In a decidedly un-Apple-like way, when you click on the widget to close the GarageBand window, the application quits. You can't have more than one song open at a time (which is fine and makes sense from a memory and performance standpoint) but just because I want to get that window out of the way doesn't mean I want to quit the program. Maybe I'd like to open an old song or start a new recording.
Second little nitpick:
I have a G4 iMac with an 800 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. Granted I have just the bare minimum as far as the RAM requirements for GarageBand go, but I do have a faster processor than what's recommended. The problem is that I've had to tell GB to configure itself for "better performance," as if I have a G3. A dialog box popped up recommending that to me when I first started up the application and tried playing each of the demo songs. Right out of the box, the product demos were too much for my computer.
Yeah, I know, I know. I need more RAM.
I agree 100%, at least GB loads pretty quickly
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Re: first nitpick
I agree 100%, at least GB loads pretty quickly
GB takes close to a minute to load on my QuickSilver 933.
Originally posted by crazychester
So are there many loops available in less common time sigs?
As I understand it, it won't let you play loops in different time signatures against each other even tho' musically this is possible. It won't let you play a 2/4 loop against one in 3/4 will it? But you could create a "round" couldn't you? Like say repeat the same loop in several tracks but offest the first beat in the measure.
There don't appear to be any loops in 7. Yes, I'd think you can offset loops in the "round" manner you suggest, just by sliding their positions around within the track.
I'm a guitarist and singer, so I can't really speak for the midi stuff. I spent about 3 hours last night getting my guitars set up on it (special thanks to FellowshipiBook for lending me an ear a couple of times).
Here are my initial impressions:
Acoustic guitar:
Pre-GB, I would have to have my Mackie 12-channel mixer, my Baggs para-acoustic DI, two 31-band EQs, BBE, and a ton of outboard stuff to get my acoustic sounding right once the signal got into the machine. Last night, I got the built in 31-band EQ set, added some compression and reverb, and the thing sounds, I think, quite good. Admittedly, I'm running a nice Audio Technica internal mic in the thing (actually one of those clip-on saxophone mics attached to a back brace), but you'd just about never know that there wasn't a mic out in front. Here's what's coolest about this: I have ALL OF THIS saved as a preset, so when I plug in my acoustic to lay down a track, all I have to do is select the preset and all my effects and EQs and whatnot are loaded, and my guitar sounds just like it did the last time. This is an INCREDIBLE time-saver. My workhorse acoustic is a cedar-top 1991 Seagull S-6 with a built in LR Baggs piezo system (which I'm not using anymore; just the mic). I haven't tried my nicer acoustics on it.
Electric guitar:
Pre-GB, I would drag out my 60s Silvertone 1472 (1-12", all tube, 50w) and my 1993/4-ish Crate (don't laugh, it's one of those "vintage" series, and it sounds GREAT) 2-12" all tube 100-watt amp, my box of pain (big muff, wah, Ross phaser, Boss chorus, etc). SM-57s to mic the cabinets. The Mackie to route the signals into the Mac. Now, I plug my electric (a 1993-ish Godin Artisan ST) straight into the preamp and select "my electric" from the presets. It sounds like my Crate 2-12". Now, of course, you're missing some of the harmonic overtones of the real cabinet, and you'll never get the thing to feed back if you want it to, but to my (pretty damned trained) ear it sounds awfully good, and is a small price to pay for being able to record without rattling the windows or having the neighbors call the cops because of the noise. My only complaint about the electric is that some of the default settings are REALLY quiet, but that's easily remedied.
Bass:
I'm not much of a bassist, and so I've not had much time to mess with it. My Fender fretless jazz bass sounds really quite nice on the "round bass" preset. And again, no amps. No effects. This has actually been the first time I've been able to record this bass at home, since I don't own the proper compressors to make it sound right.
The App itself:
Works fine on my G4/533, but I haven't really pushed it much. Audio latency on things like vocal tracks is absolutely negligible (I recorded some 3-part last night, and had no trouble whatsoever). I've recorded in studios where the latency was worse. As others have noted, it's really intuitive, and surprisingly responsive considering the age of my machine. The loops are surprisingly good, although as someone else mentioned, I'd really like to see more flexibility vis a vis the time signatures (I do a lot in 6/8, and the loops in 3/4 or 6/8 are limited...but there's ways around that). The loops are easily editable.
My only real complaint at this point is with the choices of keys. You're REALLY limited to the range of keys for loops (like with piano loops). There's a transpose feature, but it's not very intuitive (you change keys by providing numbers (1, 2, 3, -1, -2, -3) for the amount of key change you want. If someone would explain this for me (e.g. explain how I make a loop in C that I need to be in G do the thing and the stuff), I'd appreciate it.
If anyone would like some sound files, I'm willing to noodle with various settings and place files on my idisk. Let me know.
Cheers
Scott
It's not so much that it's doing anything really new. The important thing here is that like the other iApps, Apple has kept a KISS philosophy in designing the interface for GB, and it makes it both inviting and intuitive. I've worked with more pro apps (I go all the way back to MasterTracks Pro on my Apple IIgs!), and the simplification of the interface definitely goes a long way towards shortening the required learning curve.
Loops and software instruments are within easy reach, though the details are hidden unless you choose to expose them. The G5 machine I used was hooked up to an Edirol MIDI controller/keyboard. There was no detectable keyboard latency. I first played with the instruments. I was looking for a Hammond B3, and I choose Classic Rock organ because it sounded closest. Maybe the Rock organ would be better. Then I put in some piano. The grand isn't bad. I like the electric pianos more. The software guitars are like most other software guitars - not very impressive, but what are you gonna do?
Didn't have much time to play around with the drum kits, so I went with loops. They're pretty good, but I didn't quite find the one I wanted among the Modern Rock and Vintage Rock loops. No matter, I used one that worked in a pinch, and when I buy this, I'll get to work the drum kits. There were tons of other percussion, which is a huge plus. The classifications are a nice try, but probably unnecessary.
I had an idea for a song that I came up with on Friday, and other than lyrics and a basic chord progression that I worked out from home, I had not recorded it. So I figured it'd be a good test. I was able to construct much of the song in about a half-hour, including drum fills and extra stuff, like "vinyl scratch". It had me floored.
The only thing missing was a true audio input device and a mic or line-in to plug in a guitar. If the audio works as I think it should, I probably would've had a decent demo finished within a couple hours, which would be a record for me. That's what excites me about GB. I'm no pro, believe me, but I like to think I have some ability. GB will allow me to break down the barrier somewhat between having an idea and realizing it. For me it will be a scratchpad, and soon I'll be able to tote around a slick portable rig with a PowerBook, an M-Audio Duo, Oxygen8, a condensor mic, and a guitar if I want. It'll be one tough month before I get my PowerBook.
Originally posted by JBL
I'm not really a musician so the first thing I did was open the demo songs. Every one of them gives me a series of errors (#-61). Each error seems to be assoicated with an aiff file with the same name as one of the instruments. The tracks play fine (at least they sound okay) but this certainly isn't the expected behavior. Anyone else have a similar problem and/or an explanation?