garageband gui

a_greer · January 7, 2004 9:27PM

as usual apple hits another grand-slam in app design smashing the windows competition, but i only have one question, i do love the darker gui of GB (as aposed to the still beutiful brushed meatl of 'old?') what is up with a totaly different color scheme in gb than the other iapps, did steve demo the real thing? was it perhaps a pre-preduction beta with web updates of the real gui to come on release or could we soon see a 4.1 upgrade (4.3 for itunes) with this new cool look?

thx

nebagakid · January 7, 2004 9:33PM

uhm.. did you missed the wood grain? GAH.. The GUI is inconsistent... very inconsistent.. MacThemes.net is going to have a review of it tomorrow along with an interview of who is going to make a theme of it.

But man, it is inconsistent and it may confuse new users who are expecting either Aqua or Brushed Metal

wrong robot · January 7, 2004 9:56PM

I hope apple doesn't darken the whole UI, that'd be lame, I like where it is now.

jeremiah rich · January 7, 2004 10:08PM

As funny as this may seem, I think it is to appeal to the people Apple expects to use it the most. They like the "cool black" look and such. I dunno.

neutrixx · January 7, 2004 11:12PM

Personally, being a paid musician who uses Reason, Live and Logic day to day, I love the new main window on GarageBand. The wood siding on it looks amazing, and adds a touch of warmth to the whole interface. It reminds me of the vintage mixers from the 70's! Incredible detail. Another inspiring piece of finely crafted software.

Thank you very much Apple!

chu_bakka · January 8, 2004 12:05AM

If you've ever seen a sound board in a recording studio... you would get the wood grain metaphor in the GUI. It's just a nice touch to the look. It's not a theme. And I think the darker metal look is a reference to a sound equipment gear look. Not a new trend for apple... just GUI touches for the GarageBand musician,

ghost_user_name · January 8, 2004 1:19AM

Garage Band is part of iLife.

As such, it belongs in Digital Hub. Moving now...

mlnjr · January 8, 2004 3:37AM

chu_bakka's got the right idea. The Garage Band interface also brings to mind how the plugins that work with DAW applications like ProTools tend to look like real-world devices. When you fire up Amp Farm in ProTools and get it to run your sound through some old Marshall or Fender amp or whatever, the on-screen controls for the plugins change to mimic the look of those actual amplifiers--the knobs and switches and such. I always liked that, personally.

If you want to see a beautiful thing, though, go to the PR section of Apple's site and grab the image of the GarageBand interface. Viewing that at 100% (way larger than it would need to look on-screen in the actual application, but the high-res image is necessary to ensure the best printing quality) made me drool.

(NB, the images for download on the PR site are for media and analysts only, yadda yadda. I won't post a direct link to the GarageBand material here just 'cause I don't want to piss off Apple or abuse posting guidelines or whatever. You'll have to read a usage agreement before you can download any images. Fire up your browser of choice and type apple/pr in the address field.)

ipodandimac · January 8, 2004 4:30AM

bad post. sorry.

ipodandimac · January 8, 2004 4:31AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremiah Rich

As funny as this may seem, I think it is to appeal to the people Apple expects to use it the most. They like the "cool black" look and such. I dunno.

i'm the type. i love the black (not the wood though).

talksense101 · January 8, 2004 5:38AM

What is the problem with posting a link to an URL from Apple's website? It says it is for media and analysts. { I always considered myself to be an analyst.

}

Screenshots of iLife '04

mlnjr · January 8, 2004 5:50AM

Talksense, then you didn't look hard or actually attempt to view any of the PR photos. If you click on any of the links on the page you just posted, you first have to agree to Apple's terms. Once you agree, the image you selected begins downloading to your computer.

It's probably not a huge deal for someone who's not part of the media or an "analyst" (whatever that really means) to poke around the PR section of Apple's web site. I think the gist of the agreement Apple makes you adhere to is that you understand you can't alter the images or use them for profit or something.

mac+ · January 8, 2004 6:41AM

The woodgrain effect is a nice touch - designed to appeal to "old school musos"... in fact, it reminds me of the old Minimoog.

Speaking of which, I often wonder about the origins of Moogs name - and what his thoughts are about the GB GUI... ??

\

a_greer · January 8, 2004 12:08PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chu_bakka

If you've ever seen a sound board in a recording studio... you would get the wood grain metaphor in the GUI. It's just a nice touch to the look. It's not a theme. And I think the darker metal look is a reference to a sound equipment gear look. Not a new trend for apple... just GUI touches for the GarageBand musician,

as a windows user i never put the 2+2 together here, they make programs look like the tools they duplicat and/or repace, the gui does match studio decore.

come to think of it apple has done this before, look at Shake on osx.

rok · January 8, 2004 12:37PM

i think you folks are over-thinking it. logic looked this way, as did much of final cut when apple purchased both programs. out of logic and final cut spat soundtrack, and out of soundtrack spat garageband.

i feel like starting a thread along the lines of "how many companies make up apple anyway?" with all of the different camps with different teams, agendas and managers, everything seems more and more inconsistent with every upgrade. sure, they all work together, but still...

jasonfj · January 9, 2004 6:15AM

so how do Soundtrack and Garageband compare? I have Soundtrack - do I still want Garageband?

bigblue · January 9, 2004 6:50AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jasonfj

so how do Soundtrack and Garageband compare? I have Soundtrack - do I still want Garageband?

Only if you want/need MIDI connection and features.

jasonfj · January 9, 2004 7:05AM

Does GB have any effects capabilities? I do have a MIDI keyboard that I bought to use with Reason (except I gave up learning the software). It would be nice to see MIDI incorporated in future Soundtrack revisions, or do Apple have something else in the pipeline?

giant · January 9, 2004 9:24AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rok

logic looked this way

Logic looks exactly as it has since version 4, and it stands out because it looks little like any real world hardware.

That said, almost all audio applications, soft synths and plugs mimic the look of hardware. And, yeah, wood grain is extremely common.

composer · January 9, 2004 9:52AM

Just to chime in as a user of "real world" hardware and software, it's frustrating when people design software to mimic real-world interfaces. It's needless and bad interface design. Anyone remember the thumb-wheel of QT4 fame?

The same can be said for DAWs and Plug-ins that use knobs and switches. How do you turn a knob with a mouse? You can't. You "turn" the knob by engaging a linear motion on a non-linear object. Up-or down? Left or right? I myself have been confused as different software developers use different conventions.

That being said, yes the black and wood is meant to look like a studio console, but the similarities should end there. Notice that they use a knob for panning. Why? A slider would be better design and intuitive to use. The only thing I'm happy about is the fact that there isn't a mixer. That analogy which is carried over with nearly every DAW is always poorly implemented. Automation lines drawn on the track itself make more sense and eliminate the need for a computer-screen mixer.

Tell you what. Take a look at what GarageBand could be:Tracktion from Raw Material Software. NO mixer, NO confusing "hey it looks like a Mackie" design. Nostalgia has no place in a computer interface.

- Composer

a_greer · January 9, 2004 2:54PM

i think buyers of sound trak should get a FREE UPGRADE building midi and insterment/amp sim into soundtrak, otherwise apple may as well build 35 or 40 fcp features into imovie

garageband gui

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