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A GB review!

Originally posted by thatguy_youknow
GarageBand runs like poop on my iBook 700. Oh well, iPhoto and iMovie was worth the price.
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Yeah, I didn't even bother to try it on my iBook 600. The price of progress, I guess.

Having fun with it on my dual G4, though. As Sheryl Crow said, it seems to be a great musical sketchpad. Definitely easier to crank a quickie out in GB than in a combination of SoundTrack and Logic. Doesn't make sense to do serious work in GB, but that's not what it's intended for, so I have only positive things to say about it.

At $50 for the suite, Apple's basically giving it away. I hope they know what they're doing . . .
 
Originally posted by jer2665
i just went to the apple store. you can play with loops and hook up guitars but you cant use midi keyboards and stuff like that. kinda frustrating...
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At the store in Columbus, they had GB installed on some machines, but hadn't yet installed it on the machines that had the keyboards. They said they wouldn't have any of the M-Audio 49e keyboards to sell for a week anyway, and I found out about the huge edu discount on iLife (and Panther) so I've ordered online. The online store said 4-6 weeks wait on the keyboard! So I guess I'll be heading back to the store for the hardware.
 
I would review GB, but the installer just killed my hard drive. Completely. So I not only can't play with what looks like a really fun program, but I can't use my computer.

Now, I can understand compatibility issues with older machines, but we're talking a 933 mhz G4.

Oh, well. At least I can call Apple support for free, right? Right?

Oh.

Never mind.
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
in all fairness, it's about damn time

i'm looking forward to picking up ilife tomorrow at an apple store. has anyone gone to a retail store and been told they had sold out?? just don't want to get hosed is all.

thanks
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yeah, i was just at the apple store at easton town center, and there were tons and tons of copies, i don't think you'll have a problem.
 
Well i went and picked up my copy at CompUSA. Mostly for Garage Band but i think the rest of the iLife upgrade is well worth it. Those tricky sales people only had the "Family Pack" on display so i had to ask a bit but the single users were in a cart as they had just got them in the store hours earlier. Installation was a breeze. I bought a Griffin iMic for 35 bucks also at CompUSA a while back to transfer LPs into the computer. Turns out it works perfectly with Garage Band. I was a little concerned as I had tested the iMic with pro audio app Digital Performer before and a demo of the audio app Tracktion to no avail. So if you don't feel like going broke get one of those monster cables or i suggest an iMic if you have a machine with no audio input. As my input i already have an old 8 track digital recorder so i just route everything (guitars vocals) through that into the computer. A little background on myself, i have been recording for 10+ years right now using tape decks, to 4 track, to digital, and now computers. I consider myself extremely adept at making my way around the major pro audio apps and have invested alot of cash on plugins and virtual instruments from companies like Native Instruments and Steinberg. However i have always been put off by the lack of cohesion with which everything works together. Yet with hours of engineering a setup i have been able to alot with computer music and would never go back. But all the unnecessary manual reading...It's over. Garage Band is absolutely fantastic. The built in instruments are excellent and the samples allow me to load up a hot drum beat without having to use Recycle first. The program isn't bulky like so many pro audio apps and quite processor friendly. I am using factory 256 RAM on a flat panel iMac. It craps out occasionally with too many soft synths but if you are just recording actual tracks with a drum beat as a backer its great. I suspect a 150 dollar investment in ram would remedy all of the overload. AU instruments appear to load fine which is one of the main things i was worried about not being supported. For some reason i couldn't tweak parameters and this appears to be a glitch but i'm patient. Apple has included a nice little keyboard so you can input notes in this fashion and it even has velocity control by hitting higher or lower on a specific key. I haven't tested it with my midi keyboard quite yet but presume there will be no problem. The piano roll lets you get down to the midi and edit it. Overall this app has made my day and will certainly make my weekend a blast. Bravo Apple! This is going to sell alot of macs.
 
Originally posted by balconycollapse
Overall this app has made my day and will certainly make my weekend a blast. Bravo Apple! This is going to sell alot of macs.
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Great! Good to hear from someone who knows what they're doing!

When I first saw Sheryl Crow plugging GB as being useful for her, I thought "Yeah, right. I wonder how much Apple paid for her to say that." But the more I think about it, it's not all that far-fetched. Even pros need to be able to play around sometimes, without involving a crew and a million-dollar studio. And your comments reinforce that. As you said, bravo Apple!
 
Yeah i agree, i was worried that it was just an endorsement. I think people are really underestimating this app. Consider this is a digital 64 track studio for the computer with alot of intuitive features. Any musician amatuer or pro has a use for that! People have been doing alot more with less (4 track for Sgt. Pepper). I still stand by my feeling that this could have recorded any album pre 1980, and possibly alot of modern ones if you have the right plugins. If you want to sound like Aphex Twin you'll still probably need a higher version like Logic. I think this is going to generate a big buzz now that its in the public hands.
 
Re: Re: Re: Not Suitable For Any Living Thing

Personally, I find it offensive that people feel free to use their songs to promote sex out of marriage, illicit drugs, and a myriad of other destructive behaviors. [/B]
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You must have the world's smallest music collection. How many CDs has Amy Grant put out?:eek:
 
Originally posted by splashman
Great! Good to hear from someone who knows what they're doing!

When I first saw Sheryl Crow plugging GB as being useful for her, I thought "Yeah, right. I wonder how much Apple paid for her to say that." But the more I think about it, it's not all that far-fetched. Even pros need to be able to play around sometimes, without involving a crew and a million-dollar studio. And your comments reinforce that. As you said, bravo Apple!
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Some of my musician friends say the app would be useful in idea creation. something to try ideas before making a huge commitment. i think apple scored with this app...i cannot wait to lock myself in the garage all weekend and try this out.:)
 
GB good

When do you know Apple hit a home run? When you'd rather be making music instead of watching p0rn. Just kidding! ;)
 
size of GB files

does anyone have any idea how on earth garageband manages to get such small file sizes for the projects you save? I just recorded a song that is about a minute long and the exported aif file is 11.4 MB, but the garageband project file is only 3.1 MB. At first I thought it was just saving the tracks somewhere else and I couldn't find them, but I sent the 3.1 MB file to a friend of mine over ichat and it opened and played fine on his computer and was still only 3.1 MB! how in the world can this be possible? garageband couldn't possibly be converting the audio as it imports could it? I mean, sure it could be a lower bit rate aif, but it doesn't sound like it. This is really freaking me out.
 
Originally posted by mxpiazza
yeah, i was just at the apple store at easton town center, and there were tons and tons of copies, i don't think you'll have a problem.
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Just came back from the Sacramento Apple store. I got the last copy on the shelf! The guy behind me was about 15 seconds too late :(

There were a few copies of the family pack left, but the Apple employee said all the single user copies flew out of the store. That was about 7pm when they sold out.

Just finished installing - off to play now!
 
Originally posted by splashman
Great! Good to hear from someone who knows what they're doing!

When I first saw Sheryl Crow plugging GB as being useful for her, I thought "Yeah, right. I wonder how much Apple paid for her to say that." But the more I think about it, it's not all that far-fetched. Even pros need to be able to play around sometimes, without involving a crew and a million-dollar studio. And your comments reinforce that. As you said, bravo Apple!
Click to expand...

Some of my musician friends say the app would be useful in idea creation. something to try ideas before making a huge commitment. i think apple scored with this app...i cannot wait to lock myself in the garage all weekend and try this out.:)
 
Originally posted by craigiest
The online store said 4-6 weeks wait on the keyboard! So I guess I'll be heading back to the store for the hardware.
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macmall has the same keyboard for $20 less than the apple store.
 
anyone else wondering why theres no chromatic tuner in garageband? if kids are supposed to use this to practice, we need not teach such bad habits...

oh yeah, and what about just hearing the metronome when you're not recording? helps for setting up to start recording the first track of a song.
 
Metronome

Originally posted by Engagebot
anyone else wondering why theres no chromatic tuner in garageband? if kids are supposed to use this to practice, we need not teach such bad habits...
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Yeah, I noticed that. I'll bet it'll be in v2.0. On the other hand, tuners are pretty cheap these days . . .

oh yeah, and what about just hearing the metronome when you're not recording? helps for setting up to start recording the first track of a song.
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If you mean a count-in, it's there (toggle in Control menu). If you mean an endless metronome for practicing to, it's pretty dang easy to just drop in a simple drum loop. If you mean metronome during playback, it's in Preferences:General.

Or am I misunderstanding?
 
Not For Resale

Originally posted by PuterSaurus
Direct from Apple. But I should clarify that it was a free copy b/c I had just bought my new AlBook 1.25 at the time.
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If I'm not mistaken (and I could be), I believe this is because your copy is technically not for resale (i.e. you treat it same as the copy of the OS you got with your computer).


So... 2GB fo GB eh? Guess I'll have to invest in that External HD.
 
Re: size of GB files

Originally posted by jacobslateralus
does anyone have any idea how on earth garageband manages to get such small file sizes for the projects you save? I just recorded a song that is about a minute long and the exported aif file is 11.4 MB, but the garageband project file is only 3.1 MB. At first I thought it was just saving the tracks somewhere else and I couldn't find them, but I sent the 3.1 MB file to a friend of mine over ichat and it opened and played fine on his computer and was still only 3.1 MB! how in the world can this be possible? garageband couldn't possibly be converting the audio as it imports could it? I mean, sure it could be a lower bit rate aif, but it doesn't sound like it. This is really freaking me out.
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I guess you´re using soft-synths (stores as midi-files) and the loops may also just be stored as information as to what loops should be used, and where they should be.
 
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