Amps with Software Instruments?

[atodd]

Does anyone know if you can use the included guitar amps with Software Instruments? I'd love to be able to get those sounds just with a keyboard. It should be possible - from what I can tell, Software Instruments use actual sound files for each note (as opposed to the QT midi synthesizer which just pitches the same sound up or down...this is very important as instruments tend to have different tonal qualities depending on the pitch of the notes, which the synth competely forsakes but garageband apparently takes into account. which rocks!). It'd be great to apply the amps to the guitar software instrument (which sounds amazing in the keynote).

So: can the amps be used on SW instruments or not?

 

[scan300]

From what I saw of the keynote and also gleaning info from the accessory which converts a jumbo jack to a mini jack for direct audio input from a guitar, it looks as if the amps are some sort of DSP (Digital Signal Processor). This means that it processes analogue audio in real time by adding effects to the signal. So you could use this with the analogue audio out of a keyboard, rather than the midi port.

I haven't seen much discussion about the amp effects and whether they are editable, or if it's possible to create new ones within GB.

 

[atodd]

Yes, well...we will see.

Hey, you'll be able to apply them to vocals (just another audio input)! that'll be, er, interesting.

 

[C14ru5]

Re: Amps with Software Instruments?

Originally posted by atodd
...It should be possible - from what I can tell, Software Instruments use actual sound files for each note (as opposed to the QT midi synthesizer which just pitches the same sound up or down

Slightly off-topic, but the QT Musical instruments do in fact use the same wavetable synthesis that you describe. As far as I can recall, the Grand Piano had seven (or was it five?) samples stretched across its entire range. However, modern samplers (like Kontakt, for instance) tend to have more samples (usually 3 samples/octave) as well as samples that correspond to different velocities, so the effect is not as audible as with QT Musical Instruments. Anyway, I would guess that the software instruments bundled with Garage Band utilize several synthesis methods and not just wavetable synthesis.

Can you use an amp simulator on a Garage Band software instrument? Probably. Most Audio Unit or VST instruments/plugins can be connected in series, but this can be overridden by the host software. If I am to judge by the screenshots, I would say that you could do such a thing, since the layout seems similar to Logic Audio.