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Apple GarageBand Tips and Detailed Info
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GarageBand vs. Logic
Actually, Logic (and Cubase, to be fair) also do all of this, albeit with a much more complex user interface. They both do audio recording, they support time-stretchable REX2 files for audio loops, and of course you have virtual instruments (VST and AU).
GarageBand is a fantastic beginner's tool or sketchpad, but what if I want to export these tracks to use elsewhere, particularly Logic, a product from the same company? Maybe there'll be some sort of GarageBand Import Tool for Logic, to encourage users to upgrade once they outgrow the entry-level tools.
I can understand GB not having MIDI out: Reason survives perfectly well in the market without it, because people either use it standalone (better internal timing sync), or as a slave device over ReWire -- the Propellerheads development team didn't set out to make a DAW, they were making an integrated studio. \
As a sop to the "prosumer" market, ReWire support in GB would be a Good Thing but Apple shouldn't make it too complicated.
Someone posted the question about using multiple inputs from a Digidesign mBox - good question, can you assign them to different audio tracks? I suspect it's going to be limited to one mono or stereo input at a time...
Actually, Logic (and Cubase, to be fair) also do all of this, albeit with a much more complex user interface. They both do audio recording, they support time-stretchable REX2 files for audio loops, and of course you have virtual instruments (VST and AU).
GarageBand is a fantastic beginner's tool or sketchpad, but what if I want to export these tracks to use elsewhere, particularly Logic, a product from the same company? Maybe there'll be some sort of GarageBand Import Tool for Logic, to encourage users to upgrade once they outgrow the entry-level tools.
I can understand GB not having MIDI out: Reason survives perfectly well in the market without it, because people either use it standalone (better internal timing sync), or as a slave device over ReWire -- the Propellerheads development team didn't set out to make a DAW, they were making an integrated studio. \
As a sop to the "prosumer" market, ReWire support in GB would be a Good Thing but Apple shouldn't make it too complicated.
Someone posted the question about using multiple inputs from a Digidesign mBox - good question, can you assign them to different audio tracks? I suspect it's going to be limited to one mono or stereo input at a time...
I was rereading Mac Addicts article on BT (http://www.btmusic.com) and was reminded of a website that sells loop CD's and such.
http://www.soundsonline.com/
Might be worth looking at if the format of those are importable into GarageBand. Can anybody tell me if these will work with GarageBand?
http://www.soundsonline.com/
Might be worth looking at if the format of those are importable into GarageBand. Can anybody tell me if these will work with GarageBand?
What about resolution?
I haven't seen any mention of the maximum recording resolution or bitrate yet...
My converter will go up to 24 bit/ 96Khz. I doubt that GB will be able to handle that but I'd love to know what the limit is.
I haven't seen any mention of the maximum recording resolution or bitrate yet...
My converter will go up to 24 bit/ 96Khz. I doubt that GB will be able to handle that but I'd love to know what the limit is.
Re: I am confused
You need a G4/G5 for the software instruments. So you will probably not be able to input using a USB/midi keyboard or guitar or use the on screen keyboard that GarageBand has. You will be able to use the loops though.
You need a G4/G5 for the software instruments. So you will probably not be able to input using a USB/midi keyboard or guitar or use the on screen keyboard that GarageBand has. You will be able to use the loops though.
It's going to be $49 wherever you go. So unless you can get an EDU or government discount you might as well buy it from a local store if you can otherwise find a site with cheap shipping.
Can someone explain what midi-out is? Why would you need this feature?
Can't you just plug your mac into some speakers and play your song?
I just don't know anything about it...
thanks
todd
GarageBand and where it fits in Apple's lineup
Well, as a musician I'm currently using a PowerBook G4 1.25 with Mark of the Unicorn Digital Performer 4.11 as my main Audio/MIDI sequencing program. Digital Performer is comparable in features to Logic Audio, just a little less expensive, but it supports Audio Units as well.
I'm excited about Garageband because I've already played with Soundtrack quite a bit, and it's one awesome program. Garageband is simply Soundtrack plus Audio Units (similar to VST instruments) software synthesizers. The problem is that Apple has crippled GarageBand so that you still have to buy Logic Audio if you want to do anything serious.
The biggest problem with both Soundtrack and Garageband is that there is no sync capability. Almost every audio application out there has either a MIDI time code sync or word clock sync so that you can run it alongside your sequencer and incorporate the sounds from the software into your mix. Apple doesn't want to add this functionality to Garageband or Soundtrack because then you wouldn't even need Logic audio any more. If Garageband could be your MIDI sequencer for hardware synths, and software synths, and if it had Rewire for synchronizing Reason and Ableton Live up with it, nobody would buy Logic any more because Garageband would do it all and only costs 10% of the price.
Here is a breakdown of Apple's Audio offerings:
Soundtrack - Loop playback and editing. No MIDI capability whatsoever. If I want to incorporate sounds from Soundtrack into another audio program I have to export the tracks as .AIFF and import them into the other program.
Garageband - Loop playback and editing. Adds Software synthesizers and basic MIDI input functionality. Still no MIDI sync or MIDI output because they don't want it to compete with Logic.
Logic Audio - Audio and MIDI playback. Complete MTC, Word Clock, and Rewire support for sync.
It looks to me like Garageband has some of the same loops that are included with Soundtrack. I think Apple may have just given the Garageband people a smaller set of the Soundtrack loops.
Another thing that seems strange to me now is the price of Soundtrack. It has way less functionality than Garageband and it's something like $400. I guess you pay a lot of money for the extra loops (recorded by professional musicians and all).
Well, as a musician I'm currently using a PowerBook G4 1.25 with Mark of the Unicorn Digital Performer 4.11 as my main Audio/MIDI sequencing program. Digital Performer is comparable in features to Logic Audio, just a little less expensive, but it supports Audio Units as well.
I'm excited about Garageband because I've already played with Soundtrack quite a bit, and it's one awesome program. Garageband is simply Soundtrack plus Audio Units (similar to VST instruments) software synthesizers. The problem is that Apple has crippled GarageBand so that you still have to buy Logic Audio if you want to do anything serious.
The biggest problem with both Soundtrack and Garageband is that there is no sync capability. Almost every audio application out there has either a MIDI time code sync or word clock sync so that you can run it alongside your sequencer and incorporate the sounds from the software into your mix. Apple doesn't want to add this functionality to Garageband or Soundtrack because then you wouldn't even need Logic audio any more. If Garageband could be your MIDI sequencer for hardware synths, and software synths, and if it had Rewire for synchronizing Reason and Ableton Live up with it, nobody would buy Logic any more because Garageband would do it all and only costs 10% of the price.
Here is a breakdown of Apple's Audio offerings:
Soundtrack - Loop playback and editing. No MIDI capability whatsoever. If I want to incorporate sounds from Soundtrack into another audio program I have to export the tracks as .AIFF and import them into the other program.
Garageband - Loop playback and editing. Adds Software synthesizers and basic MIDI input functionality. Still no MIDI sync or MIDI output because they don't want it to compete with Logic.
Logic Audio - Audio and MIDI playback. Complete MTC, Word Clock, and Rewire support for sync.
It looks to me like Garageband has some of the same loops that are included with Soundtrack. I think Apple may have just given the Garageband people a smaller set of the Soundtrack loops.
Another thing that seems strange to me now is the price of Soundtrack. It has way less functionality than Garageband and it's something like $400. I guess you pay a lot of money for the extra loops (recorded by professional musicians and all).
Does anybody own the Edirol UA-20 Audio Capture USB Audio/MIDI Interface?? For GB I will not such (iBook..), and I don't know what to buy.. MBox also looks okay but doesn't have an optical out..
MIDI out complexity
MIDI out means that you could trigger an additional kind of instrument: the built-in instruments that a MIDI keyboard often contains. (The $99 one looks like just a keyboard for driving other devices--like GarageBand, not a synth with its own sounds. Does anyone know for sure?)
MIDI in means the kayboard can trigger GarageBand's bank of instruments.
MIDI out means GarageBand could trigger the keyboard's bank of instruments--if any. But then the GarageBand file could only be played if someone had that same keyboard. By using only the Mac's audio and not the external device, a GarageBand file can be universal. Plus if some sounds are coming from the Mac and some from an external sound bank, you've got to mix them together to hear the whole piece: more cabling and complexity. It looks like Apple is dodging this complexity and using the Mac for all sound. For a 1/5-of-$49 comsumer app, this makes sense.
(I'm oversimplifying, I know. I'm a non-musician but I help a friend troubleshoot CuBase sometimes.)
MIDI out means that you could trigger an additional kind of instrument: the built-in instruments that a MIDI keyboard often contains. (The $99 one looks like just a keyboard for driving other devices--like GarageBand, not a synth with its own sounds. Does anyone know for sure?)
MIDI in means the kayboard can trigger GarageBand's bank of instruments.
MIDI out means GarageBand could trigger the keyboard's bank of instruments--if any. But then the GarageBand file could only be played if someone had that same keyboard. By using only the Mac's audio and not the external device, a GarageBand file can be universal. Plus if some sounds are coming from the Mac and some from an external sound bank, you've got to mix them together to hear the whole piece: more cabling and complexity. It looks like Apple is dodging this complexity and using the Mac for all sound. For a 1/5-of-$49 comsumer app, this makes sense.
(I'm oversimplifying, I know. I'm a non-musician but I help a friend troubleshoot CuBase sometimes.)
No Bass Amps is kind of lame, Does that Jam Pak have Bass amps maybe? or am I hopeing for too much?
sigh.
why am I complaining about no bass amps? I got a great pre-amp anyway, software just isn't as nice as the real thing.
sigh.
why am I complaining about no bass amps? I got a great pre-amp anyway, software just isn't as nice as the real thing.
From the Digidesign website:
Digidesign Software Compatiblity
Pro Tools LE 6.2.2 for Mac OS X "Panther"
Pro Tools LE 6.1.2 for Mac OS X "Jaguar"
Pro Tools LE 6.1.1 for Windows XP
So, yes, it works fine with OSX...
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It's a protocol for communicating between different pieces of music hardware.
What MIDI does, at its most basic level, is communicate information about what notes to play, and how long to play them, and other information such as tempo - as well as a lot of other data which I won't go into here.
Almost anything can have MIDI on it - computers running MIDI software; keyboards, MIDI guitar; sound modules; etc.
A MIDI Sequencer, for example, is software that records MIDI information (usually displayed as dots on a grid, like an old player piano roll).
For example, you play notes on your MIDI keyboard and they are translated into MIDI signals, carried by a MIDI cable to an interface box attached to your Mac, and software (like GarageBand) reads this information and records it to the track or instrument you've selected.
MIDI Output would be the reverse: MIDI information being played back from the computer to your keyboard to tell it to produce notes.
Popular sequencer apps include Apple's Emagic Logic, Mark of the Unicorn's Digital Performer, Cakewalk (for PCs,) and Steinberg Cubase.
This applies to GarageBand because while you can play into it using MIDI, it doesn't output MIDI notes.
People might want to do this to use it to control other (real) synths in addition to GarageBand's built-in instruments, or to transfer their songs to other music applications -- for example, if you have GarageBand at home but your recording studio has Logic, you could export the MIDI and audio tracks and import them into the other app. If you can't do this, it's a little bit limited, but still very useful.
But as you say, if you have a Mac and speakers, you're good to go.
Re: GarageBand vs. Logic
But depending on which version of either of those you buy, they may or may not come with their own software instruments. But really I don't think that Logic (which I use) or Cubase fall under truly mainstream software. I think the folks purchasing either of those already are part of the upper-end as far as required features.
You know you raise a very good point- and if this isn't easy out of the box I'm sure some enterprising developer(s) will try to fill the hole. At least I'd hope so!
Agreed. Perhaps this is coming in whatever the next Soundtrack or "professional" version of GarageBand is in the works...
Yes I am quite sure this will be one of the intentional limitations of GarageBand. Not a real technical one, but chosen to differentiate between towards their more prosumer product(s) coming...
But depending on which version of either of those you buy, they may or may not come with their own software instruments. But really I don't think that Logic (which I use) or Cubase fall under truly mainstream software. I think the folks purchasing either of those already are part of the upper-end as far as required features.
You know you raise a very good point- and if this isn't easy out of the box I'm sure some enterprising developer(s) will try to fill the hole. At least I'd hope so!
Agreed. Perhaps this is coming in whatever the next Soundtrack or "professional" version of GarageBand is in the works...
Yes I am quite sure this will be one of the intentional limitations of GarageBand. Not a real technical one, but chosen to differentiate between towards their more prosumer product(s) coming...
Apple sells a Monster one for $19.95... which just converts the jack to the right size.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T9106LL/A
you can prob find it cheaper at Radio Shack
arn