GarageBand Released: Make Music

[achmafooma]

Originally posted by davedave
2. You can still install garageband on a non DVD mac - just load onto another mac - move the package onto an ipod, and then load it back onto your mac from there.

You beat me to it. I have a Power Mac which was the cheapest model at the time (733mhz G4) which meets all the requirements for FCP4 and Soundtrack except having a DVD drive.

I used my girlfriend's PowerBook to rip disk images of the DVDs to a firewire hard drive, then mounted the images on my Power Mac and everything installed just fine

I assume that this method would work equally well for Garage Band... I certainly hope so, because iLife '04 is next on my purchase list. I'm very excited about Garage Band.

Sooner or later I'll finally buy a DVD burner for my Power Mac. Or, depending on what kind of job I get for post-graduation (which is in May), maybe just a new Power Mac ;-)

 

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by El Capitano
G4scott wrote:



Yeah, but it's not just professionals vs. home users. I'm a home user... just one with a couple of sound modules.

The great thing about the Apple video apps is that you have

1. doozy consumer app (iMovie)
2. enthusiastic amateur app (Final Cut Express)
3. pro app (Final Cut Pro)

So I guess we have to wait for Logic Express for MIDI Out...

I had to add this, and sorry if its posted already on this thread (its a long one).

Logic express already exists. Its Called "Logic Audio" not gold or Platinum just Audio. It cost me £150 and it came with three software synths, one of which is a sample playback unit much that works very well and is much better than GarageBands soft synths with unlimited sounds available (if you buy sample CD's).

Logic Audio is very powerful but it also lacks the features that I don't really need (like surround mixing) and has a limit to the number of audio tracks (24 audio + 16 soft synths, plenty).

And for those of you asking about really cheap midi based stuff then there is a much cheaper version of logic or even a free one(os 9 only at the moment) which does midi out.

Garageband is like iMovie and nothing more.

Another thing, Apples says it is for pro's as well, I don't think they mean pro producers/editors, I think they mean Professional musicians who don't know how to do all the techie stuff. Just like sheryl crow said in the video, it is meant to create full compositions easily and for composing music ready to record properly later in you full studio with full live band and all array of pro equipment.

Garageband is nothing new, it is just a very well packaged and layed out piece of music kit that is easy for everyone.

 

[altoids]

Re: Re: Guitar input

Originally posted by Nicky G
Looks like you would use the Garage Band accessory made by Monster I think that's simply a female mono 1/4" to male stereo 1/8" adapter, and just plug it right into your analog line-in jack.

I suppose you don't need a preamp?

Don't know if this was already asked, but what if you own a "QuickSilver" G4? It has no audio input. I suppose I could use an iMic, and then plug the Monster adapter to the iMic and Guitar. Would that create noticeable latency? Anyone know?

 

[cr2sh]

Garageband is like iMovie and nothing more.

I agree totally.. anyone expecting more from this app is going to be dissapointed. iMovie is a great app... for consumer video. We like how well it works with iDVD and the like.. but Apple is not going to release iMastering and iWhatever...

I think the complaint most of all is... this isn't Logic Express. True, Logic Express exists.. but its not sold like it should be. We want it in a white box with an apple logo on the side... market it to us. Maybe Apple is releasing this consumer app to gage interest in the mid-level app.

ipod mini < ipod
imovie < final cut express < final cut pro
idvd < dvd studio
garageband < logic express < logic

The future of apple releases is identifying where the stair case design is missing and needed and that'd what apple will release next.

Who knows.. I recognize GarageBand for what it is and I think its a very fun idea.

 

[cr2sh]

Originally posted by cr2sh
Look at the dark brushed metal interface... and wood. Hmm.

Originally posted by e-coli
is that wood grain i'm seeing?

That's a new look for Apple.

I know.. I'm not sure. I like the newer dark brushed metal look. As far as the wood grain who knows.. its crazy that something as simple as a appearance of wood grain would make an App more comfortable to use...

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Thats a great app

Thats really the app I have been waiting for. Its like Apple knew what I need and they decided to make a app just for me. Its really great. And the best thing is the price. I would have paid $49 for GarageBand alone. But I get new versions of iMovie and iPhoto as well. Its really great. I am such a happy man today. And for those who don't like it - don't use it - don't buy it.

In addition - I have a question. I only have an iBook G3 900MHz with no superdrive. Is there any way to burn a DVD with iDVD on a external dvd burner. I already have Toast meaning that in principal I can do it, but Toast does not offer a nice DVD GUI. Maybe someone knows somekind of patch ? If so - would be great if you let me know.

Thanks and cheers

 

[TheAnswer]

Originally posted by cr2sh
I think the complaint most of all is... this isn't Logic Express. True, Logic Express exists.. but its not sold like it should be. We want it in a white box with an apple logo on the side... market it to us. Maybe Apple is releasing this consumer app to gage interest in the mid-level app.

imovie < final cut express < final cut pro
idvd < dvd studio
garageband < logic express < logic

The future of apple releases is identifying where the stair case design is missing and needed and that'd what apple will release next.

Who knows.. I recognize GarageBand for what it is and I think its a very fun idea.

Actually I would think DVD Studio pretty much fills up the rest of the DVD "staircase" as you can choose from three setups from within that app that let you move from Basic to Advanced. You can tailor it to be as simple or as complex as you wish. But it's also priced more aggressively than the high-end apps ($500 less than FCP and around $200 less (?) than Logic).

You are right about the box. I want that white box...I don't really care if it's called Logic Express or Soundtrack 2.0 or whatever. Just gimme a white box!

 

[quantegy]

Well, I just read on a tapers site that someone is already playing with Garageband at a university and it does do 24/96 stereo recordings. Makes me happy.

 

[hesitaliandad]

Originally posted by cr2sh


its crazy that something as simple as a appearance of wood grain would make an App more comfortable to use...

i think they were going for a vintage tube amp sort of look. i could be way off though.

 

[elephanttrainer]

Digital copies of audio tape?

So I'm wondering if I can play old audio tapes into GarageBand and record them?

 

[kansast]

Simulated Guitar Amp question

So I see where they plugged an electric guitar straight into the mac, and selected the different Simulated Amp effects.
o.k sounds cool.. but here is my concern..

say you've got a few tracks going. Drums, Bass, piano or what ever. you are playing back these tracks and recording your electric guitar for a 5th track.

Are you going to tell me that my G4/450 is going to be able to play back the 4 tracks, record a 5th track AND process the simulated guitar amp IN REAL TIME all at the same time ??

I've used DECK, and yes I know that I can play back multiple tracks, add different after effects to each track, all while recording yet an additional track. But I'm just having the hardest time believing that this software is going to allow me to play a guitar and process those simulated amp effects in real time ??

 

[cr2sh]

Re: Simulated Guitar Amp question

Originally posted by kansast
I've used DECK, and yes I know that I can play back multiple tracks, add different after effects to each track, all while recording yet an additional track. But I'm just having the hardest time believing that this software is going to allow me to play a guitar and process those simulated amp effects in real time ??

You might want to upgrade your ram and make sure you've got a 7200rpm harddrive...

Its not really the software that's allowing you to do it. People have been mixing much more complicated compositions, at higher resolutions even, on g4 450 for years now.. but yes, it'll do it.

You'll get latency though, results will vary.

 

[bjmorgan]

Re: Re: Simulated Guitar Amp question

Originally posted by cr2sh
You might want to upgrade your ram and make sure you've got a 7200rpm harddrive...

Its not really the software that's allowing you to do it. People have been mixing much more complicated compositions, at higher resolutions even, on g4 450 for years now.. but yes, it'll do it.

You'll get latency though, results will vary.

It doesn't necessarily sound like you'll need 7200 rpms... Notice they give examples of "Joe User" taking his iBook and guitar for a romp and recording with GB. These laptops (as well as the 12" G4s) don't contain drives that spin that fast. They're good to have if you're planning to do multi-track (16+) recording, but (especially when using loops and samples), playback won't be hindered too much.

 

[kansast]

Re: Re: Re: Simulated Guitar Amp question

Originally posted by bjmorgan
It doesn't necessarily sound like you'll need 7200 rpms... Notice they give examples of "Joe User" taking his iBook and guitar for a romp and recording with GB. These laptops (as well as the 12" G4s) don't contain drives that spin that fast. They're good to have if you're planning to do multi-track (16+) recording, but (especially when using loops and samples), playback won't be hindered too much.

Like I said before. I have no doubt, Even a Quadra 840av could playback multiple tracks and record a live audio track at the same time. With recorded tracks all having effects tied to them. But what I'm finding hard to believe is anything but the fastest computers could let you play a guitar live, and in real time add effects in REAL TIME. and hear them played back in real time ??

I would think that I would have to record the guitar live (no effects) and then on playback speficy that effect.

and I think I could work with that, it's what I've been doing with the "DECK" software. But regardless of all that, durring the demo, the guitar effects sure did seem like real time. ..

 

[syclone]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Simulated Guitar Amp question

Originally posted by kansast
Like I said before. I have no doubt, Even a Quadra 840av could playback multiple tracks and record a live audio track at the same time. With recorded tracks all having effects tied to them. But what I'm finding hard to believe is anything but the fastest computers could let you play a guitar live, and in real time add effects in REAL TIME. and hear them played back in real time ??

I would think that I would have to record the guitar live (no effects) and then on playback speficy that effect.

I wouldn't doubt that you can. Both my Fender Cyber Series amp and DigiTech effects pedal can add some pretty insane effects in real time, and they've been around for years. What I would have a hard time believing that my G4 isn't a heck of a lot more powerful than a DSP chip inside of an amp or pedal. I'd think that RAM would be the biggest limiter here if your playing back other tracks and recording, as it would likely use the RAM as a buffer to keep up and then dump the data to HD.

I'm excited about GarageBand, basically, because me and my friends can record guitar, bass and vox, then add a irtual drummer instead of finding a real one and have music.

 

[DeepIn2U]

toaster_oven, your mention of your roommate who is a programmer by trade complaining about lag time......

This is inherent of MIDI, to a very minute extent. hardly noticeable to the human ear if one to say 5 intruments are played simultaneously using the MIDI Thru connections. Lets say you have 10+ instruments though and you may have to fine tune the timing 4/4 bar-scale in order to make sure no instruments are off; you won't see it but the bars in the application might show it. THis is due to sub 1Ghz cpus before apps o fthis calibure were around and old MIDI interface technology.

This might sound like I'm talking out of my ass, but some research on the subject tells me this. Seen it first hand as well.

Now in regards to a line-in port for the guitar, it should have NO lag whatsoever.

For those out there complaining the lack of pro features in GarageBand should first look at the name of the Application "garage" is in the name for a reason. Someone mentioned in this thread that they feel stupid for wanting this app and they shouldn't!!!! Nothing can stop you and your band from laying down some sweet sounding tracks, fine tuning them, port them to your iPod check them out during the day, come up with some fine ideas. Then re-laydown more tracks or modify the ones you have, then burn it to a few CDs & pass them out to your college/high-school/university mates, heck sell it to them. Houseparty DJs have done this for years. Sell your composition to the local Stitches/Gap/Ambercrombie/Roots/HugoBoss/etc store managers for playback to entertain or even attrack buyers into the store. I 've seen it work first hand here in Toronto.

Then if your brave enough make a master cd then copyright it with a lawyer then goto a recording studio then have a few "whitelabel" 12" records (Rap house jazz) or cds (blues dance pop rock) and distrube in the local happening record stores (not the big names like HMV ) make a few dollars (not 10's of thousands) but keep going for the ultimate goal of the lucrative contract meeting.

Hey John Mayer had to start somewhere right??? Just make sure that your band can perform what you record live exactly/ creatively!!!

Record moguls have to hear thru street cred or samples before making any glance or stare or thought on you even if your Rolling Stones, Beyoncé Knowles, or John Mayer.

BTW that freestyle Mayer layed down was sweet!

 

[~Shard~]

I agree with Meyer's comments at MWSF - he said he wished he had this app as a kid in his room - it beats playing against a recording, etc.! I loved the whole GarageBand presentation, and it definitely sold me on the product. In my opinion, it's worth $49 on its own, let alone packaged with the rest if iLife!

 

[Mac-Xpert]

Originally posted by Prom1
toaster_oven, your mention of your roommate who is a programmer by trade complaining about lag time......

"This is inherent of MIDI, to a very minute extent....."

I think he was only referring to audio latency, midi latency is normally indeed hardly noticeably and can be limited by using a multiport midi interface, so you can use only a few midichannels per midiport.

Originally posted by Prom1

Now in regards to a line-in port for the guitar, it should have NO lag whatsoever.

This is incorrect. When you would use a electric guitar and would like to hear it's sound through the computer (with or without the amp simulation) the analog guitar signal needs to be encoded into a digital stream by the A/D converter and then processed by the computer and then outputted back by the D/A to a analog signal that can be amplified and heard through the speakers. This takes time and will cause a lag between the note you play and the sound you will hear. Normally this lag will be more noticeably than the latency of midi devices.

 

[kansast]

Originally posted by Mac-Xpert

This is incorrect. When you would use a electric guitar and would like to hear it's sound through the computer (with or without the amp simulation) the analog guitar signal needs to be encoded into a digital stream by the A/D converter and then processed by the computer and then outputted back by the D/A to a analog signal that can be amplified and heard through the speakers. This takes time and will cause a lag between the note you play and the sound you will hear. Normally this lag will be more noticeably than the latency of midi devices.

I would have to disagree with this. I've used software such as Deck to record audio from a guitar.. and I've NEVER noticed ANY lag. Not even when running DECK on a Quadra 840av

my only concern was having it record this audio and applying real time effects such as the guitar amps.

I guess only time will tell..

 

[Mac-Xpert]

Originally posted by kansast
I would have to disagree with this. I've used software such as Deck to record audio from a guitar.. and I've NEVER noticed ANY lag. Not even when running DECK on a Quadra 840av

Well, I'm not sure how this worked with the Quadra 840av (I've never used one for audio-recording). On some audiocards you can listen directly to the input (the input signal is directly send to the output) this gives you virtually zero latency. But if I use my G4 450 at home and record with Cubase, the input signal goes through the computer and applying effects has a slight negative effect to the latency but not that much. In any case I will have some latency when (I think somewhere around 20-50 ms) when playing directly through the computer.

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by amnesiac1984
I had to add this, and sorry if its posted already on this thread (its a long one).

Logic express already exists. Its Called "Logic Audio" not gold or Platinum just Audio. It cost me £150 and it came with three software synths, one of which is a sample playback unit much that works very well and is much better than GarageBands soft synths with unlimited sounds available (if you buy sample CD's).

Logic Audio is very powerful but it also lacks the features that I don't really need (like surround mixing) and has a limit to the number of audio tracks (24 audio + 16 soft synths, plenty).

And for those of you asking about really cheap midi based stuff then there is a much cheaper version of logic or even a free one(os 9 only at the moment) which does midi out.

Garageband is like iMovie and nothing more.

Another thing, Apples says it is for pro's as well, I don't think they mean pro producers/editors, I think they mean Professional musicians who don't know how to do all the techie stuff. Just like sheryl crow said in the video, it is meant to create full compositions easily and for composing music ready to record properly later in you full studio with full live band and all array of pro equipment.

Garageband is nothing new, it is just a very well packaged and layed out piece of music kit that is easy for everyone.

THANK YOU SIR (OR MADAM)!!! Finally, the first sane post on this entire subject. I was beginning to think I was the only one with any sense. I can't believe people are bummed about lack of ReWire and MIDI out. This is a freakin' $10 toy. Yeah, it's neat but it's not a studio tool, not even close. It's cute and maybe it could be used as a musical sketchpad while riding the bus to work or something but it's not going to give you core features of another of Apple's biggest products, LOGIC. Apple didn't purchase eMagic, a company worth millions and millions, so that they could take it's technology and bundle it with five other "home" apps for $49. Snap out of it people. If you are a musician you should already know the score (no pun intended) by now. All our toys are expensive. We will never see a $10 app that does what we need. Christ, guitar strings cost more than this! If you need a real music tool for home studio use then purchase Logic Audio and learn how to use it. Stop expecting Apple to take a suite of apps that they make a lot of money from and strip them down and distribute them to you for free. Ugh

 

[amnesiac1984]

Originally posted by tjwett
THANK YOU SIR (OR MADAM)!!! Finally, the first sane post on this entire subject. I was beginning to think I was the only one with any sense. I can't believe people are bummed about lack of ReWire and MIDI out. This is a freakin' $10 toy. Yeah, it's neat but it's not a studio tool, not even close. It's cute and maybe it could be used as a musical sketchpad while riding the bus to work or something but it's not going to give you core features of another of Apple's biggest products, LOGIC. Apple didn't purchase eMagic, a company worth millions and millions, so that they could take it's technology and bundle it with five other "home" apps for $49. Snap out of it people. If you are a musician you should already know the score (no pun intended) by now. All our toys are expensive. We will never see a $10 app that does what we need. Christ, guitar strings cost more than this! If you need a real music tool for home studio use then purchase Logic Audio and learn how to use it. Stop expecting Apple to take a suite of apps that they make a lot of money from and strip them down and distribute them to you for free. Ugh

Uh...thanks, and its Sir to you!!

It is an interesting point about logic audio not being an Apple branded product. I guess there is a dilema between keeping the legendary status of Emagic who is known by pro's for their quality software or convert it to the legendary status of Apple which is known to the rest of the world as being a great company.

I don't think it is necessary, and besides logic is developed in germany and it works great as it is. Calling it Apple would probably mean bringin git over to the states and changing staff and we may lose some of its greatness. One thing I do think they should do however is at least have the latest version for sale on the Apple UK Store, I think it's pathetic that they still sell logic 5.

 

[tjwett]

i agree. i think emagic should stay emagic, just like FileMaker. if it ain't broke don't fix it. apple knows this. it's a good deal for everyone. apple gets to dip it's hands into some of emagic's technologies, hence the AU support and Logic effects in GarageBand and Soundtrack. and emagic gets some serious financial backing and exposure that they never had before.

apple is not about to take the Logic sequencers, Audio, Gold and Platinum, which range from $229 (LA Big Box) up to $699 and turn around and start giving away the features in iApps. that would be nothing short of silly. if these people need a SEQUENCER then by god, go out and get a seqeuencer. if you need one that is designed exclusively for the Mac, well, Logic comes in three great flavors to choose from. GarageBand is not a sequencer so don't expect it to act like one.

 

[Doctor Q]

Apple signed an agreement with Garageband.com "for an undisclosed sum" to share the name "Garageband". Sharing a name instead of buying it is an usual arrangement, especially for two companies with overlapping markets. Both companies support independent musicians and promote the distribution of music online. Garageband.com has a database of 100,000 songs that are rated by a community of reviewers.

 

[Cale]

I notice on the "accessories" page of the garageband section, no 1/8" mics are offered. Sure, plenty of connectivity options for "real" mics, but what if i just want a good mic that I can simply plug into my iBook?

Any ideas?

Looking forward to this program, it will be great fun to play around with, especially for the cost.