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+ spiral + · Jan 17, 2004, 11:14 PM

I love GarageBand so far but wish i knew how to do three things:

Is there a way to import an existing midi file? I've tried just dragging a file into a track but that doesn't work.

Also, is there a way to make your own Apple Loops in another audio program?

Finally, does anyone know how to make your own midi instruments? For example, if i have some drum samples and want to use them as a drum kit in GarageBand, is there an easy way to create an instrument?

Thanks.

dwishbone · Jan 17, 2004, 11:32 PM

i believe there is an Apple Loops development kit floating around. id like to know this myself. i tried to import some loops into GB and it said only Apple Loops would be listed in its browser.

+ spiral + · Jan 17, 2004, 11:52 PM

Yeah. I actually found it. It is pretty nice!

http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#AppleLoops

Much easier than i expected. Now i just have to figure out where to put them for GB to recognize.

+ spiral + · Jan 18, 2004, 01:03 AM

I've managed to answer 1 1/2 of the three. By using the Soundtrack Loop Utility you can easily make loops. Once you save the file drag it into the loops file window in the actual GB app. This way the program indexes and files the loop. Otherwise it won't show up.

The second one is a bit trickier. The software instruments are stored as .exs files which are standard sampler files. There is a folder of audio files and a folder that maps those files to note.

Does anyone know how to edit or create these .exs files on a Mac?

dwishbone · Jan 18, 2004, 10:52 AM

i have about 2Gigs of loops i have from other programs such as Acid...and some ive downloaded from different places. does the Loop Utility do batch processing or am I going to have to do each and every file 1 by 1? Also, since the Acid files already have embedded data such as BPM and type of loop...does the Loop Utility pick this information up?

dwishbone · Jan 18, 2004, 11:15 AM

ok, i just tried the loop utility. i already had it..go figure. anyways. when i imported all my samples into Soundtrack it indexed them automatically. styles, beats, type, everything. this utility makes you do it all manually.
that sucks.