[Scifience]

I just ordered iLife and the $99 keyboard. I can't wait!!!

[dandbj]

Yes, yes, I know the difference between the hardware and software. I only mentioned the mBox because it, to my knowledge, is the least expensive way to get into Pro Tools. I almost bought an mBox for that very purpose. $500.00 is a little steep for basic multi-track audio editing. Now there is a real alternative. A lot of people were wishing for something like this when Apple acquired Emagic. It is nice to see that some fantasies still come true. This was by far the biggest news from the keynote and might even become another industry changing paradigm for the future.

[Nebagakid]

hmmm... some of the features are similar to Intuem (http://www.intuem.com/main.html ), a nifty MIDI app for Mac OS X. On the other hand, of the same body, they are both audio apps, so of course they are similar!

[chrisutley]

Hey, not a big deal. I wasn't totally surprised thinking perhaps that was one of the ways they crippled the software to differentiate it form Soundtrack. Although that would have been a serious disability!

What's really got me concerned is that Apple is using the word "automagically" in their copy.

Originally posted by vmpaul:
I created a tune and exported it at the show. it was a mp4 format. I asked the rep and he said that was the format it used. Maybe i got bad info from the rep. Maybe it was the default and i didn't change it. it was real busy there.

Sorry. Glad you found that quote.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by chrisutley:

What's really got me concerned is that Apple is using the word "automagically" in their copy.

I just hope that my copy if iLife04 will AUTOMAGICALLY shop up at my doorstep soon

-t

[DaGuy]

Can't wait to get my copy! Perhaps one of you in MW can already answer these questions:

1. Can the effects be applied at the project level i.e., reverb or equalization to all tracks just before turning it to AIFF?

2. Does this thing have a plug-in architecture for 3rd party effects?

3. What's the limit on the number of tracks?

4. Can you save a project to AIFF and then read it back as one track? Sort of a poor man's bounce feature.

5. Can you take an iTune song and use it as source for a single track? This way I can record myself jamming with the great bands of the era. About the only way that's gonna happen

Thanks!

[spiky_dog]

Originally posted by Nebagakid:
hmmm... some of the features are similar to Intuem (http://www.intuem.com/main.html ), a nifty MIDI app for Mac OS X. On the other hand, of the same body, they are both audio apps, so of course they are similar!

to all you unsuspecting newbies and pros alike: DON'T GET INTUEM. it's bad. i paid up for it and regret it horribly. it can't do the most basic of tasks (couldn't respell accidentals or switch the orientation of stems last i checked). it's buggy -- it crashed on me regularly and i had to reset the midi preferences all the time. and, furthermore, the developers are unapologetic: when i asked them about the missing features, they said "tough luck, this isn't a professional layout program. buy sibelius" basically. so i did. even for 3x the price, i'd still pick sibelius any day.

[darcybaston]

I've been wanting an app that would capture midi events and let me do a live play recording along with the other midi stuff playing in the background. This kind of solution will indeed let me practice, record multi instrument mixes and let me mute a track or two to solo live.

Sure I've tried other software that do this, but I just haven't found one with an interface I liked. This one will satisfy the quick and dirty real nice like.

I've got a Roland XP-60 and I've hated its sequencer since the beginning and have been wanting to delve into software instruments for years. This is a great solution! Helluva lot cheaper than Reason or whatever for small time stuff, which is me heh.

But yeah, I'm curious about the event editing. Can your freehand input the velocity/aftertouch of a channel like you can the master volume? Wonder if it understands pitch bend controllers?

I'll get iLife for ther other apps' upgrades too even if Garageband doesn't do good event editing. Would be cool though. Perhaps Apple will rescue my growth in the future with GarageBand Pro.

**update**
Closer scrutiny of Apple's product pages has revealed:

Mix and match them freely: it doesn�t matter to GarageBand which or how many you use. Software loops let you edit individual notes and even change the playback instrument

So there is an event editor of song kind. Probably can't do much with it except copy, paste, move and delete but that would still be nice.

Also:

Would you like the melody to come in a little earlier? Done in an instant. You can also decrease the track�s volume, have it fade in or out, turn it into a repeating loop, even fix individual notes or the timing of a performance.

And Finally :

You can easily set the tempo and key before recording. You can lower the input volume if the meters indicate that that your volume level is too hot. You can turn monitoring on or off. And if you�d like help coming in on the beat, you can take advantage of the built-in metronome.

Ready to record? Go ahead. You can record multiple performances in the same track, deleting those you don�t like or setting punch points to record over a section that doesn�t meet your expectations.

Ok, that's pretty spiffy. I'm sold. Ordering.

[dws]

Originally posted by spiky_dog:
to all you unsuspecting newbies and pros alike: DON'T GET INTUEM. it's bad. i paid up for it and regret it horribly. it can't do the most basic of tasks (couldn't respell accidentals or switch the orientation of stems last i checked). it's buggy -- it crashed on me regularly and i had to reset the midi preferences all the time. and, furthermore, the developers are unapologetic: when i asked them about the missing features, they said "tough luck, this isn't a professional layout program. buy sibelius" basically. so i did. even for 3x the price, i'd still pick sibelius any day.

This guy is giving bad advice about Intuem. I have used this software since it first came out and have been very happy with it. Sure, it's got a few bugs, but they can easily be worked around. It costs less than $100 and you do get what you pay for. It isn't intended to be for people would even care about "respelling accidentals"! It's a cheap sequencer with a nice interface. You can use whatever soundfont you like, you can connect to any midi keyboard that OS X recognizes, its editing feature works just fine, and it has an acceptable quatisizer. And the developer is slowly but surely adding more and more to it. It was just recently upgraded (significantly) and I gladly paid the upgrade fee.

Now, back to GarageBand... I am still unclear whether or not you can really edit any of the midi information you record. If so, this will be a killer product. If not, it will still be a great vehicle for creating music; as long as you don't mind re-recording tracks that didn't come out just right. There is no indication that GB includes a quantisizer; but then maybe it doesn't have to if you add enough of the canned tracks to cover the fact that you might not have the skill to play your music perfectly!!! [I'm sure that you'll be able to fudge your music around by cutting and moving things a little to the left and right!]
It will all still sound great to any but a highly-trained musician.

All indications are that this version 1 application will be a major bonus feature for the Mac faithful; and it can only get better over time.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by DaGuy:
1. Can the effects be applied at the project level i.e., reverb or equalization to all tracks just before turning it to AIFF?

If you want to do that kind of mastering work, you could always bounce it to stero AIFF, and then import *that* into a new song and do master EQ & reverb (lay off the reverb though).

Originally posted by DaGuy:
2. Does this thing have a plug-in architecture for 3rd party effects?

It eats standard Audio Unit plug-ins, so - yes.

Originally posted by DaGuy:
3. What's the limit on the number of tracks?

64. (mentioned at the keynote)

Originally posted by DaGuy:
4. Can you save a project to AIFF and then read it back as one track? Sort of a poor man's bounce feature.

I'm sure you can, since you can import all those included loops, which are bound to be AIFF, as well.
No info on the website, though.

5. Can you take an iTune song and use it as source for a single track? This way I can record myself jamming with the great bands of the era.

Again, it doesn't say on the website. I'd expect so, but then, Emagic didn't add mp3 import to Logic until about a year ago, so...

-s*

[Carnage Visors]

I know one can record events via midi, but I can't find out anything about garage bands midi out capability. Any ideas?

Benjamin

[MrBS]

Originally posted by dru:
Of course Apple will sell a buttload x 2 to the wannabe youth market.

Yeah nothing worse than those wannabes trying to do something creative. That's the problem in society. Too bad they just aren't apathetic and cool.

~BS

[darcybaston]

Originally posted by MrBS:
Yeah nothing worse than those wannabes trying to do something creative. That's the problem in society. Too bad they just aren't apathetic and cool.

Oooh, the sarcasm. Good one.

If youth doesn't wannabe, they don't trytobe and they won't become.

Creativity should be the #1 thing encouraged. And since most kids try things and move on quickly as they explore themselves, a $49 app with a $99 MIDI controller is a better investment for parents than a $5000+ piano to discover it was just a swing outwards but nothing was latched onto.

I started on an air powered Magnus organ with just a few octaves of keys and accordian sounding chord buttons when I was 8 hehe.

[Gee4orce]

Originally posted by MrBS:
Yeah nothing worse than those wannabes trying to do something creative. That's the problem in society. Too bad they just aren't apathetic and cool.

~BS

If I keep laughing like that people at work are going to wonder what I'm doing.

[dylanw]

Does anybody know if it will import/export standard MIDI files (.mid)? The latter isn't that important to me, but I have a lot of MIDI files that I'd like to use.

[darcybaston]

I suppose you could play .mids in a shareware app that transmits events, connect the MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN, click on GarageBand to make it the active app and set to record? Don't think GarageBand will split the 16 channels to 16 tracks though or if itwill recognize any channels other than the default #1.

With OS 9 last year, I used a demo of Groovemaker that wouldn't let me mix-down, so I ran the audio out of my then iMac to the audio in and brought Soundjam to the front and told it to record. And it did.

[Nep2ne]

From Apple's site:

"You don't have to play the piano. You don't have to read music. You don't even have to have rhythm. If you know what you like when you hear it, you can make your own kind of music. With GarageBand."

Who knew paint-by-numbers would ever reach this stage? No offense, but I find it funny that Apple is trying to reach out to everyone in this fashion. Lord knows there is going to be a lot more crappy music out there (as if there isn't already....)

Darcy -- I started out on violin but then moved to one of those air organs when I was real young too! Fun things, those magnuses... despite the ease of use playing my Casio PC-300, I miss the look and feel of the real deal.

[darcybaston]

Nep2ne, I hear ya. If R&B wasn't bad enough, I think they all use the drum sample loop libraries. Sometimes you'll hear 5 songs come out with the same beat/tempo just slightly modified in the background. And I'm finding it really vaccuous how R&B is staying focused on sex/oral sex (gives you power and confidence blah blah) songs.

I mean, there's one called "Milkshake" by Kelis or something that's just hillarious. The song is a few drums with one analog instrument Appregio'd and that's it. Man, I used to make songs like that (rythm/instrument, not topic nor lyrics) in 1989 on a $600 Radio Shack Casio.

I still believe GarageBand can help accelerate a musician's creative process. I mean, my favorite sequencing days were on an Amiga with Bars & Pipes. GarageBand is the first thing that my dollars can approach that offers the same quick ease of use. I HATE having to sequence drums, I much prefer laying down piano layers. GB will let me just toss together some drum stuff in seconds and let me get my butt in gear.

Perhaps in the end, a wash of GB musicians will help musicians of exceptional talent stand even taller (contrast frequency) and new musicians not be burdened by startup costs. It's probably also useful as a road trip jam/creativity tool. Roland made a portable sequencer that used a stylus pen, PDA style for this sort of thing years ago. Maybe now it's time for that kind of idea to proliferate further?

[DaGuy]

Originally posted by Nep2ne:
From Apple's site:

"You don't have to play the piano. You don't have to read music. You don't even have to have rhythm. If you know what you like when you hear it, you can make your own kind of music. With GarageBand."

Who knew paint-by-numbers would ever reach this stage? No offense, but I find it funny that Apple is trying to reach out to everyone in this fashion. Lord knows there is going to be a lot more crappy music out there (as if there isn't already....)

Darcy -- I started out on violin but then moved to one of those air organs when I was real young too! Fun things, those magnuses... despite the ease of use playing my Casio PC-300, I miss the look and feel of the real deal.

Don't get too carried away... You already have all kinds software that allows musical paint by numbers thing. They have been around for almost 20 years. There's no way to hide the lack of creative talent.

If you can compose (via paint by numbers) and still get something interesting then you have some degree of talent. You can hear the music in your head but never had the mechanics/technique to express it. If you have absolutely zero talent then you'll quickly realize that something like GB doesn't help much.

I play guitar badly (to my credit, it takes some degree of talent to realize that). However, when I write a guitar piece, I can hear in entire arrangement in my head (how the bass, drums and keyboards) should go but I do not have the mechanics to articulate them on any one of those instruments.

Also note that if you are just using loops then anyone with some musical ability will realize that. Most of the time this stuff is boring and predictable (it's a freaking loop for crying out loud) If they can't figure out it's loops, then you must have done somethings right.

[Eriamjh]

Originally posted by MOTHERWELL:
1. I already have Soundtrack - are these very different?

Hmmm. I see a pattern.

Final Cut Pro > Professional
Final Cut Express > Prosumer
iMovie > Consumer

DVD Studio Pro > Professional
iDVD > Consumer

iPhoto > Consumer (Is there a Professional version?)

Soundtrack > Professional
GarageBand > Pro/Consumer

iTunes > It's just music management software, folks.

[Technicolor]

>Soundtrack > Professional
GarageBand > Pro/Consumer

except Soundtrack is faaaarrr from being "Professional". You're not going to walk into a recording studio and see them launch Soundtrack...no way.

[vmpaul]

quote:
Mix and match them freely: it doesn�t matter to GarageBand which or how many you use. Software loops let you edit individual notes and even change the playback instrument

Originally posted by darcybaston:
So there is an event editor of song kind. Probably can't do much with it except copy, paste, move and delete but that would still be nice.

I THINK you can only edit individual notes from the Loops. I played with this a little at the show. The track I created with the keyboard attached wouldn't allow me to play with the individual notes. But I was working really quickly. Maybe there's some setting to allow for this.

[MOTHERWELL]

This probably belongs in the peripherals section but:

I just ordered iLife for garageband...I have a keyboard with midi already and a guitar. What do I need to hook them up to my computer? It there one piece of equipment I can get or will I have to get 2 - one for each instrument.

[Nep2ne]

Originally posted by darcybaston:
Nep2ne, I hear ya. ...

I still believe GarageBand can help accelerate a musician's creative process. I mean, my favorite sequencing days were on an Amiga with Bars & Pipes. GarageBand is the first thing that my dollars can approach that offers the same quick ease of use. I HATE having to sequence drums, I much prefer laying down piano layers. GB will let me just toss together some drum stuff in seconds and let me get my butt in gear.

Perhaps in the end, a wash of GB musicians will help musicians of exceptional talent stand even taller (contrast frequency) and new musicians not be burdened by startup costs. It's probably also useful as a road trip jam/creativity tool. Roland made a portable sequencer that used a stylus pen, PDA style for this sort of thing years ago. Maybe now it's time for that kind of idea to proliferate further?

My philosophy has alwasy been to find strength in limitations. As trite as it sounds, it's fun to just sit down in front of an SK-5 for hours on end, thinking up new things.

Personally, I can't wait to check out this software. I'm growing tired of trying to figure out every routing thing for Cubase (5) and ProTools LE. I want simplicity, and of course Apple style...

[Toyin]

Originally posted by darcybaston:
Nep2ne, I hear ya. If R&B wasn't bad enough, I think they all use the drum sample loop libraries. Sometimes you'll hear 5 songs come out with the same beat/tempo just slightly modified in the background. And I'm finding it really vaccuous how R&B is staying focused on sex/oral sex (gives you power and confidence blah blah) songs.

Who exactly is "they"? Don't stereotype. There's good R&B and Hip-Hop and there's what you hear on the radio. They are not always one and the same. The same can be said for Alternative, Rock, Country,...etc. Musicians have been 'inspired' to use beats, samples, ideas from other musicians for ages.

Also just watched the keynote. Personally I think John Mayer rocks!

[MAlan]

Lets say I record a Midi track in garage band. I'd like to be able to export that file to aiff. Can Garage band do this?

I have drum loops and samples of individual hits I just got for xmas. I want to use a program like midi keys to map the individual hits to the key board. I've been looking into this and it seems like I need a sampler like Vsamp or phatmatiK pro(which also does loops) to do this. Will Garage band have this capability now?

[MAlan]

I have an 400 MHz iMac DV/SE w/ 256 MB ram. On apple's web site they say certain features of Garage band will work with 600 MHz G3's and up. How big of a deal will that 200 MHz be anyway? What can I reasonably expect from Garage band on this machine?

[Nebrie]

This product from Yamaha seems good for a future version of GarageBand

http://www.zero-g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=805

The Mac will become the ultimate platform for people with absolutely no musical or vocal talent whatsoever!

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
I THINK you can only edit individual notes from the Loops. I played with this a little at the show. The track I created with the keyboard attached wouldn't allow me to play with the individual notes. But I was working really quickly. Maybe there's some setting to allow for this.

According to the Recording section of the GarageBand subsite, you can edit the individual notes of recordings too, which is quite nice for fumble fingers like me.

Originally posted by Nebrie:
This product from Yamaha seems good for a future version of GarageBand

http://www.zero-g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=805

That's pretty cool!

[darcybaston]

Originally posted by Toyin:
Who exactly is "they"? Don't stereotype. There's good R&B and Hip-Hop and there's what you hear on the radio. They are not always one and the same. The same can be said for Alternative, Rock, Country,...etc. Musicians have been 'inspired' to use beats, samples, ideas from other musicians for ages.

Toyin, thank you mate. You are quite right. I shouldn't generalize and may have done so while stating a passionate judgment...erm...preference.

[darcybaston]

If it manages resources like ProTools/Reason and all of that, it may just limit how many tracks your computer can drive at once. Less cpu speed = fewer tracks playing simultaneously without dropping notes and stuttering.

I tried ProTools Free and the Reason 2 demo on my iMac DV SE when I had it and it did pretty good as long as I didn't do too many tracks. Groovemaker was the real testing ground for some reason. After about 4 loops playing at once, it really started having a hard time.

If GB was able to transmit MIDI events (dunno if it does), it would be able to transmit all 16 tracks easily from your iMac (heck, used to do full spreads on a Mac Classic 8Mhz and Dr. something software) . But since it's a softsynth/audio track thing, generating audio and effects is much more cpu intensive.

If my understanding is incorrect, please correct me folks.

Originally posted by MAlan:
I have an 400 MHz iMac DV/SE w/ 256 MB ram. On apple's web site they say certain features of Garage band will work with 600 MHz G3's and up. How big of a deal will that 200 MHz be anyway? What can I reasonably expect from Garage band on this machine?

[vmpaul]

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
According to the Recording section of the GarageBand subsite, you can edit the individual notes of recordings too, which is quite nice for fumble fingers like me.

Are you sure? That would mean the Mac would have to know that exact note that I'm playing. If I played a C# on my guitar it would record that on a notation sheet. Is that even possible? To record notes in a notation style from an analog source? I really don't know. I've never seen it. But I've never tried to find software that has done it. Do machines have perfect pitch?

At the show they had one of those inexpensive KB attached to the machine and I recorded a small segment to go along with a couple of the loops provided. When I went to look at the individual notes the only ones it would see were the Loop ones.

disclaimer: I was in a real hurry and could've missed it like I missed the output format. If you have further info please provide.

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
Are you sure? That would mean the Mac would have to know that exact note that I'm playing. If I played a C# on my guitar it would record that on a notation sheet. Is that even possible? To record notes in a notation style from an analog source? I really don't know. I've never seen it. But I've never tried to find software that has done it. Do machines have perfect pitch?

I have no other info except what's on the "Record" page of the GB subsite.

In the Recording Booth
You can limber up by playing a few bars and then: You�re on. Start playing and GarageBand automatically begins recording. When you�re done, you can see your melody in the timeline. You can listen to just the melody you recorded or you can play all of the tracks in your emerging composition to hear how they sound together.

Once Again from the Top
Would you like the melody to come in a little earlier? Done in an instant. You can also decrease the track�s volume, have it fade in or out, turn it into a repeating loop, even fix individual notes or the timing of a performance. You might decide that the sound of a Grand Piano just isn�t working for you. You like the melody, but it doesn�t complement the other instruments. Not to worry: you don�t have to start from scratch. Just change instruments.

If true, I'm with you- I'm not sure how that can work.

[vmpaul]

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
I have no other info except what's on the "Record" page of the GB subsite.


If true, I'm with you- I'm not sure how that can work.

Yeah, I didn't see that. It only applied to the pre-recorded loops. I was surprised that it couldn't do it with the attached KB because the notes are known as opposed to recording a wind instrument and such. But, like I said, maybe it was a setting I missed. I guess we'll have to wait till the 16th to test.

I think it would be the coolest thing in the world. Have you ever seen anything like that?

Another cool thing would be if you were able to import sheet music into it as well.

[JonahLee]

The most confusing thing to me, is while this does seem like a soundtrack light in some respects, it seems like soundtrack 2.0 in others, such as MIDI and recording support, but Garage Band is missing the video integration features of Soundtrack. I would rather see the new features put into the pro app, than have 2 apps like this, each with some features over the other.

[chrisutley]

Totally agree.

Originally posted by JonahLee:
I would rather see the new features put into the pro app, than have 2 apps like this, each with some features over the other.

[ShotgunEd]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
Are you sure? That would mean the Mac would have to know that exact note that I'm playing. If I played a C# on my guitar it would record that on a notation sheet. Is that even possible? To record notes in a notation style from an analog source? I really don't know. I've never seen it. But I've never tried to find software that has done it. Do machines have perfect pitch?

I've considered trying to make an app like this before. In theory its entirely possible, I mean guitar tuners can detect what note you are playing. In fact, I was going to take it a step further and develop a method of converting it into tabulature simply by examining what notes occurred in what order and what was the most efficient placement of the notes on the fret-board according to some pre-programmed scales.

I doubt Garage Band will have this sort of functionality, but it sure would rock if it did.

[Technicolor]

According to the Recording section of the GarageBand subsite, you can edit the individual notes of recordings too, which is quite nice for fumble fingers like me.

Only if it is MIDI data, which will be viewed as small dots that represent notes, you move, stretch or rearrange those as much as you like. Real audio, like a guitar that's plugged in and played, shows up as an audio file, these can be cropped and moved also but there is no way to get "into" the audio file and isolate one individual note and change it. Notice the difference in the screenshots on Apple's site.

[york28]

There is already an application that allows for the editing of audio in a distinctly MIDI-like fashion. The app is called Melodyne. I have not used it, but I think it's safe to say that GarageBand won't let you do that sort of audio editing. "Fix notes" doesn't necessarily mean adjust pitch.

And what's with the system requirements? 600+ mhz plus DVD?! If MOTU Digital Performer runs on my 500 mhz iBook, I assume this would. I think it depends on the number of virtual instruments used. But still, I can run a ton of samplers and effects in Reason, so I think I'll be ok. Except that I don't have a DVD drive, so I can't install it.

Tracktion, mentioned by someone else oearlier in the thread, looks really cool also. It has a similar concept to GB in that it uses a single window interface, but supports lots more stuff (Rewire, VST effects, etc.), although I'm not sure about its looping capabilities.

[darcybaston]

Originally posted by vmpaul:
Are you sure? That would mean the Mac would have to know that exact note that I'm playing. If I played a C# on my guitar it would record that on a notation sheet. Is that even possible? To record notes in a notation style from an analog source? I really don't know. I've never seen it. But I've never tried to find software that has done it. Do machines have perfect pitch?

No, you can edit MIDI event notes. MIDI is just a 8 bit hexidecimal piece of data (I think) with a LSB and an MSB part, each 4 bits in the first message does something, and then a second/third message of 8 bits is sent with music data with information such as note, channel, velocity, aftertouch, controller etc. This is what a keyboard controller is for, to generate computer/hex data which the softsynth instrument uses to multiply pitch, tone, duration, attack and that sort of thing and change a wave form accordingly.

Ex: 3 MIDI messages to play a note for 1 second :

1001cccc
(means we are doing a note ON event, a key is pressed)

0nnnnnnn (the note being played)
0vvvvvvv (the speed at which the key was pressed)

Those three 8 bit bytes happen sequentially like this 1001cccc-0nnnnnnn-0vvvvvvv. It takes that much to get on key pressed to do something in the sequencer/softsynth.

Anyway, that's getting off topic. Source of my ramble : http://www.harmony-central.com/MIDI/Doc/table4.html

When you play a real analog instrument, one that transmits air/medium vibrations (guitar, violin, saxaphone), you're recording a sound wave form. There are no individual notes in there to edit, just waves that begin and end.

Granted, there are devices out there than can analyze waveforms to know which vibration is which note (the science of which relies on trigonomtery (sin/cos/tan), frequency, sampling rate, encoding method (PCM, FMS) and so on) but I really doubt GB does note extrapolation like that. Besides, you'd also need a time synch of some kind. Does GB do SMPTE?

[sushiism]

i think its a great idea, fills a hole in the audio market.
I'm more in to graphics though personally

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Nep2ne:
FWho knew paint-by-numbers would ever reach this stage? No offense, but I find it funny that Apple is trying to reach out to everyone in this fashion. Lord knows there is going to be a lot more crappy music out there (as if there isn't already....)

There's *always* been an awful lot of crap and crap-amateur music out there.

Just because everybody's making some kind of music, doesn't mean you have to be exposed to it or bear it.

It will, however, provide an excellent platform for true talent to devleop and move on to more complex environments.

I think it's absolutely brilliant.

I mean, I own Logic Platinum (not that I'm claiming to have any talent ), and I'm thinking of buying GarageBand as a quick sketchpad.

-s*

[typ993]

I don't know what kind of EQ settings the thing has, though....

I was at MWSF today. Several people have asked about EQ. One of the Apple reps was talking to someone more astute than I about sequencing apps and MIDI, but he did mention that the EQ capabilities of GB were pretty meager or nonexistent.

Also, I haven't worked with MIDI in about 10 years, but there is apparently some qualification of what kinds of MIDI files you can import into GB. I can't remember the exact details.

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by Technicolor:
Only if it is MIDI data, which will be viewed as small dots that represent notes, you move, stretch or rearrange those as much as you like. Real audio, like a guitar that's plugged in and played, shows up as an audio file, these can be cropped and moved also but there is no way to get "into" the audio file and isolate one individual note and change it. Notice the difference in the screenshots on Apple's site.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining this.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Technicolor:
except Soundtrack is faaaarrr from being "Professional". You're not going to walk into a recording studio and see them launch Soundtrack...no way.

Well, they OWN Logic, fer Chrissakes.

How much more "pro" do you need?

(oh, and GarageBand is decidedly *not* pro/*consumer*. )

-s*

[midwinter]

Originally posted by typ993:
[B]

I was at MWSF today. Several people have asked about EQ. One of the Apple reps was talking to someone more astute than I about sequencing apps and MIDI, but he did mention that the EQ capabilities of GB were pretty meager or nonexistent.

I had figured as much. I'm hoping for just a plain 3-band hi- mid- low- EQ. I mean, a nice parametric EQ or a rack of 31-band graphic EQs would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it?

Hrm. Now I'm wondering whether GB does or will support inserts so I can use outboard effects/EQs? I can dream, can't I?

Even if it does NONE of this stuff, it looks to be one of the best programs like this I've seen.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by JonahLee:
The most confusing thing to me, is while this does seem like a soundtrack light in some respects, it seems like soundtrack 2.0 in others, such as MIDI and recording support, but Garage Band is missing the video integration features of Soundtrack. I would rather see the new features put into the pro app, than have 2 apps like this, each with some features over the other.

They already have just that.

It's called Logic, made by Emagic (bought up by Apple a while ago, who also made Soundtrack and GarageBand), and it allows you to do professional scoring to SMPTE video code, as well as offering a complete studio environment.

So there is the "pro" app that does it all (in Platinum, Gold, and Silver - only Platinum and Gold for OS X so far), and Soundtrack and GarageBand for less strenuous requirements/hobbyist use.

-s*

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by midwinter:
Hrm. Now I'm wondering whether GB does or will support inserts so I can use outboard effects/EQs? I can dream, can't I?

Even if it does NONE of this stuff, it looks to be one of the best programs like this I've seen.

Relax. You can use ANY AudioUnit-compliant plug-in.

-s*

[DaGuy]

Originally posted by typ993:
[B]

I was at MWSF today. Several people have asked about EQ. One of the Apple reps was talking to someone more astute than I about sequencing apps and MIDI, but he did mention that the EQ capabilities of GB were pretty meager or nonexistent.

Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem since GB appears to accept standard Audio Units plug-ins. I'm assuming that those made for Logic could probably work or perhaps not too difficult for developers to make them work. If any one of these cases is true, then we are going to have more than what we can handle by mid year!

[midwinter]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
Relax. You can use ANY AudioUnit-compliant plug-in.

-s*

schwing!!!

Spheric: can you recommend a good (but affordable) EQ? My acoustic is a pretty tricky beast to EQ and takes at least two 15-band EQs to get it sounding properly.

Cheers
Scott