GarageBand

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This article is about the software application. For other uses, see Garage band (disambiguation).

GarageBand is a software application that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. for Mac OS X.

Contents

[edit] Features

[edit] Audio Recording

GarageBand is a streamlined digital audio workstation (DAW) which can record and play back multiple tracks of audio. Built in audio filters allow the audio track to be enhanced for recording guitar instruments, etc.

[edit] Virtual software instruments

GarageBand can play virtual software instruments for creating songs or playing music live using 50 sampled or synthesized instruments which can be played using a MIDI keyboard connected to the computer, or using an on-screen virtual keyboard. Additional instruments are available in the five GarageBand Jam Packs, separate products offered by Apple Inc.; each expansion pack costs approximately $100 USD and adds dozens of virtual instruments.

[edit] MIDI editing

GarageBand can import MIDI files and offers piano roll or notation-style editing and playback. GarageBand cannot export MIDI files.

[edit] Availability

GarageBand is only available as a part of iLife, a suite of applications (also including iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and iWeb) intended to simplify the creation and organization of users' digital content. iLife is included on new Macintosh computers; upgrades can be purchased separately. Any minor updates can be downloaded from Apple’s website or from Software Update. The application is not aimed at professional musicians, but it is intended to help amateurs produce music easily.

There are several third-party companies that offer Apple GarageBand loop sample content, both on CD and in downloadable packs. Users can also record their own loops through a microphone, via a MIDI instrument or by using an audio cable to connect a guitar to their Mac.

[edit] History

GarageBand was developed by Apple under the direction of Dr. Gerhard Lengeling, formerly of the German company Emagic, makers of Logic Audio. (Emagic was acquired by Apple in July 2002.)

The application was announced during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco on 6 January 2004; musician John Mayer assisted with its demonstration.

GarageBand 2 was announced at the (2005) Macworld Conference & Expo on January 11, 2005. It shipped, as announced, around 22 January 2005. Major new features included the abilities to view and edit music in Musical Notation form, to record up to 8 tracks at once, to fix timing and pitch of recordings, to automate track pan position, master volume, and master pitch, to transpose both audio and MIDI, and to import MIDI files.

GarageBand 3, announced at 2006’s Macworld Conference & Expo, includes a 'podcast studio', including the ability to use more than 200 effects and jingles, and integration with iChat for remote interviews.

GarageBand 4, aka GarageBand '08 the latest version, is part of iLife '08. It incorporates the ability to separately record sections of a song such as bridges and chorus lines, support for automation of tempos and instruments, and a "Magic GarageBand" feature that includes a virtual jam session with a complete 3D view of the instruments.

[edit] Interface

GarageBand features a block like interface in which different strands of notes, referred to as loops, fit together on separate levels, referred to as tracks or instruments. The program comes with pre-made loops that you simply drag-and-drop into tracks. There are three types of tracks: software instruments, real instruments and imported MIDI tracks.

Software instruments are instruments built into the application similar to how instruments are built into a synthesizer. Since all of the instruments use the same concert pitch, you have the ability to alter software loops. For instance, a loop designed for an electric piano could be placed into a church organ track if you were looking for a more religious feel. The real writing process comes in with the software instruments. You can only write music for the software instruments since their notes are built into the system. There are several ways of inputting musical notes and rhythms. You can click different piano keys on an on-screen virtual piano keyboard window but that makes it difficult to play in time. The most practical way if you really want to record as if you were playing the piano but without any hardware attachments is the musical typing feature. This will bring up an on-screen keyboard in which keys correspond to keys on a piano. Editing of recorded tracks is possible via a piano-roll or staff (standard notation) edit mode. Notes can be created/added, modified or deleted. In the piano-roll edit mode, for a note to be longer you simple elongate the block. If you want the note to start earlier you move the block closer to the beginning. In the standard notation edit mode, notes are dragged in their position. You can only edit the notes of loops that are in software tracks.

The other type of track is called a "Real Instrument" track. This is where the recording process of GarageBand comes in. Using a microphone or plugging the instrument directly in (or through an audio interface/mixer), you can record an instrument being played or a voice-over. You can apply several effects to the recorded mesh such as "Glam" if you wanted an electrical guitar sound or "Deeper Vocals" if you wanted a voice to sound lower. Real instrument tracks could be seen as universal since imported music or recorded sound are displayed as real instrument tracks. It is even capable of putting software track loops into real instrument tracks.

Both tracks can be used together in the final production. You could have a software instrument drum line that is looping over and over again, while a real instrument track has you playing a melody on the trombone or any instrument. In that sense really comes the essence of GarageBand which is the combining of the tracks to create a block of sound composed of different instruments and parts.

In GarageBand 3, a movie track was added to allow for accurate film scoring. The new interface allows you to watch a movie while creating or playing back your music in GarageBand. To keep the interface simple, you must drag the movie from the Macintosh Finder to the video track to import a video into GarageBand 3. This is similar to the way that editable MIDI files are added to GarageBand 3.

[edit] Limitations

While GarageBand can be used to produce professional-quality recordings, native MIDI-out capability limits the use of external MIDI instruments. There is also only limited support for messages sent from knobs on MIDI keyboards, initially supporting only pitch and modulation wheels. However, since version '08, other parameters affected by MIDI knobs can be automated later per track.

Effects can only be added to entire projects or individual tracks in full. They can't be added to individual regions (split sections within a given track). There is also no "reverse" function to play a clip backwards, a common effect offered on most audio editing programs.

[edit] Jam Packs

Jam Pack is the brand name for Apple’s official add-ons to GarageBand. Each Jam Pack contains loops and software instruments.

All current Jam Packs to date are:

  • GarageBand Jam Pack: Remix Tools
  • GarageBand Jam Pack: Rhythm Section
  • GarageBand Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra
  • GarageBand Jam Pack: World Music
  • GarageBand Jam Pack: Voices

All the Jam Packs have a single homepage.

There was also another GarageBand Jam Pack, initially known just as "Garage Band Jam Pack," later "Garage Band Jam Pack 1" that was discontinued in January of 2006. Beginning with the release of GarageBand Jam Pack: Remix Tools and GarageBand Jam Pack: Rhythm Section, ending with the release of GarageBand Jam Pack: World Music in the January of 2006, each Jam Pack was designated with a number. The release of GarageBand Jam Pack: World Music also saw a redesign in packaging.

A selection of demonstration loops from each of the Jam Packs are also freely downloadable to users who own a .Mac account.

[edit] Instrument packages designed specifically for GarageBand

In addition to Apple, other companies offer virtual software instrument packs designed specially for GarageBand.

[edit] Shareware software instruments

  • Boldt 24-Pack Volumes I, II, and III by Ben Boldt are donation-based, free-to-download symphonic instruments.
  • Fitch Cello by professional cellist Claire Fitch, converted to GarageBand by Ben Boldt. Free to download.
  • Boldt UIowa Trumpet by the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios, converted to GarageBand by Ben Boldt. Free to download.

[edit] Commercial software instruments

  • SynthPack for GarageBand contains software instruments for GarageBand which sound like the classic synths of the 80s and 90s.
  • PowerPack for GarageBand - Apple Loops & Instruments contains 55 software instruments for GarageBand
  • R&B for GarageBand - Apple Loops & Instruments contains 20 software instruments for GarageBand
  • Hip Hop for GarageBand - Apple Loops & Instruments contains 8 software instruments for GarageBand

[edit] Other virtual software instruments that work inside GarageBand

GarageBand can use any softsynth that adheres to the Core Audio (Audio Units) standard. However, there are limitations. Audio Unit instruments which can respond on multiple MIDI channels or ports can be triggered only on the first channel of the first port. This means that instruments which can contain many parts and respond to many MIDI channels, such as Native Instruments Kontakt and MOTU MachFive, are not ideally suited for use in GarageBand.

[edit] Using SoundFont instruments (.sf2) in GarageBand

  • SoundFont Synth is an Audio Unit plug-in which uses Apple’s DLS synthesizer engine to make instruments using Sound Fonts in GarageBand. To make the SoundFonts work with GarageBand, you must place them in Library/Audio/Banks and then select the DLS synthesizer as a new instrument.

[edit] Creating your own software instruments

  • PolyPhontics GB is a software instrument toolbox for making software instruments for Apple’s GarageBand.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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