GarageBand
This article is about the software application. For information about other music-related topics, see Garage band.
GarageBand is a
software application that allows users to create a piece of music. It is developed by
Apple Computer for
Mac OS X.
The application is not aimed at professional
musicians, but it is intended to help
amateurs produce music easily. The application comes with 1,000 pre-recorded sampled loops, and 50 sampled or synthesized instruments which can be played using a
MIDI keyboard connected to the computer, or using an on-screen keyboard. Additional loops and instruments are available in the four
GarageBand Jam Packs, separate products offered by Apple Computer; each expansion pack costs $99 USD and adds more than two thousand loops and dozens of virtual instruments. A selection of demonstration loops from each of the Jam Packs are also freely downloadable to users who own a
.Mac account. There are several 3rd party companies that offer Garageband Apple loop sample content, both on CD, and in downloadable loop packs. Users can also record their own loops through a
microphone or via a
MIDI keyboard.
Notably,
Nine Inch Nails frontman
Trent Reznor released a few songs off their
2005 album
With Teeth as GarageBand files, allowing people to freely remix them.
GarageBand can only be purchased as part of
iLife, a suite of applications intended to simplify the creation and organization of users' digital content. In addition to GarageBand, iLife includes
iPhoto,
iMovie,
iDVD,
iTunes, and
iWeb.
The application was announced during
Steve Jobs's 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. Major new features included the abilities to view and edit music in
Musical Notation form, to record up to 8 tracks at once, and also to fix timing and
Pitch of recordings. It shipped, as announced, around
22 January,
2005.
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 integrate with
iChat for remote interviews.
GarageBand was originally developed by the German company
Emagic, developers of the professional musical program
Logic Audio. (Emagic was acquired by Apple in July
2002.)
While GarageBand can be used to produce professional-quality recordings, the software has limitations that in practice make this difficult. Significantly,
tempo and
key signature cannot be changed within a song. Automation of effects parameters is also absent, as is a (native) MIDI out capability.
Garageband 2 introduced some tempo and pitch modification. Automation is extended to track volume, pan position, master volume, and master pitch. Both audio and MIDI can be transposed. Recording is extended to eight real instruments and one MIDI instrument at once. MIDI files can be imported.
|
The collection of GarageBand Jam Packs as of June 2006 |
The Jam Packs have been packaged in two different package designs thus far coinciding with newer releases of iLife. All Jam Packs to date are:
* GarageBand Jam Pack 1
* GarageBand Jam Pack 2: Remix Tools
* GarageBand Jam Pack 3: Rhythm Section
* GarageBand Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra
* GarageBand Jam Pack 5: World MusicIn recent releases the numbering of the packs has been dropped as well as the first Jam Pack.
*
Logic Express - A more powerful version allowing tools to produce like a pro.
*
Logic Pro - An advanced music creation and production version for audio professionals.
*
iTunes - GarageBand's songs can be exported to Apple's music player. Both are part of the
iLife application suite.
*
Official home page*
GarageBand Jam Packs*
GarageBand Tutorial: Built-in Audio Unit Effects, a detailed explanation of GarageBand's
Audio Units filters
*
iCompositions GarageBand Tools, resource for GarageBand-related software, loops, books, tutorials, hardware, and more
