Our Verdict
If you ’ve follow the saga ofchanges wrought by this year ’s iWork applicationsit should come as little surprise that Apple ’s iLife applications programme have also visualize their share of alteration . GarageBand reading 10 for the Mac is no exception . Unlike some of these diligence , however , GarageBand is a give as well as take endeavor . You turn a loss feature such as the power to assemble and produce enhanced podcasts as well as the Magic GarageBand feature of speech where you could throng along with a striation of virtual players . But you also profit a new musical instrument program library , the Drummer track , Smart Controls for adjusting coarse legal instrument and effect parametric quantity , iCloud living , and the ability to control GarageBand with the free Logic Remote iPad app .
Logic Light
Part of accepting what GarageBand 10 is and is n’t is understanding its relationship to Apple ’s professional digital audio workstation software , Logic Pro X. While GarageBand has always been a light-headed version of Logic , Apple added features such as podcasting and Magic GarageBand to help make the software more appealing to a all-embracing fundament of substance abuser . Those days are largely over .
Today ’s GarageBand is unapologetically a Logic spinoff that concentrates only on music . candid Logic Pro X and GarageBand 10 side - by - side and , given the outstanding similarity of the two interfaces , you’re able to suppose Apple ’s euphony existence squad run down a list of logical system feature and mark off off those appropriate for a medicine - oriented GarageBand audience . “ Keep these features , lose the professional clobber , and make it . Done . ”
And that mean on the button what for those accustomed to the old GarageBand ? There is no supporting for creating enhanced podcasts — chapter mark , programme effects , embedded artwork , vocal ducking , and export configurations designed with podcasters in head do n’t be . As someone who has been bring out enhanced podcasts with GarageBand for years I ’m no-account to see these features go . But I also understand that the huge bulk of podcasts are not come forth in the enhanced formatting . My best surmise is that Apple come to same conclusion .
You ’ll find that the pre - made musician found in Magic GarageBand have miss their gig as well . If you ’ve used 32 - bit instrument and effects plug - ins with GarageBand you ’ll have to upgrade them to 64 - bit versions because — as with Logic Pro X—32 - bit plugins are incompatible with GarageBand 10 .
The exclusive exception is that if you yield the $ 5 in - app purchase Leontyne Price for GarageBand ’s extra sounds , loop , and drummers , you ’ll to boot have accession to all of GarageBand ’s Learn to wager music lessons ( you receive two lesson with the destitute version ) and the Lesson Store , neither of which has been updated in ages .
If you mourn the red ink of these feature you ’ll be pleased to know that Apple does n’t leave you in the lurch . When you download the latest version of GarageBand , the previous version on your Mac is place in a GarageBand pamphlet within your Applications brochure . This reading is compatible with Mavericks so if the features you lose in GarageBand 10 are critical to you ( or you only favour the way the older version hold up about its work ) , go on to use the premature iteration . Note , however , that the older version of GarageBand ca n’t open projects created with the young one .
What’s new
With the agreement that we ’re wait at a lighter system of logic , which Logic Pro X feature film made the cut of meat ? Let ’s run through them .
New sound library : GrageBand ’ 11 ’s speech sound subroutine library had exchange very little from the app ’s very first release . You could add more sounds via Apple ’s Jam Pack bundles and by dragging in compatible loops and sound but this release contains the first real refresh of the legal library and instrument we ’ve seen . And the sound are upright — some culled from Logic ’s library and others a “ rethinking ” of old GarageBand sounds and loops . With the free interlingual rendition of GarageBand you get 50 instrument audio and 500 loops . The in - app leverage provides you with 200 instrument sounds and 2000 loops .
speak of instrumental role sounds , there are fresh young pawn as well . As a keyboard player I ’m thrilled to see that the vintage electric piano , vintage B3 electric organ , vintage clavinet , and some of the old - time synth model from Logic are available to me in GarageBand . At one time you pay a small circumstances for the real versions of these instruments and — a 10 or two subsequently — paid a somewhat modest lot for their practical counterparts . you’re able to have them all today for a measly five bucks . This is an astonishing value .
Drummer track : Introduced in Logic Pro X , the Drummer track is design to provide the sound and feel of a human drummer . Unlike in the past this is done without inactive eyelet . Instead , the “ drummer ” get a performance using the nicely sampled work of some of the macrocosm ’s most popular musician . It does this establish on the drummer you pick out , the preset you choose , which membranophone are play , plus the current conformation of the X / Y pad you practice to determine the drummer ’s volume and the complexity of his or her work . It sound complicated ( and under the hood it undoubtedly is ) . But in performance , it ’s a snap to use .
The drummer toy in a variety of styles — rock , alternative , ballad maker , and R&B. In the free version of GarageBand you get a single sway drummer named Kyle who generally plays in a straight - ahead rock style ( though he can play over a million unique groove ) . He can use eight presets and play on one of a few drum kits . With that in - app purchase you get 14 more drummers , more style and presets , and more barrel kit .
The beauty of the Drummer rails is that non - drummers ( I count myself among them ) can create drum rail that fathom like the genuine thing rather than piecing together grummet that can quickly sound static . That ’s help along by a few options .
After picking a preset you may then use a ascendance on the X / Y domiciliation . By move a dot around this pad you may vary the pattern between diffused and gaudy as well as simple and complex . So , if you drag the back breaker to the diggings ’s bottom - leave corner , you ’ll have a muted , bare design . Drag it to the top - rightfulness and the pattern becomes both louder and more complex . you’re able to adjust this ascendancy to change the drummer ’s performing in existent clock time , which is nifty when trying to zero in on a rut while other parts are playing .
you’re able to to boot use sliders to determine how frequently the drummer uses share of the outfit — kick and snare , hi - chapeau , turkey cock , cymbal , and rhythm section . you may take which percussion instruments are used ( tambourine , bang , and shaker ) and switch off certain parts of the kit entirely . In this same area you may adjust the amount of filling the drummer does as well as increase the “ swing ” in his or her playing . you may also choose another track for your drummer to “ follow , ” meaning that the track will cop some of the rut in that other track .
The power to take the kit the drummer play is also useful . I put together a noisome bluing riff as a trial project and some of the “ lighter ” kit just did n’t trend it . Adding the East Bay kit ( part of the in - app purchase kits ) made all the difference .
Overall the Drummer track is a terrific addition , though to get the most out of it you ’ll desire to collect all the drummer , patterns , and outfit as part of the in - app leverage . But it also ca n’t be all affair to all musician . In my funky blues labor I really wanted something in the style of the fabled funk / soul band Tower of Power , and I just could n’t find it . And if you use GarageBand to put together jazz or country songs you ’re out of luck as genres outside of those name are n’t uncommitted .
Smart dominance : Another Logic Pro X feature , Smart Controls are a way to present instrument controls and effect in a contextual setting . In the past tense , when you selected a track you could tap an Info push and bestow up presets and ascendancy for falsify the strait — adding reverb and a chorus effect , for example . When you did this , all of GarageBand ’s effects were available to you .
That ’s no longer the case . When you now pick out a track and flick on the Smart Controls button , the controls that Apple consider are most appropriate for that track appear . So , in the case of a vintage B3 organ track you ’d see drawbars , switches , dials , and a rotate verbalizer toggle that would be encounter on the genuine matter . If you select a outspoken track and dawn Smart Controls you find dials and switch for controlling a compressor effect , EQ , and reverb . If , in the Library pane , you choose one of the Voice presets — Tube Vocal or Natural Vocal , for instance — the control condition change . In the case of Tube outspoken a De - Esser telephone dial appears along with a telephone dial and switch associated with “ Warmth . ”
There ’s a small Info button in the Smart Controls pane of glass that I wish well were a bit more obvious . When you select it you ’ll find oneself controls appropriate for the kind of course you ’ve selected . For a vocal track or literal guitar track , for example , you may utilise a Record Level yellow-bellied terrapin as well as opt an stimulant , as you might with a multi - input sound interface . computer software instrument tracks have a Keyboard Sensitivity slider that helps you conform how sensible the software instruments are to your keyboard lumber .
If you ’ve opened GarageBand ’s preferences and turn on the Audio Units option in the Audio / MIDI tablet the Info area will also let in an Audio Units entry . It ’s here that you could choose any compatible Audio Units effects and instruments plug - ins that you ’ve added to your Mac . ( Again , these must be 64 - bit . )
The Smart Controls pane also includes an EQ push . tap it and you see the coating ’s Visual EQ pane , which makes it easy to drag dowry of a graph to set counterpoise setting . snap the Info button and you’re able to pick out from among a smorgasbord of EQ configurations .
I find Smart Controls useful as I expect a lot of other musicians will . I grew up on a Fender Rhodes electric pianoforte and so very much like the closeness of the smooth-spoken and pitch-black knobs for align the amount of “ bell ” in the tone as well as the bass and dual controller , and tremolo , chorus , and reverb control . And , for the most part , all the controls lay out to me are ones that I ’d reach for anyway .
At the same time , I wish that I could hold up in both worlds — one where I have this kind of convenient contextual control and the other in which I can access any effect or controller GarageBand fling . Logic Pro X provides this in the form of audio effect insert . Those more advanced drug user who want to really dig in can do so by adding Audio Unit effects and instruments but it ’s not the same thing as have permit to wrestle with the bowel of GarageBands sound and effects .
Logic Remote compatibility : Having life - same controls to meet with naturally lead to a desire to twiddle node and flip switches with some kind of external controller . Malus pumila provide exactly that via its liberal Logic Remote iPad app . With that app you could remotely control many of GarageBand ’s instrument , accountant , and mixing features as well as induction the diligence ’s transport controls . Although I ’d additionally wish to see GarageBand permit me to set apart controllers from my MIDI keyboard to these knobs and sliders — as I can in Logic Pro X — at least I have some choice for using a control control surface . Guitar and bass voice participant may be the midget fleck disappointed that they have to control their stompboxes with their fingers rather than feet . ( Though Apogee ’s $ 395 GiO foot restrainer can be used for exactly that . )
Amps and stompboxes : Speaking of guitar and bass players , thie version of GarageBand inherit all 25 of Logic ’s modeled amplifiers and 35 stompboxes . And , as with Logic , bass role player get amps of their own rather than possess to solve with amps design with guitarists in mind .
Arpeggiator : In the world of traditional euphony , anarpeggiois a chord sequence played as single notes , running up or down the chord — the notes C , E , G toy in ordering , or example . In the electronic euphony world , an arpeggiator does the oeuvre for you by playing notes you play simultaneously on a keyboard in a pattern . The first step of The Who ’s “ Baba O’Riley ” is an example of a definitive arpeggiator burden .
GarageBand , like Logic before it , now offer an arpeggiator feature film . You ’ll find a handful of arpeggiated loops in GarageBand ’s new library . you may also create your own arpeggiators by creating a new software instrument track and exposing its Smart Controls . The Arpeggiator release is found in the top - right corner of the Smart Controls battery-acid . Click the belt down - up fare that appears and you could choose the effect ’s line decree , rate , octave mountain chain , and then one of a potpourri of preset patterns .
iCloud support : you’re able to now save GarageBand projection make in both the iOS and Mavericks reading to iCloud . However , while you’re able to open up iOS - create labor on a Mac , and Mac versions on another Mac , you ca n’t open projects created in the Mac version on an iOS twist . This is graspable given that the iOS version does n’t plump for some of the Mac interlingual rendition ’s features but I can understand that those who recorded a birdsong with their band on a Mac will be disappointed that they ca n’t mix it on their iPad on the bus topology drive habitation .
And more : Apple has made melioration to the radio and additionally put up native communion with the SoundCloud audio communion table service .
Bottom line
What you ’ve done with GarageBand in the yesteryear will mostly influence how you feel about the software program . If you used it only for podcast production , this version of GarageBand is n’t for you . Stick with the former one . as well , if you filled your days have sex away with Magic GarageBand , that band still exists in the previous interpretation .
I ’m hard - press , however , to see how a musician could be anything but delighted with GarageBand 10 . The new sounds and legal instrument are really near . Drum tracks can now sound more like they were represent by gentleman rather than political machine . While the software ’s Smart Controls may not offer you accession to every outcome you hope , they make sentience in the melodious context in which you ’re working . And anything ( in the kind of an iPad control open ) that lets you spend more time with your deal on your instrument ( and off your electronic computer ) should be get for celebration .
update 11/17/13to good explain the mechanics of the Drummer track .
