Comments on: Macworld Reviews GarageBand 09, Missing MIDI, Alternative Learning Tools

By: Tim In Phoenix

Tim In Phoenix — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:56:40 +0000

I came to see if there was news on new Garageband lessons – nope. But, I’ve read a bit of the comments made about how Garageband is overlooked and I agree. Some say if you’re not a musician you should pass it by – I disagree. While not as easy to work with as Sony’s ACID, GB offers a great loop-based tool and a plethora of audio loops that are easy to place and mix. The audio markers tie everything to your key and tempo automatically, so it’s almost impossible to create a bad mix. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that it’s easy to create a great mix, but at least your tempo and key will be correct.

Not a musician – Garageband can open the world of music to the most tin-eared of us out there.

Also, Garageband 09 works with ACIDized loops as well as Apple Loops, so there’s even more content available.

By: Create Digital Music » Apple GarageBand Artist Lessons Still Limited, But Alternatives Abound

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:37:43 +0000

[...] people will run with this even when Apple doesn’t. Macworld’s review looked at some of the current alternatives. GA_googleFillSlot(“CDMU_interpost_rect”); MOTU Volta, Mac Software Plug-in for Your [...]

By: Autoy

Autoy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:29:45 +0000

regend, if you bought an 2.0ghz duo core 2 iMac it should have come with 10.4.x and iLife ‘06 in a second disk which you can still install in 10.5.x, if it didn’t there is something definitely fishy in your purchase. My point Peter is that you do get the current version of iLife for free in any new Mac you purchase, then you can upgrade for a reasonable price if something is valuable for you in the suite later on in the new versions. An no, Windows Live does not compare remotely as a creative suite.

By: halogoggles

halogoggles — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:57:26 +0000

I decided to upgrade to iLife ‘09 based on the improvements to iMovie, which I use occasionaly, and the lessons in GarageBand. I never properly learned piano, and I’m kind of sick of having no “actual” music ability and having this 49-key midi keyboard in front of me. So far I’ve found the lessons to be just awesome. The simple cleanliness of the lessons was enough to inspire to at least try and learn a little bit, and so far (lesson 8, about done) it’s been awesome. Combined with my previous musical knowledge, I actually feel like I can move from here and create things piano-wise. Point of my post: lessons are awesome, they do what they intend, and Apple makes it easy to get motivated. Worth the $79 to me for sure.

By: regend

regend — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:41:30 +0000

@Autoy There is a retail version of 10.5.0 (which i happened to have bought when i got my iMac with 2.0ghz duo core 2) that does not have the bundled iLife stuff
However, if i buy an upgrade to 10.5.5 i can get a discount on the new Leapord and iLife as Peter has outlined.
At the moment I do not wish to upgrade to 10.5.5 as I am in the middle of a project that should have been done in December.
When that’s done I’ll definitely upgrade.
After I finish a major project I reformat my PC’s and start fresh. After backing up critical data of course.

By: samoan

samoan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:34:10 +0000

iPhoto is the app I opened once and never opened again. Never found any use for it at all.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:42:26 +0000

Autoy, what he’s saying is he didn’t get it bundled with his Mac OS upgrade. And that would actually make some sense.

I believe there’s now a discount program that gets you up to date on both Leopard and iLife, even with multi-license family packs. It’s a good idea.

And for the record, Microsoft offers Windows Live, their nearest alternative, free – even if you’re still on XP and not Vista. The difference is, Live is just apps, whereas iLife is really big — sample DVD themes, all those loops, etc. And there’s no Windows Live Music Creator (though maybe there should be).

By: Autoy

Autoy — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:02:42 +0000

Regend, it’s very weird what you say because as far as I know all macs come bundled with iLife since the PPC days.

By: regend

regend — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:57:02 +0000

@Peter – i agree…sometimes i like the hardware method. i’m also the rare user that uses multi PC’s for different reasons…my XP and OSX box run the same apps for audio and my Linux Box’s run Dyne:bolic. i even have a win98 box running Logic 5.5 to record my band Fosforo’s rehearsals. however one of my newest interests is to start playing guitar and learning chords and improve my songwriting and GarageBand would have been a useful tool had it been included in my OSX purchase.

By: Eoin Rossney

Eoin Rossney — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:17:28 +0000

I’ve had Logic for a few months now, and have recently renewed my efforts to get my head wrapped around it. While building my templates I wondered what it’d be like to build a basic writing template in Garageband and then (regularly) port that across to Logic. This coincided with upgrading to ‘09, and now I’ve actually kinda fallen in love with the Garageband way of doing things… GB seems to have almost all you really *need*, and none you don’t.

It’s like the difference between Wordpad and MS Word/Pages – sometimes sticking to the more basic tool (basic in the context of a behemoth like Logic or even Live) feels like you’re working more directly with the content. You can flesh it all out later, but for me it’s fun to sketch in Garageband… YMMV.

With the lessons, I’ve only bought the Ben Folds content but I’m impressed with the format. I *am* a big fan, but separately from the actual track being taught I was impressed with how thorough the lesson was and the level of ‘immersion’ for want of a better word. And there’s enough to keep me going back: I’ll definitely be jamming with the lesson version of the song a lot, and I enjoyed being able to solo/mute tracks so much that I’m starting to create minus-one tracks for some of my favourite ‘jam’ songs.

I’d really love to see improv masterclasses popping up in the lesson store, I think this is the ideal format for that (Jamey Aebersold: Get in touch with Apple!). I think that’s a good idea re user generated content Peter, though I can see Apple milking it for some time before they’d open that up…