How to Get to grips with Alchemy

1 Synth selection

Finding Alchemy in GarageBand’s revised menu is straightforward. Under the Keyboard section you should see the Synth option now labelled as Alchemy Synth, so tap this to get started.

2 Alchemy’s interface

To economise space, Alchemy opens with its control area hidden and showing only the keyboard under a thin silver panel. Tap the button second from top right to reveal Alchemy’s controls.

3 Play with keys

Like all of GarageBand’s keyboardbased instruments, you sound the synth’s notes by pressing the available keys. Press multiple keys simultaneously to form chords, as you would on a piano.

4 Latch locking

Above the fourth and fifth keys you’ll see a Latch button. Slide this right and it handily locks a sequence of notes as you play them, making it easier to then preview the effect of your edits.

5 Chord Strip mode

Use the button on the far right, above the keyboard, to toggle Chord Strip mode. Tap a key to play the chord above it. The Autoplay knob selects a pattern that plays when you tap a chord.

6 Sound snapshots

The fun starts as you play notes and adjust the synth’s sound. Use the Transform Pad above by dragging the framing box across the eight labeled areas, or snapshots, to alter the sound.

7 Gyro Control

The button below toggles Gyro Control. Turn this on to more fluidly move the Transform Pad’s framing box across each snapshot by tilting or rotating the device while playing notes.

8 Delay and Cutoff

To the right of the controls area are an initial two knobs. Notice that switching between snapshots moves their settings, so you can also manually adjust these to edit the effects.