GarageBand, Apple devices make beautiful music together
When I began work on my next book, “GarageBand For Dummies Second Edition,” I discovered something shocking: GarageBand for Apple devices bears little resemblance to GarageBand for the Mac. They’re so different, in fact, that Apple’s device version should be called GarageBand Touch or GarageBand Mobile.
When I demonstrated the iPad version at a recent user group meeting, I was amazed at how many people had never tried GarageBand on an Apple device . Many of them said they had tried GarageBand on a Mac and found it too confusing or complicated. When they saw how easy it is to create songs with GarageBand on an iPad, every one of them said they were blown away and would definitely give it a try.
So, if you ever wanted to
record a song, GarageBand for Apple devices is the likely the easiest way (and it’s definitely more fun than the Mac version).
Smart Instruments are the first and most significant difference. On the Mac, you can only record a part you can perform. So, if you want a guitar part in your song, you have to be able to play it on a real guitar.
Smart Instruments are virtual instruments designed for the touchscreen. For example, the Smart Guitar offers buttons for chords along with a set of onscreen guitar strings. Play a chord by swiping the strings or tapping the buttons; play a note by tapping a string.
The best part of Smart Instruments for me is autoplay. When enabled, all you do is tap the proper chord at the proper time. Autoplay then picks or strums the strings in one of four available patterns, which all sound far more polished than anything I could play on my guitar.
The other killer features unique to the iOS version is Live Loops. While GarageBand for Mac offers only a traditional multitrack recording interface, GarageBand for Apple devices offers two interfaces for recording: There’s a traditional multitrack interface similar to the Mac version, and there’s a modern Live Loops interface with a grid of touch-sensitive pads that trigger sounds.
The Live Loops interface lets you record, sample, sequence, perform and mix a variety of sounds all on one screen. Here’s how to try it: Create a new song, tap the Live Loops tab at the top of the screen, and then tap a template below (try Rock or Chill). Now tap the Play button at the top of the screen and then tap the caret (^) below any column. That will play the cells in that column all at once. Now tap another caret, and then tap one or more individual cells.
Bottom line: GarageBand means anyone with fingers can create great sounding music on an Apple device. Isn’t that cool?
GarageBand is a free download in the App Store for your device.