How to Build your first track

5 Make the loop longer

Pick up the right-hand edge of the loop and drag it to the right to add more copies of the loop. Then find another loop, say a bass or guitar, and drag that to a new track, extending it to cover as many bars as you like.

7 Add a real recording

To add a real recording, select Track > New Track and choose to record using a microphone. Connect headphones and a decent USB microphone. With this audio track selected, press Record in the toolbar to record voice, guitar, or other source.

9 Mix the song

Press the Smart Controls button at the top left and you will see controls for the effects and instruments on each channel, which you can play around with. Use the level faders on each channel to change the volume of each sound and mix your track.

6 Add an instrument

Now choose the instrument track – in this example, it is an electric piano but you can choose a new instrument from the library on the left. Select Window > Show Musical Typing to reveal a way to play the instrument using your Mac’s keyboard.

8 Build more parts

Keep adding loops, recordings and instrument parts until you are happy. The clips on the timeline can be cut, moved or deleted to help you make your arrangement. You can also swap an instrument to get a different sound.

10 Share or export

When you’re all done choose the Share menu and then a destination. You can send to iTunes, iCloud or to a file. Choose high quality AAC for a smaller file, or AIFF for an uncompressed file for burning to CD.