July 2, 2011

If you don’t have an iPad, you are missing out on many things, one of them being GarageBand for iPad.

When uncle Eddie told you to hold on, not to buy that shabby Android tablet, and to get yourself an iPad, it was for a reason. Or for many reasons for that matter. One of those reasons is that the iPad 2 is much thinner and lighter so that even more petite people can use it comfortably. Another reason is excellent software like GarageBand, made by Apple and exclusive to iPad (it runs both on iPad1 and iPad2) And although it is available also for Mac, the iPad version is much easier to use.

My interest in this app was twofold: I wanted to know how an app made by Apple itself looks (3rd party developers are making cool apps too, but Apple is unbeatable and shows the way), and I wanted to create some trance/progressive house music.

Yes, the only kind of music I can digest without vomiting is trance/progressive house, and with GarageBand I can make it easily, just by using smart drums instrument:

… which is semi-automatic, or full-automatic, and much easier to use than more manual version of House producing part of GarageBand – House Drum Machine:

… and that’s it, it’s all I need from this app but it is just a tiny part of GarageBand for iPad functionality.

So, people who are not musical idiots like myself, can use this app for proper music creation, with all the bells and whistles, even with autoplay (a kind of autotune but for musical instruments).

Generally it works so that you pick an instrument:

… either smart-one with autoplay (but you can play it manually too),

… or regular one for purely manual play.

Then you play some music yourself, and you record it, whereby recording goes to multi-track view:

…. that is accessible in all instruments upon the press of a button in the upper toolbar (second button to the left from play button).

Of course you can mix in not only virtual instruments, not only real-life guitar (there is module for it in GarageBand for iPad too), but also your own voice, that can even be altered (my fav alteration, yes you guessed it, is robot voice):

Among various instruments that I tried I particularly like hard rock guitar:

… and electric piano.

Possibilities of GarageBand for iPad are huge, and one of things that ruined my attention was the ability to record my own samples:

… that can later be played via keyboard.

Generally speaking the smart instruments – the ones with auto-play and idiot-proof use are the strong sides of GarageBand for iPad and interestingly one of these instruments is handled a bit differently so there are extensive descriptions available.

Upon pressing “?” button one gets tiny yellow sticker labels with help (see screenshots above) but other buttons near “?” button are Song Settings,

… or given instrument settings:

Conclusion: this is one hell of an app for $4.99, and if you have any musical talent at all (I have none) it would be a sin if you didn’t buy yourself this app. Generally I see this app just as a way to create license-free music for your podcast, for example, or as a toy to play with. Of course I have no musical talent, but people who do have that talent probably can create some interesting music with it. Or one can use it just as a sound editor too. Whatever, this is a groundbreaking app.

One of the reasons why people buy iPads is the fact that the electronic version of many paper magazines and paper newspapers are available only for iPad. Apps like GarageBand, made by Apple and available exclusively for iPad, is another reason.

To get this app, tap here:
GarageBand for iPad.

* * * * *

Share This

---

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•