How would you like to carry a portable music studio with you? Using the Garageband App on the iPad, you can!
This next generation iPad app provides value by allowing iPad user’s to create music content rather than just consume by turning the iPad into a collection of touch instruments including Guitars, Basses, Keyboards and Drum Sets and use the app as a full-featured recording studio that allows you to mix up to eight tracks to create songs you can easily share.
The track layout allows you to trim and place musical regions exactly where you want them to play and fine-tune individual track volumes including turning the track into a solo or muting and adjusting pan, reverb and echo. Garageband also includes 250 professional prerecorded loops to enhance your song.
For the beginner, Garageband includes Smart Instruments. Smart Instruments allow the beginner to begin creating music immediately by providing various chords that have been pre-selected to sound good together. For example, you can tap chords to instantly create keyboard grooves with the Smart Keyboard or strum chords on acoustic or electric Smart Guitars. Knock out the bass line using an onscreen electric or upright Smart Bass by simply tapping on the chords and finally, drag different drum instruments on to a grid to setup your own beat using the Smart Drums.
Using the Smart Guitar , you can either play the chords yourself or you can turn on autoplay to one of four or five settings each representing a different riff. With autoplay on, you simply touch a chord and the riff plays in that chord. On the Smart Guitar the autoplay triggers fingerpicking patterns for the chords you choose.
If you know how to play an instrument, you can play anything from Guitars to Basses and Keyboards to Drums by selecting any of the dozens of instruments. Once selected, you play the instruments using multi-touch gestures. When the instrument appears on the iPad to play, the iPad transforms into that instrument so the grand piano skin looks different than an organ skin.
Finally, for the pro with an electric guitar, you can plug your guitar into the iPad and play though any of the nine classic amps and ten stompbox effects and you can use the built-in microphone to record vocals and apply some sound effects or even record a performance.
As if that’s not enough for a $5 app, you can sample sounds and create an instrument from sounds you record so you can play them on a keyboard (doggie Christmas carols anyone?).
Apple made it easy to share your creations too. Right from the iPad you can email your song. You can also export the song and add it to your iTunes library or send your project to your Mac and open it in GarageBand to continue your masterpiece.
The GarageBand App is available for $4.99 on iTunes.