PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 07:33 PM
I've been spending a lot of time on this app recently. I've found that you can get some satisfying sounds out of it if you put the time into it. My $0.02:
Drums:
While I find the drum grid to be very limiting, the touch kits are unusable to me in that the screen is not sensitive enough. The grid can be used for surf, but is still very limited.
The sounds are decent enough for demos. I find myself using only the vintage cymbals and studio drums, I don't use any other sounds.
Bass:
The muted bass is useful when it comes to surf. All the others are very harsh, the Liverpool bass is fine for some uses.
Guitar:
No. The amps are great, but the actual onscreen guitars suck worse than I would think possible.
Synths:
This is where I have my fun. The sounds are varied. Some are terrible and others are fantastic. The onscreen touch keys are fine, but as soon as I get an iRig keyboard I will have fun beyond reckoning.
Thoughts? Tips? Tricks? Favorite accessories?
— IMO.
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ravcon
Joined: Feb 20, 2010
Posts: 727
Charlotte, NC
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 07:35 PM
Try EZDrummer for drums. Great program.
— Mike
manfromravcon.com
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 07:42 PM
I use hydrogen. No complaints there.
— IMO.
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JTTurbo
Joined: Feb 15, 2012
Posts: 43
Pittsburgh, PA
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 07:57 PM
Garageband is awesome. I make demos easily, the onboard mic on the macbook is good. You can plug in a firepod or duet for quick direct guitar input or microphones.
The best drum beat I found was a "Motown" beat. Not sure what it's called, but there are only about 7 or 8 of them. You will know it when you hear it.
The "surf" guitar setting is decent, too.
I can't say anything bad about Garageband.
-Jason
— Jason
the Turbosonics
"Playin' Surf at Maximum Impact"
Website
Twitter
Bandcamp
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JStern
Joined: Mar 15, 2012
Posts: 105
San Antonio, Texas
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 08:05 PM
Check out the demos and backing tracks I have posted in the downloads section. I did all of it using GarageBand. I plat the drum parts using a USB keyboard, which is hard to do well. I sometimes plug my fender reissue reverb unit into my USB interface, but I usually go straight in, the blackface sound is passable.
— The Techtonics reverb nation page
Soundcloud page
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CrazyAces
Joined: Jul 31, 2012
Posts: 4052
Nashville, TN.
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 11:00 PM
Altar,
I have a Samson Carbon 49 keyboard that I use with the iPad, easy and small, plug and play.
Give the Touch Drums some time. I hated them at first but now do passable demos with them. I find the velocity to be a distraction, at least for demos so I just turn it off.
I've used the smart guitars and bass on airplanes or for a quick riff but otherwise just use the Jam by apogee as an interface for guitar and bass. Some of the amps, with a little tweaking sound great.
My whole experience with Garageband is on an iPad, never used it on my Mac but it sure does save me time, keeps me writing and is a lot less cumbersome than turning on the computer, hooking up my mBox, running mic cables...........etc.
— http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 02 2013 11:11 PM
http://m.soundcloud.com/thekidforever/gb-demo
Ok. I tried it. The snare is too quiet most of the time, is that the velocity? How do I turn that off?
— IMO.
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 04:45 AM
Garageband is pretty shitty, Logic Pro 9 is MUCH MUCH MUCH better and infinitely more powerful. It just trumps Garageband in every area, it is something you can actually use to make an album, Garageband... demos at most.
The spring reverb is dead on, what lacks is my ability to tweak the amp section to sound quite as good. I've been using Logic to demo direct in, and so far I've been just sending dry signal to logic. I just don't want to put the effort(which is minimal) to put my board and tank in front of my guitar. The key is to cut out the amp, as I am in an apartment.
Logic Pro 9 is $200 and you can get it for $180 with an education discount.
I've been a Pro Tools 8, Garageband, Cool Edit Pro, Reason 4-5, Sonar Home Studio 7 user at home and Pro Tools 7 HD and Ableton Live 8 user in other situations. Ableton is its own beast and rules, but Logic is definitely the most rounded. And this is come from a guy who hates Apple with a passion. They actually made good software, I can't believe it.
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 06:49 AM
You lost me at $200.
— IMO.
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djangodeadman
Joined: Jan 25, 2007
Posts: 1566
Brighton UK
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 07:19 AM
JakeDobner wrote:
... but Logic is definitely the most rounded. And this is come from a guy who hates Apple with a passion. They actually made good software, I can't believe it.
Well, not really, they just bought out a company who already made good software.
— Los Fantasticos
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djangodeadman
Joined: Jan 25, 2007
Posts: 1566
Brighton UK
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 07:20 AM
Altar wrote:
You lost me at $200.
Then you'll only ever be able to make fairly limited demos. Which is fine, if that's all you want to do. Jake could record, mix and master an entire album with his setup, if he chose to.
— Los Fantasticos
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 08:32 AM
Yeah. I just don't have the money to spend $200 on an editing program. I'll look into some things when I move past using GB, and after I get a Ludwig drumset, a fender reverb amp, an electric mando, and a Fender offset, as well as a good mic and stand for my ipod. Right now I'm 14 and have no band, so buying logic would not be the best thing right now. Right now I need something easy, cheap, and quick for ideas and demos. It's fine for that.
— IMO.
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CrazyAces
Joined: Jul 31, 2012
Posts: 4052
Nashville, TN.
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 08:58 AM
Altar,
When you select the drum kit go to the top right of the screen and click on (touch) the three EQ looking icon in the tool bar.
This with give you a pop down menu and towards the bottom of that is a menu for velocity sensitivity.
When I was your age a four track cassette recorder was a thing of wonder and we squeezed every creative drop out of one that was possible, often times exceeding even our own expectations.
Squeeze on and enjoy!
— http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic
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ravcon
Joined: Feb 20, 2010
Posts: 727
Charlotte, NC
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 09:09 AM
I've recorded, mixed, and mastered 5 CDs in Garageband. Just saying...
I'm using it on a desktop Mac, not an iPad.
— Mike
manfromravcon.com
Last edited: Feb 03, 2013 09:15:54
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 11:13 AM
Altar wrote:
You lost me at $200.
I'm not saying for you to spend $200, I'm just saying in general. I've been your age, we made due with what we had and we were better off for it.
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 11:16 AM
http://m.soundcloud.com/thekidforever/surf-drum-demo
Better?
And I'll look in to better programs jake. Thanks.
— IMO.
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norcalhodad
Joined: May 25, 2006
Posts: 537
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 11:21 AM
I've used GarageBand a ton, though never any virtual instruments, only as a multi-track recorder and mixer. I've hit some occasional annoying limitations, and bugs, but with no money to burn I've never been bothered enough by them to upgrade.
—  > 
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 11:27 AM
Altar wrote:
http://m.soundcloud.com/thekidforever/surf-drum-demo
Better?
And I'll look in to better programs jake. Thanks.
You don't need better though, are you recording a proper album for a physical release and promotional push? Logic, and some other programs, excel in their onboard plugs ins like compression, reverb, EQ... The onboard instruments are more meticulous samples/algorithms and have more tweak-ability.
And on drums, generally unless I am using real drums I try to make my drums sound electronic or program them in an electronic manner if I am using real samples. It is just dead obvious when sampled drums are made to sound like real drums in most instances.
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crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 12:35 PM
M-Audio keyboard owners have A.I.R Ignite DAW software.
It's like a musical sketchpad for getting ideas down quickly with the option of passing it along to which ever DAW software you might have for finer editing. Looks interesting.
http://www.airmusictech.com/product/ignite
http://youtu.be/-o5xXo2KmuQ
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PrestonRice
Joined: Oct 05, 2012
Posts: 1725
Austin, Texas
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Posted on Feb 03 2013 12:39 PM
Nothing proper. I know the instruments sound bad, but I use these tracks to get down ideas and plan out songs. I just need to get an iRig mic preamp and perhaps a good iOS mic, then I'll start doing demos and such.
— IMO.
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