I was flicking through e-bay last night and was amazed at how cheaply one can now buy a Mac that will run Garageband. The change to Intel processors has resulted in there being quite a glut of G4 Powermacs at really cheap prices. For example, you can pick up a G4 800 dual processor with DVD writer for around 200 GBP (400$ ish). Make no mistake, this is still a damn good machine (processor speeds are not directly comparable to PCs) and the G4s are still fully supported. I have several PC owning friends who, despite not generally seeing the errors of their ways (:)) still crave Garageband. Don't forget also that it costs peanuts to own a registered version as it's just a supplied part of iLife.

I used to use Sonar on the PC for many years and I still have a PC set up with it. I will readily admit that it is a more 'Professional' program when it comes to things like wave and score editing, and I do think it's great.
However, I cant say I've used it at all in the three years I've had a Mac with Garageband. What it can't do, I do without - and is more than made up for by the way this intuitive program doesn't distract you with technology. Actually, I think that's why I love it so much. You can leave the right-hand side of your brain pretty much switched off whilst you focus on the music.

Latest improvements in it have also addressed a lot of the 'I-wish-it-could-just-do-that' things you may miss from a more complex program. I'd advise anyone interested in recording to give it a try, especially at the price you can get a decent Mac for now. Also - so much less chance of losing your work through a virus haha! slaps own wrist

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.

Garageband is not a great program if you want to do anything more than a home demo. Protools, Sonar, Cakewalk, those are the programs you want. You can pirate them off the internet with little effort.

JakeDobner
Garageband is not a great program if you want to do anything more than a home demo. Protools, Sonar, Cakewalk, those are the programs you want. You can pirate them off the internet with little effort.

I disagree. How much have you used it to make that comment? What limitations did you hit? Was it the latest version? And BTW, Sonar and Cakewalk are the same thing - they just changed the name after V 7.0 or so

I willingly admit Garageband is not the greatest thing for recording a band playing together - but then I don't think any home computer based recording system is. (Yes I know how prevalent Pro-tools is in studios, I just prefer the old way) However, I do believe it's capable of professional results. I've done a lot of work with Sonar, as I said in my posting, and I respect it highly - but I believe that GB has more innate musicality, and that the way it works encourages creativity.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.

JakeDobner
I've used it at school a couple times just messing around. I didn't find it to have enough options as far as equalization and level adjustment. I'm guessing it was an old version as it was back when I was a freshmen or sophomore.

These days it has many options for that as it it can use plugins - and comes with a fair selection of EQ ones.
Re: Surflords quality issue - Are you using a firewire/usb interface? There's a limit to what you can expect from the line in/out. I don't think I have problems with volume on recordings. Check out 'Nachos' in the demo section and see if you think it suffers from that. It does suffer from not being able to slow down the ending though - but the latest version has fixed that issue and it now allows tempo maps.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.

I have pirated Cakewalk before, and tossed it, you can't get all the functions when it's pirated.

estreet, we do have the Firewire USB interface, the 8 channel one.
I have been noticing that some of our songs have a great volume level. So it is just my mixing technics.
Yesterday I could not spell studio engineer, and today I are one!

Today I am going to try and upload a tune from Garage Band into my Creative Media program, and see if I can raise the overall levels. If it works, I will let everyone know.

btw MSL fans, we have recorded the finial two songs of our 13 song album, ...and the tide rushes in...
We will be getting the artwork completed this week, do a finial mix down, and will get it off to the duplicators by mid January.

The Mighty Surf Lords- Sparks,Nv.
"Praise The Lords"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTDYfy0xM8
www.myspace.com/themightysurflords
www.cdbaby.com/cd/mightysurflords

Thanks Rev, I got a guy who's ready to re-master it this week, and he loves the band so much, he is doing it for free!

The Mighty Surf Lords- Sparks,Nv.
"Praise The Lords"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTDYfy0xM8
www.myspace.com/themightysurflords
www.cdbaby.com/cd/mightysurflords