iLife '04: GarageBand Review

Turn your toil into Talent

Ryan J. Bonnell Skip to comments 7 Comments (Comments Closed Closed)

Ryan J. Bonnell introduces you to GarageBand, a new Application from Apple to make it easy to create digital music using professional custom loops.

Apple's recent foray into the Music making business has a lot of people wondering just what Steve Jobs and company are doing — that is by releasing a consumer software program to help people make music.

One might be thinking, "isn't that a bit out of Apple's realm?" or "isn't Apple just riding high on the iPod / iTunes rollercoaster and trying to cash in on even more on the music business?"

While the intentions aren't genuinely known, the facts are clear: Apple is doing what it does best — putting together the best tools for the job.

Introduction

Regardless of their past history, Apple (the computer company) is once again making noise in the music business. The Mac has always allowed creative minds to do what they do best: create.

In the spirit of this excitement, we'll be covering the newest app to the iLife '04 Suite — GarageBand version 1.0 with a review of it's features and a mini-tutorial of getting it set-up for work.

GarageBand 101

First things first, what is GarageBand, and why the "funky name"?

GarageBand turns your Mac into an anytime, anywhere digital recording studio packed with hundreds of instruments ... it's the easiest way to create, perform and record your own music.

GarageBand is giving the same power to the people as what the first visual "WYSIWYG" HTML editors promised, only better. With GarageBand, you don't have to know how to play the piano, hold a tune, or play the guitar. All you have to do is know how to use a computer, and you can be on your way to making your own music.

GarageBand's name comes from many musicians first start into the world of music, playing in their family's Garage with their band; hence the name GarageBand.

I'm sure Apple decided this name was the single best chioce factoring in the audience they're trying to connect with, and I'm glad they got over their naming soapbox of calling everything an iProduct.

Features

GarageBand is no toy, but it's simple to use and easy to get started, or so we're about to find out. GarageBand is geared toward the consumer wanting to do their own work, but for the big jobs, you'd want something like Apple's Logic, or M-Audio's Reason. With GarageBand you can:

But that's not all. With the rich integration of GarageBand into the iLife suite, you can export your creation to many of the other Apple iLife apps. For example you can easily:

And the possibilities don't stop there. GarageBand is definitely one program to get excited about.

Installing GarageBand

There are two types of installations to iLife '04. iLife comes bundles in a nice retail box with two installation discs, one a CD-ROM, and the other a DVD-ROM.

If your computer has a DVD Drive, than you can just install the complete iLife Suite from the included DVD install disc. If your computer only has a CD drive, then your options are a lot less limited.

On the install CD, Apple includes only iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes whereas as the DVD install disc includes all of the apps: iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, and GarageBand.

custom-install.jpg

I chose to do a "Custom Install" of iLife, and you'll see why you have to have a DVD drive to get the full suite: Garageband requires an incredible 2.0 GB of disc space! The full iLife '04 Suite requires an even heftier 4.3 GB. If you would rather only install iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie, you will need a meager 250 MB of disc space.

For those having trouble or would like clarification on getting GarageBand or iLife installed, Apple has created a new website:

The GarageBand Support Site
http://www.apple.com/support/garageband/

The system requirements for iLife and GarageBand are pretty typical for an Application Suite, but user beware. When Apple suggests a "600MHz G3 or faster required for GarageBand" and a "G4 or faster required for GarageBand software instruments" they mean it.

I installed Garageband on a SuperDrive G4/733 with 1.25 GB of RAM and a 32 MB nVidia graphics card. After using GarageBand for while, I left feeling I needed more power - a PowerMac G5 would definitely have helped me out here. More on the performance issues later ...

GarageBand's Interface

GarageBand InterfaceThe default GarageBand interface after a clean install of iLife is shown at right. Apple has decided to differentiate Garageband's "look and feel" from the usual iLife apps by adding a wood texture around the edges. I'm guessing Apple chose this to give it a "do it yourself" kind of feel, like what you would find in a heavy metal, Garage type Band.

It's unknown what type of actual wood Apple was striving for when they made Garageband, but some seem to like it - others don't. Personally, I am not a big fan of it, but it's light years away from Windows ® XP ® Fisher Price look. Thank god Apple actually does research in UI design.

When you first start up GarageBand, you get no introduction, no fancy tour of it's features — nothing, expect a fake looking miniature on-screen keyboard.

Getting Started

create-song.jpgWhen you first start up GarageBand, you're asked to create a new song, similar to what iDVD does when it asks you to create a new project, and greeted with this dialog:

"There is no song open, what would you like to do?", with the choices being: "Open Existing Song, Quit, Create New Song".

GarageBand: New Project dialog boxA "Save As" dialog box pops up and asks you what you'd like to name your music creation as. The default suggestion is 'My Song.band', to be saved in ~/Music/GarageBand/ (GarageBand's default folder.)

After you give your project a name, GarageBand automatically saves it, and loads the program, ready for you to go to work (or play). Here's where it can be fun or frustrating, depending on how patient you are. After GarageBand starts up, you're left with nothing but one open track, and a mini on-screeen keyboard.

So now what do you do? Really. How am I supposed to use this program? Now, I'll be the first one to admit it, but I'm no musician - not even in the lightest sense.

And here's where I felt hopelessly lost for the first time ever on a Mac. At least with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, SubEthaEdit, and the other development apps I use, I know what I'm supposed to do — but that wasn't the case with GarageBand.

garageband-menu.jpgAt this point I relied on my instincts — I started exploring around the different GarageBand menus, and do what I always do when I am first learning a new program: I jump head-first right into the Preferences menu. Then I saw something I didn't expect to see - a "GarageBand Hot Tips" choice. Nice, I wonder what it will do? Maybe it's the tutorial I was hoping for.

Clicking the 'Hot Tips' choice, launches Safari (my default web browser) and takes me to GarageBand's Support Page.

Reviews around the Web

Want to know more? Here's a collection of other GarageBand reviews you may enjoy:

GarageBand Resources

Ryan J. BonnellRyan J. Bonnell is a Web Developer, Student, and leading contributor to MacZealots.com. When he is not playing around with his endless amount of toys, he can be reached at .

Reader Comments (7)

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1 Derek remarks:
#1) On January 23, 2004 10:53 AM

Where is the rest of the article?

2 Ryan J. Bonnell remarks:
#2) On January 23, 2004 11:05 AM

A special note to our readers:

We had some problems with our database software this morning, and half of the review didn’t get posted.

We are working on reposting it as soon as possible. Thanks for your concern and attention to this.

We appreciate your patience, and invite you to check back shortly, when we will have the full review posted.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the article(s) so far.

3 john remarks:
#3) On January 23, 2004 06:48 PM

“….I know what I’m supposed to do — but that wasn’t the case with GarageBand.”

me too.

I was excited to launch it, then I realized I not only didn’t have any ideas of what to do, but I really wasn’t sure how I would create music. Not that the interface is bad, I just…just…well I will give it another shot soon : )

4 smykes remarks:
#4) On February 3, 2004 02:10 PM

M-Audio does not make Reason. Propellerhead makes Reason. http://www.propellerheads.se/

5 wmm remarks:
#5) On May 9, 2004 09:39 PM

Apple does not make Logic. Emagic makes Logic.

6 VirtuousSquirrel remarks:
#6) On September 20, 2004 06:42 PM

Apple recently bought Emagic and both Logic and Logic Express are available at The Apple Store.

7 randy remarks:
#7) On August 21, 2005 12:54 AM

How do you connect Garageband with Reason or make them work togather?