GarageBand 2 and Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra

[MacBytes]

Category: Reviews
Link: GarageBand 2 and Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050128085923)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[Trowaman]

I just want to say that the musical typing feature is my favorite. I don't have a guitar or keyboart to input, but with musical typing it's like having a very small keyboard. I even started up my copy of Zelda and transposed "the Song of Time" into garage band with the keyboard. I'm thinking it could be a great tool usign loops to create a "song of Time remix" or soemthing else along those line. Anyways, musical typing is great.

[nagromme]

It's a great feature for those without keyboards... but it only made me want to GET a keyboard... there's another $99! :o

I've made remixes of iTunes-purshased songs using Soundtrack. Apply some filters, cut and paste, and synch it with added loops. It's fun!

[24C]

I am waiting to try my neighbour's GB2 with JP4, should arrive in the next few weeks. I used to love creating mixes/playlists from my eclectic music collection and dumping them to the iPod, and creating...GB is the next step up. I reckon I'll get the bug, and I'll be blowing coin on a keyboard too. It was the same with iMovie, I gotta camcorder and am still having fun. If Apple creates any more 'lifestyle' software, I'll have to quit work, as there won't be enough time in a day. :)

[nagromme]

Be warned: if creating remixes of pre-recorded music, form iTMS or CD, you have to get the tempo right if you plan to use loops. Playing along yourself is not a problem, but loops will only work well if you set your project tempo to match the song.

That's not so bad, just a little trial and error... IF the song HAS one consistent tempo. But many songs speed up or slow down. Soundtrack (if you spend some time) can account for that with a master Tempo envelope, making your loops speed up or slow down too. GarageBand, AFAIK, cannot do that. So over time, the loops will get out of synch.

Still, playing along yourself, or the occasional SHORT span of added loops, shouldn't have any big problems.