Review: Apple Soundtrack [Archive]

nagromme

Mar 4, 2004, 04:45 PM

Soundtrack is the best! No software instruments (yet), but 4000 loops compared to (I think) 1000 for GarageBand and 2000 in the Jam Pack.

Of course, Soundtrack is targeted for making... soundtracks! Thus it has a video channel. Different market--but still VERY easy to use. No manual required yet lots of power. My non-Mac friends got into it instantly. No wonder GarageBand is winning converts.

My non-musician first creation: a "world music" sound:

http://www.spymac.com/upload/gallery/user_20778/upload_52891.mov

The song is 3:47 long, containing 36 different loops/samples. The only extra effects I applied were volume and panning changes. It's a 48-kilobit/sec stereo AAC track within a QuickTime .mov. (That dropped a 37 MB file down to 1.2 MB.) All rights reserved and all that....

Screenshot of the timeline for that:
http://www.spymac.com/gallery/show_photo.php?picid=52908

My own review of Soundtrack... BEFORE I discovered that you can do key changes mid-song (hint: Master Envelopes):
http://forums.maccentral.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=538058