Garage Band 1.1 [Archive] - MacRumors Forums

MacRumors

May 17, 2004, 03:42 PM

Apple has posed GarageBand Update to Mac OS X's Software Update control panel:

GarageBand 1.1 addresses isolated performance and stability issues, allows per-track Echo settings similar to other effects, supports loop libraries in other disk locations, supports importing unprotected AAC audio files in addition to AIF and MP3 files, and addresses issues with ReWire support, moving GarageBand songs between different computers, Help support, fixing the timing of individual notes (as well as entire regions), and dragging entire tracks in the timeline.

The update is 37.2 MB.

captain kirk

May 17, 2004, 03:44 PM

I hope this improves the performance, I can't get more than four tracks at a time running smoothly on my 12" powerbook rev a

DamnDJ

May 17, 2004, 03:44 PM

Excellent. Downloading now =)

t300

May 17, 2004, 03:46 PM

Perfect! Thanks Apple!

captain kirk

May 17, 2004, 03:48 PM

I wish I could download the update, for some reason i have been unable to download from apple.com all afternoon. I need the ipod software update and it hasn't let me do it. Now even software update is not downloading :mad:

The strangest thing is that I have been downloading fine from most other places.

realityisterror

May 17, 2004, 03:50 PM

ack! 37.2MB!! why so large??

reality

cjc343

May 17, 2004, 03:53 PM

think about it... it had to be distributed on DVD... last I knew, OS updates were on CD... the average update to the OS is 20-80 Mb...

40 isn't all that bad....

Hopefully this will increase the number of tracks I can play at one time....

Windowlicker

May 17, 2004, 03:53 PM

ack! 37.2MB!! why so large??

reality

maybe because the program itself is already somewhat large?

reality indeed :)

Savage Henry

May 17, 2004, 03:59 PM

I hope this improves the performance, I can't get more than four tracks at a time running smoothly on my 12" powerbook rev a

Yeah, mine too. Good app, but it it had a sort of ants-in-ya-pants glitchyness to it that relegated it to the second division of desktop applications.

Hopefully this will smooth it out a bit.

LEgregius

May 17, 2004, 04:03 PM

hvfsl

May 17, 2004, 04:04 PM

I just got my new PowerBook on Friday, I have been playing with GB for the first time today, but it seems to have some performance issues, even on my new PowerBook. I hope this will sort them.

t300

May 17, 2004, 04:06 PM

Fender2112

May 17, 2004, 04:06 PM

I hope it keeps my songs from getting "Bounced".

captain kirk

May 17, 2004, 04:10 PM

Are you in china? :D
LOL, No England, I think my problem may have been caused by the great firewall of my linksys wireless router rather than the great firewall of china. I had to reset my cable modem earlier today so maybe when it reassigned the ip address to the router the routers firewall was activated??????

The same thing has been happening on my windows desktop.
Sorry to go further off topic but I could use some advice. I am visiting boston next week and want to go see a red sox game. Is it advisable to pre book tickets or am I ok just turning up???

captain kirk

May 17, 2004, 04:20 PM

evil_santa

May 17, 2004, 04:33 PM

my updates also time out for both GB & Backup.

iriejedi

May 17, 2004, 04:42 PM

New Software today - NEW machines tomorrow.....

OK back to my happy bubble!

Irie :p

I hope it keeps my songs from getting "Bounced".

johnnyjibbs

May 17, 2004, 05:18 PM

Fine for me so far. And now GarageBand no longer quits when you close the window.

t300

May 17, 2004, 05:19 PM

More RAM

No...No...Noooo...It was working perfectly with the exact same tracks and such all day...I left for 2 hours, came back, found the update, installed it...and VIOLA! I get those messages...

ingenious

May 17, 2004, 05:24 PM

Yeah, mine too. Good app, but it it had a sort of ants-in-ya-pants glitchyness to it that relegated it to the second division of desktop applications.

Hopefully this will smooth it out a bit.

i constantly get "system overload" messages on mine. Of course, I don't really know how to proficiently use GB yet (i cant import an AAC or MP3, but i can use loops :D), but I'm working on it. This update looks like it will helps some of my problems. :D

Squire

May 17, 2004, 05:55 PM

I thought everything went smoothly with the update but when I loaded it up I got this:

PART OF THE SONG WAS NOT PLAYED
This song has too many tracks, effects, or notes to be played in real-time.
To optimize performance, see the 'Optimizing GarageBand performance' page in GarageBand Help.

I can't get it to stop this, before the update this song worked flawlessly...Any suggestions?

I've had that problem only once before. I was playing a song and, at one point, the song got pretty busy- 12 tracks or so all at once. Then I got that message. I think I was running a few other programs, too.

By the way, when you people complain about the performance, what exactly is the problem? Is it that the playhead (is that what it's called?) is not in exact sync with the audio? I only have a 1 GHz iMac and that's the only problem I've experienced with GB. And a minor one at that, if you ask me. Am I just lucky?

Squire

macridah

May 17, 2004, 06:57 PM

Hopefully my garage band isn't a cpu or memory hog anymore .. oink oink

Wonder Boy

May 17, 2004, 07:08 PM

39mb? ya, ill get right on that.

Matt T.

May 17, 2004, 08:04 PM

For those having CPU problems (I bet most but the G5'ers among us), I have found the following to be important:
1. Turn off the "Show Master Track" option (command-b). This is the level/pan display for each track. The drawing of the tracks seems to take up around 25% of the CPU with many of the tunes I do.
2. If you're really tight, you can also hide Garage Band for an additonal boost (it doesn't have to draw the main levels indicator).

I use GarageBand to play along with things in iTunes (like Aebersold recordings, etc.), and I find that hiding GarageBand or turning off the Master Tracks view gives me more overhead.

I assume this "trick" is well documented, but many writers to this thread seem to be worried about this issue in particular.

GarageBand is a fantastic app but it is a hog! Let's hope that version 2 lightens the load...

cubist

May 17, 2004, 08:26 PM

Anybody know what the "issues" were regarding the ReWire support... or how they resolved them? There was a technote but it was withdrawn, or something... ReWire sounded pretty good to me, but if there were "issues" I hope they didn't resolve them by disabling it.

b.k.jackson

May 17, 2004, 08:52 PM

Sorry to go further off topic but I could use some advice. I am visiting boston next week and want to go see a red sox game. Is it advisable to pre book tickets or am I ok just turning up???

Glad to have you come over!!!

What day are you plannning on seeing a game? Quite a few of the games are sold out unfortunately - but if you let me know when you are going to be here I can check it out for you (or you can go to the redsox page at http://www.redsox.com).

Go Sox!!

Brian

mhrob

May 17, 2004, 09:19 PM

I just got my new PowerBook on Friday, I have been playing with GB for the first time today, but it seems to have some performance issues, even on my new PowerBook. I hope this will sort them.

Have you checked your "Energy Saver" preferences in Syste prefs? Your machine may be set to "minimum" (low?) processor usage... Try setting it to "maximum" and see if it helps.

m

el_aarono

May 18, 2004, 01:06 AM

I am really happy with this update. I am running GB on my Pismo with only 384 mb of RAM and I'm not getting any system overload errors and I have seven tracks all doing something. :) Before this update I couldn't run more than two at a time! Anyone else experience similar significant imporvements?

Later

Nermal

May 18, 2004, 01:31 AM

No...No...Noooo...It was working perfectly with the exact same tracks and such all day...I left for 2 hours, came back, found the update, installed it...and VIOLA! I get those messages...

Maybe you could try a violin instead of a viola? ;)

t300

May 18, 2004, 02:41 AM

Maybe you could try a violin instead of a viola? ;)

CUTE Nermel...cute...

Trowaman

May 18, 2004, 03:31 AM

37.2 megs means one thing and one thing only . . .

I'm waiting until August to get this update when I am back in my dorm room with high speed internet and away from this dial up stuff.

Squire

May 18, 2004, 05:18 AM

Maybe you could try a violin instead of a viola? ;)

That was great. One of those once-a-month posts that just makes you break out laughing. Man, I needed that. And t300, it seems like you took it well.

By the way, are you still getting that message? Like I said, I only got that message once.

Squire

reaper

May 18, 2004, 07:47 AM

supports loop libraries in other disk locations

Anyone have any luck changing the location of loop libraries? Haven't downloaded the update yet, but I'm pretty excited about maybe getting to move the apple loop library onto my other drive.

- reaper

pgwalsh

May 18, 2004, 11:47 AM

I haven't heard much about GB, but I'd like to know if anyone can tell me if the MP3 or AAC import will recognize tempos and if you can change the tempo of individual tracks? Might be a fun way to create your own mixed tracks, but not in realtime... It would be really cool if they also included DJ mixing in GrarageBand.

Is the ReWire support both ways or one way? I have readson and cubase, so might be fun to play with GB.

GrannySmith_G5

May 18, 2004, 12:25 PM

is there a way to install garageband on an external drive? running it from a 7200 firewire drive would speed things I would think.

denm316

May 18, 2004, 01:55 PM

I never really had many problems with GB, it was just slow as a snail on my 900MHz iBook G3, I ordered a new 12inch PowerBook so hopefully it will be a little quicker.

Squire

May 18, 2004, 04:01 PM

pgwalsh

May 18, 2004, 04:35 PM

That would be cool, but, unfortunately, it doesn't recognize the imported tune's tempo.

SquireSo what does it use to get the tempo of loops or is there a special file like Rex they use?

Squire

May 18, 2004, 04:43 PM

So what does it use to get the tempo of loops or is there a special file like Rex they use?

I don't know. (I'd like to.) I just tried importing a few songs last night and adding percussion to them. It was difficult getting the timing right. Maybe there's a script that can do it.

Sorry, I'm not much help. ;)

Squire

captain kirk

May 18, 2004, 05:32 PM

Someone put links for red sox tickets at the bottom of the thread, coincidence or not, thanks arn!!!!

Flowbee

May 18, 2004, 06:01 PM

So what does it use to get the tempo of loops or is there a special file like Rex they use?

You need to use the Soundtrack Loop Utility, available (free) from Apple.com. More info here. (http://www.macdonkey.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1288)

pgwalsh

May 18, 2004, 06:01 PM

I don't know. (I'd like to.) I just tried importing a few songs last night and adding percussion to them. It was difficult getting the timing right. Maybe there's a script that can do it.

Sorry, I'm not much help. ;)

SquireThe loops that come with GB adjust to temp though, right?

pgwalsh

May 18, 2004, 07:15 PM

You need to use the Soundtrack Loop Utility, available (free) from Apple.com. More info here. (http://www.macdonkey.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1288)Cool.. thanks for the info.. I suppose garageband could become Mac version of Acid From SonicFoundry....er Sony, but better. Would be great to have a built in wave editor and the ability to drag and drop loops from any sound library or REX files..

mkaake

May 19, 2004, 07:29 AM

i really haven't had too much of a problem importing mp3 or unprotected aac into garageband in the past... just drag from itunes to garageband. oh well... i guess it was kind of sketchy though. in my collection of all ripped music, some songs would simply *not* import into garageband. very strange, but maybe this will fix that...

matt

fucanay

May 19, 2004, 10:50 AM

While some of those features are great to have, they really should be working on optimizing the code or changing the graphics handling. I have an iBook G4 800 and it isn't usable on it. I run Logic Pro 6.4 on it with no problems at all. Thats right, a Pro app runs better on an iBook than an iApp. They need to step it up a notch with GB or it is going to get little use from the people they target the app at in the first place.

fucanay

Wry Cooter

May 20, 2004, 06:50 PM

Thats right, a Pro app runs better on an iBook than an iApp. They need to step it up a notch with GB or it is going to get little use from the people they target the app at in the first place.

fucanay

Psst.... It's secretly meant to nudge g5 Mac sales.... But don't tell them I told you this...

You want Logic, Performer or ProTools response? Buy Logic, Performer or ProTools. You can still have similar overhead issues, it is just that they have tweaked the code on those over years of the apps working on slower systems.

I have seen g5s at the local Apple Store choke on GarageBand. One thing may be a bug... it doesn't like to save a song less than 32 measures sometimes, not sure if that is a software instruments (midi) or real instruments (loops, audio) issue. But it can be beachball city even on a g5.

Its great that it closes a window rather than quits though, with 1.1. If only I had the bandwidth to download.

The easiest way to improve GB performance is to go into the tracks, and turn off the effects. If you have a slower machine (I run it on a g4 400), the reverb, etc... are the biggest processor hogs. If you cut off the effects, or use them more sparingly, you can play most of the included demo songs.

You can drag drop AIFF or WAV files, although the filename extensions, if they exist, should be in lowercase. You can import Midi with Dent Du Midi. You can convert a midi file to aiff with quicktime and drag that aiff file.

And you could figure Tempo with some third party Tap Tempo app, although tap tempo should be built in to a future build. I try to match general tempo to a AIFF by playing along on another track, tapping quarter or eight notes, then adjusting the song temp until the beats of the Software Instrument (Midi) track seem to fall within the measures properly. Or you can use the waveform peaks of an audio file, if it is simple enough, to fit a measure by sliding the tempo around to something close.

Yes, Apple Loops are like REX, Acid loop files... they transpose pitch and change tempo within reason, because it is sorta chopped up into individual note events. I just don't want people to automatically start calling a file with the aif extension (file.aif) a loop, it could be non-looped not chopped, AIFF file just as easily.

And a mild surprise... if you have any audio units smart programs, or demos of such, installed, you can find that software instrument made available to GarageBand, if you dig a bit into editing the software instruments.

Oops, sorry, I responded to every thought in the entire thread that stuck....
my bad.

pgwalsh

May 20, 2004, 09:06 PM

Psst.... It's secretly meant to nudge g5 Mac sales.... But don't tell them I told you this...

You want Logic, Performer or ProTools response? Buy Logic, Performer or ProTools. You can still have similar overhead issues, it is just that they have tweaked the code on those over years of the apps working on slower systems.Well, I don't agree with you here. Performer and Cubase have been rewritten from the ground up. I think the difference is that you have a crew of Audio Development Professionals working on the above mentioned applications. Time could be a reason, but that doesn't explain why REASON performs so well on a G3... That app is way ahead of GB and is 1000 times more invovled and it sounds like it performs light years ahead.

My opinion from reading the list, because I don't have GB yet but will Monday, is that GB wasn't ready.. Just pushed out the door.. They probably didn't think it was going to be as big of a hit as it is...

HiRez

May 21, 2004, 10:02 AM

Time could be a reason, but that doesn't explain why REASON performs so well on a G3... That app is way ahead of GB and is 1000 times more invovled and it sounds like it performs light years ahead.Sure, it's also 6x the price of GB (and you get GB *free* with a new Mac, or you at least get the other iApps with it).

pgwalsh

May 21, 2004, 10:39 AM

Sure, it's also 6x the price of GB (and you get GB *free* with a new Mac, or you at least get the other iApps with it).Yes, but it performs. So GB could be a lot faster. Acid light performs faster too and it's about the same price as the iApps.. But I guess that means you're saying that it's ok to release sofware to consumers that's not very fast and wont run on most machines well if you're not going charge more.. fair enough.

Wry Cooter

May 21, 2004, 05:59 PM

Well, I don't agree with you here. Performer and Cubase have been rewritten from the ground up. I think the difference is that you have a crew of Audio Development Professionals working on the above mentioned applications. Time could be a reason, but that doesn't explain why REASON performs so well on a G3... That app is way ahead of GB and is 1000 times more invovled and it sounds like it performs light years ahead.

My opinion from reading the list, because I don't have GB yet but will Monday, is that GB wasn't ready.. Just pushed out the door.. They probably didn't think it was going to be as big of a hit as it is...

Because I was so long winded about GB in general, I probably glossed over misdirected and oversimplified reasons why it's performancemay be so slow. MOTU and Steinberg may have rewritten from the ground up, but they still had a few years experience in the g3 and g4 tool box. GB probably merely took some existing Logic code (also recently rewritten from the ground up) and wrapped it in an iTune-ish loop browser and simplified interface. Any of those music apps, low end or high end will show performance hits the more effects you add... it isn't immediately obvious that each Software Instrument in GB could have 3 or four effects patches attached hitting the processor, but it is the case.

I wouldn't totally discount my conspiracy theory either, about using it to nudge sales of hardware and OS upgrades for better performance.

The most important thing is, Apple created a music creation app under 100 dollars, that easily sets up for beginners, and because of Mac market share, that particular segment has been ignored, while served quite well on the PC side, where someone can make profit on a 50 dollar program. Say what you want to about Macs being the choice for Music creation, Affordable Macintosh Music creation Apps for beginners, just weren't available for some time.