Beginners question

[fluiman]

Hello,

I'm a musician who has access to an iMac G4 with Garageband. I plan to start writing music on the Mac, and am enthusiastic about Garageband's apparent ease of use. I am trained in music, but have never written on a computer.

Initially, I want to write simple dance music without the necessity to 'play' all parts myself. Ideally, I would like to be able to record a 'sound' and then use software to compose a melody using that sound.

I have read a little about Garageband, but I am not sure if this is possible with this software. Is it possible? Or would another program be more suitable, bearing in mind that I am a complete beginner at electronic music.

Can someone advise me?

 

[WinterMute]

You need a sampler for that, GB can't help you by itself, as the sounds it uses are all preset or are recordings like a tape machine would record.

Can I suggest you look at Kontact from Native Instruments, which will operate as a plug-in from within GB, or Reason, or perhaps Logic Pro (V expensive). There are a number of other plug-ins that GB will use, but it won't run VST types, only AU (Audio Units) which limits the choice a bit.

You'll need to get to grips with MIDI and with recording/sampling, GB can help you work on the MIDI and recording, but it isn't a sampler.

Kontact will let you record a sound and then map that sound accross a keyboard, so that the sound's original pitch is preserved on one key and the pitch changes with the key (as does the length, gets shorter with rising pitch). You can then compose using GB and your new sound.

You'll also need a very powerful Mac to get the best out of GB and Kontact, you might be better off investing in Logic Express and Kontact or simply Logic Pro and use the ESX24 sampler, or Digital Performer 4 or Reason.

Hope this helps.

 

[wowser]

yeah, Garageband is more like a virtual 8-track, really. It's good at what it does.