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GMC Forum _ Recording _ Garage Band For Mac

Posted by: radarlove1984 Nov 17 2007, 01:51 PM

I just bought a Mac for the first time last week and I'm trying to figure out how to use Garage Band. I've been a Windows user my whole life and usually record with Audacity and my Pod XT Live.

Does anyone use Garage Band? There's a huge support file for it, but like any self-respecting man, I don't want to sit down and read the manual for it. The software seems straight forward enough, but I'm not sure how to go about connecting my guitar.

I plug into a Pod XT Live, and then plug that into the Mac. Now what do I do?

Any advice would be great. Or if anyone's used this and thinks it sucks, let me know before I waste time messing with it. I didn't even know it came with the computer, but since it's there I thought I'd check it out.

Thanks

Posted by: lavendell Nov 17 2007, 05:58 PM

QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Nov 17 2007, 01:51 PM)

like any self-respecting man, I don't want to sit down and read the manual for it.

QUOTE

I plug into a Pod XT Live, and then plug that into the Mac. Now what do I do?

I believe the next thing you should to is to let your Mac know what input the POD is connected to, and set that as the standard sound input.

Go to System settings / Sound, and select the right source. Now if you play on the guitar you should see the signal on the meter.

I've only tried GarageBand once, but I guess the only thing you need to do now is to start GarageBand, select the right input on a track, and hit record.

Posted by: Tank Nov 17 2007, 06:19 PM

Generally when using garageband, if I'm putting in a new instrument. "Select Track>New Track", from the menu. Specify that you want a "real instrument". Then if you select "Track>Show Track Info", the information for the track will appear on the left. I don't know specifically about the Pod XT, but if it accessible, you should be able to select it in the input menu. If it isn't, you might have to check the preferences "Garageband>Preferences" from the top menu. In there you can select your audio/midi inputs.

Garageband is a lot easier to use than logic or reason. It's got some really nice wysiwyg sample manipulation controls, that help, rather than getting in the way.

I tend to score in garageband for projects and then port it into logic or reason to develop the synth instruments and effects and to master. Tends to be the most productive way (for me), as I don't fall into the trap of tweaking effects for an hour, before I've actually got any music written.

Happy new mac!

Posted by: radarlove1984 Nov 18 2007, 05:53 AM

Got it to work! Thanks for the help, guys.

That thing's actually pretty cool. I'm completely new to recording, so the basic setup is really useful.

Posted by: Rock Nov 18 2007, 10:25 PM

QUOTE (radarlove1984 @ Nov 17 2007, 07:51 AM)

I just bought a Mac for the first time last week and I'm trying to figure out how to use Garage Band. I've been a Windows user my whole life and usually record with Audacity and my Pod XT Live.

Does anyone use Garage Band? There's a huge support file for it, but like any self-respecting man, I don't want to sit down and read the manual for it. The software seems straight forward enough, but I'm not sure how to go about connecting my guitar.

I plug into a Pod XT Live, and then plug that into the Mac. Now what do I do?
Any advice would be great. Or if anyone's used this and thinks it sucks, let me know before I waste time messing with it. I didn't even know it came with the computer, but since it's there I thought I'd check it out.

Thanks

First of all, congrats on the Mac. It's the best thing I ever did. By the way, did you know that if you have a program that only runs on Windows that MAC OS is capable of running Windows as well. It will automatically partition for you....oh, and welcome to the world where you can now trust your operating system to filter out spam and viruses without paying extra money.

I've been meaning to spend some time with Gargage Band but I don't have a pod xt so I don't really have any way of hooking my guitar up without spending more dough.

Posted by: radarlove1984 Nov 19 2007, 06:13 AM

Now that I've had a few days to play around with it, Garage Band is great. It's REALLY simple to get a backing track playing, and the deep editing is complicated enough to confuse the crap out of me so it must be good! Haha (I'm completely new to recording though)

I really like this Mac. I've been using Windows 98 since, well, 1998 and the upgrade is awesome. Using my student discount, Windows Vista is so cheap they're practically giving it away at our school. I just installed a copy of it yesterday and now I can still use my Rhapsody subscription with the Mac.

The Mac really is great though. I'd recommend it to anyone at this point. The only learning curve involved is trying to realize that everything really is simple and straight forward. It's such a weird feeling having a computer that actually does what you want it to do.

Rock on!

Posted by: tonymiro Nov 19 2007, 11:27 AM

Just a quick comment and a minor heads up for those with Macs.

Comment first - I think most mac hardware is driverless (some pc is as well) so should be a lot easier to install and get up and running then good old XP.

Heads up - Logic v8 has just been released and it's come down in price a lot - about 1/2 the price of v7. If you're on a Mac and looking for a 'big name' pro end sequencer then take a look.

Cheers,
Tony