What is the crowd's opinion of GarageBand?

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you'll probably want to get an audio interface to run your synth through to your mac. presonus has a pretty good one that will work fine for ya... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AudioBoxUSB someone else might have a cheaper suggestion but that's pretty low cost for an audio interface.

if you're on a mac and just want some simple multi tracking software i'd just go with garage band to get started. it's cheap and is user friendly... https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/

there's probably a ton of tutorial videos, but skimming through this one seems to be ok. just imagine the guitar is your synth instead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-sfyZrdbzQ

I know this doesn’t have to do with Apple Arcade but depending on their agent interest check out GarageBand on an iPad Mac or iPhone. They have a drummer kit, A ton of royalty-free loops, and all the ability to test out electronic sound boards and even record your own instruments and voice. I know it’s not a game but it might be something just as much fun once they discover the possibilities. There even instrument lessons for guitar and piano summer coming directly from the artist themselves like Sting, John Legend, Fall Out Boy, and more. https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/

I record using either my laptop or my phone. (If anyone else uses a Mac, this might be helpful... I hope?)

Current laptop is a MacBook Pro; I actually just use the built-in microphone, but with the Input Volume maxed out (to change this on OS X, go to System Preferences > Sound > Input Volume). The audio editing software is GarageBand, which I think comes free on Macs.

On my phone (I use an LG G3), I plug in my old iPhone earphones (which come with a built-in microphone) and record using Sony's "Audio Recorder" app. For actual editing, I just upload it to Google Drive, download it later on my laptop, and edit in GarageBand. That said, I think the Audio Recorder app does come with some very basic editing capabilities.

I've also got GarageBand on my iPad, and it seems to work fairly well, though I've never done any serious recording on it. :-/

It depends on the purpose for which it's being used.

• Mixed in Key, as others have suggested, provides a relatively accurate key detection scanning mp3/wav files (not a realtime solution)
• If you have OSX, Garage Band will detect the key being played live via an instrument within the program (not sure if/how well it works for live audio)
• If you're looking for guidance playing guitar/bass, Rocksmith 2014 (PS3/4, X360/One, Windows) does a great job teaching notes, chords, scales, and other techniques

There are plenty of other solutions out there, but these are three examples that are completely different in function.

Audacity is multi-platform and open source.

Ardour is also multi-platform and open source.

If you are using a MAC, Garageband is still free.

FL Studio, you buy once and they offer lifetime free upgrades.

Logic Pro, Ableton Live are both pretty popular and pay by version.

Almost every product has a demo, I suggest you find the one with the UI and workflow you like the best before making a purchase. Hopefully you find something good. Happy tracking!

the novation launchpad is only for triggering sounds from an external program. you have to do a ton of setup before you can just press buttons and have stuff like that happen. it's not as easy as it looks from the videos.

he already has an iPad, which is good. you should get him a full-sized (because he's taking piano lessons) MIDI controller keyboard like this. I think 49 keys is perfect. 25 isn't nearly enough, and 61 makes the keyboard too big and bulky imo.

for iPad there's a free app called GarageBand. it's actually incredibly good, and is perfect for someone like him. you can cheat and use pre-made patterns and auto-chords and drum loops, or you can go in-depth and do everything manually by hand. there are a ton of different instruments and sounds. also did I mention it's 100% free. in fact, he should probably download and start using GarageBand right now, even without having a keyboard yet.

once he outgrows GarageBand (which shouldn't happen for a long time) he should get Beatmaker 3, since it can host plugins.

as for the Circuit, I'm really skeptical of it. you can't edit any of the synth patches on it without plugging it into a computer. it appears to just be a little groovebox pattern machine thing. there isn't a screen. I don't think you can create and save whole songs on it.

It sounds like you are looking for a free option.

For free software, I would check out Audacity for PC/Mac or GarageBand for Mac. Both of those are great free options for editing audio. I still use Audacity all the time if I just need to do a really quick edit, and GarageBand is very capable recording and editing software if you are on mac.

For paid options, my preference is Adobe Audition.

>Haha that's amazing.

No, what's more amazing is what when I whacked it with MediaInfo the metadata said it was mastered in GarageBand! But it looked good, either way.

> Maybe it was shot with iPhone?

Nah, by-hand animation.

>Murphys Law!

Most indeed.

According to the GarageBand web page (https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/), the latest version requires MacOS Big Sur. Here is the MacOS Big Sur compatibility list: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211238

If you pick something from that list, it should work. But be careful picking the oldest machines there, as Apple may drop compatibility for them in the next version, which will make your investment obsolescent.

Everyone is going to recommend their favorite piece of software to you and each and every one of it will look horribly complicated to you.

This is expected. 3D software suffers from the same thing; after your initial attempts, you usually want to do something more complex than glueing cubes together, so you need to have features that allow you to do this.

Plus, software's just the first step. You'll notice that with just software, you're clicking notes into place; it's much more intuitive to just play them, but then you need a controller keyboard. Then you want to record something, and you realize you need an audio interface. Perhaps a microphone. Then you want to listen to it, but the built-in speakers of your laptop aren't adequate, and you realize you need monitor speakers.

I'd say to start with GarageBand or Reason. Don't expect to make masterpieces on your first attempts. Expect to binge-watch tutorials.

Yes, Reaper's very affordable and has lots of tutorials! It also assumes that you have a solid understanding already of how music is supposed to be made. Every piece of software thinks differently about this, and there is no "best" way, usually just a "what you're mostly used to" way.

Buying the Vocaloid software is kind of expensive to try things out and it gets worse with the voice banks you need. Thankfully Miku has a free trial of 39 days, and she also comes with piapro studio, which is a piapro reskin of Vocaloid, so you can test her out.

Also you'll need a DAW software to make your music like cakewalk for windows or garageband for mac. The interface may look a bit intimidating but there are plenty of youtube tutorials out there.

I'd say try Garage Band https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/ because it's free and it has a pretty simple workflow. It might not do everything a "real DAW" like Ableton Live can do, but it should be more than enough to learn. It also has a great set of built in samples and instruments so you won't have to spend a lot of time going through VSTs or sample packs, you can just drop an instrument in the rack and go.

Personally, I went to school for it. You don't necessarily need to go to a four-year school like I did, but you should at least see if there are any classes you can take online or locally where you live. You really shouldn't try to teach yourself, and definitely don't use YouTube tutorials to teach you unless they are from a reputable source. If you want to get good at mixing, you need to learn the basics from somewhere.

Mastering will take you much longer to get good at. You need a good ear to be a great mix engineer, but you need a great ear to be a great mastering engineer.

In any case, hands-on learning is the best (and really only) way to learn. As far as software, you could try starting with Adobe Audition, but in reality, the software you use is not nearly as important as the skills you learn.

That said, if you have an Apple computer, it comes with Garageband, which you can use as a starting point. If you're not on Mac, Audacity is also a good (and free) starting point.

Lastly, if you're curious, I myself use Adobe Audition and have been using it for years. It's my favorite DAW to use for mixing and mastering.

If you have a mac, you're in luck. Garageband is free. It's very easy to learn, and there are plenty of tutorials on youtube. It's good enough to get you started until you feel you're ready to move on to a pro app with more features.

I used to screw around with Garage Band years ago. Problem is you need a Mac and I haven't used it in probably 10 years so I don't know what it's like anymore.

Edit: Actually they have an iOS app now: https://www.apple.com/ios/garageband/ And for Mac: https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/