GarageBand 3: First Impressions

After some initial impressions of iPhoto 6, I figured GarageBand should be next on my list, as it too seems to have received some of the most significant updates in the iLife 06 suite. As with the iPhoto impressions, it's the same drill here: I opened GarageBand, poked around in the Podcast Studio and thought I'd post some impressions as a prelude to a real TUAW review:

Once again, it feels like Apple was able to add in a bunch of new features while at the same time making the app feel generally zippier and more responsive. Bake those code ninjas some cookies
When scrolling back and forth in a track, GarageBand also has a popup/overlay, like iPhoto's, that displays a real-time scrolling track time. Awesome
You can add a parental advisory to your podcast right within GarageBand
The New Project window has both new "Podcast Studio" and "New Movie Score" options. I imagine the movie score works in tandem with iMovies
I absolutely love the media browser. I don't remember if the previous version had anything like this, but it's present in the same form in all the other iLife apps, and it's incredibly handy
GarageBand asks you to change the podcast track to a video track if you simply drag a movie onto it. Effortless swapping between the two. It also splits a video's audio into a separate track for you to do with as you please
GarageBand has an "Export" preference pane with pre-set podcast export settings like mono, spoken, musical and higher
That "ducking" feature Jobs demoed is about one of the coolest and handiest additions I can think of, especially to a podcasting app

So that's it for now. Stay tuned for more lengthy reviews from TUAW as soon as we can put them together.

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Source: http://apple.com/ilife

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iLife Software Reviews

After some initial impressions of iPhoto 6, I figured GarageBand should be next on my list, as it too seems to have received some of the...

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mr_wahlee

I'm finding ducking kinda useless too...if i pause to take a breath, the music jumps back up to full volume. I see you can adjust the ducking volume but how about the sensitivity once it has "ducked?"

February 08 2006 at 8:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

oculos

Er, is that me or that ducking feature is useless? It gives me a lot of latency, making it terrible to monitor my voice when recording. Well, it may be so that my machine isn't fast enough (mac mini, iBook G4 1,4, both with 1gb RAM), but still...

February 07 2006 at 8:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

LarriveeJP

Anybody else notice that at least parts of the very first - seemingly discontinued 0 JamPack are now part of GarageBand (ex: Texas Blues guitar seting)? Glad I never shelled out $89 for that Jam Pack.

January 14 2006 at 11:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bill

I bought iLife '06 Tuesday night. One billion stars. (beelyuns and beelyuns of them-Carl Sagan) $79 for how many app's? 6? Gee...seems reasonable to me. But then, Apple should give them away for free, now, shouldn't they? And each app should be equivalent in features to the best Pro app's available, now shouldn't it? Well, of course it should! And each should come with three years of Pro Level AppleCare support, one-on-one, in-your-home tech support and training. I'd also like a free Lamborghini with unlimited mileage and a gas card. And I want it NOW!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

January 14 2006 at 2:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wd's brain

I hear ya Rob, even better. create your movie in iMovie HD, click a button to score in Garageband and click a button in Garageband to make a DVD. Awesome and right in time for an animated short I am working on.

January 13 2006 at 7:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rob Knight

Ahh, film scoring. I died and went to Mac heaven. Drag and drop any movie file on the track and score away.
Life is good.
Thank you, Apple.
I also whipped out a podcast in about 45 minutes. I'm so impressed with Garageband 3. It's all grown up now. Getting out of puberty and becoming an adult. It is the new iLife workhorse.

January 13 2006 at 4:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iDean

Is there a demo or anything that I could buy online without waiting for shipping?

January 13 2006 at 2:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Don

All this is great...and so are the rest of the improvements to iLife. But it just strikes me that there is not a reduced price for previous owners of iLife. I paid my $79 about a year ago and right now, I'm not thrilled about shelling out the same price again.

With the majority of other software suppliers, it is certainly customary (& good business/PR) to offer an "upgrade price"...frankly, I'm a bit miffed.

January 13 2006 at 1:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Brett

I personally love the built-in iChat audio recording for podcasting purposes. It automatically records each voice on a separate track, and automatically starts 2 new tracks when you stop recording and then start again. Good for separating the different subjects you are discussing.

January 13 2006 at 1:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

George

Well, ducking is just a sidechain compressor, they should ask that effect to tracks so you can easily get that nice pumping dance effect. I was expecting something better like a sampler where I can layer and play my own drum samples in order to make my own beats.

I'm currently using EXSP24 which is available for PowerPC only. That was one of the things that held me to buy the new iMac. I don't want to run Rosetta because of a 3rd part plugin not being Intel compiled.

January 13 2006 at 12:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply