AppleInsider StaffApple today introduced two new Jam Packs for its GarageBand music creation software, giving musicians and aspiring musicians alike all of the loops and software instruments they need to create music in the genre of their choice.
"GarageBand and the original Jam Pack made it possible for anyone, regardless of their musical background, to easily create great sounding music on their Mac," said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. "With these two new Jam Packs, musicians and aspiring musicians can delve deeper into their favorite genre. GarageBand just got better."
Jam Pack 2: Remix Tools offers more than 2,000 additional loops, 20 new beat kits (Techno, R&B, House, Trance), new synth and sound effect instruments and classic drum machines from Roland (TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, CR-78), turning the Mac into an easy-to-use, all-in-one dance and urban music production tool.
Jam Pack 3: Rhythm Section includes an additional 2,000 loops and over 50 new instruments to make GarageBand an even more powerful music creation tool. New drums (Jazz Brushes, Indie Rock, Warehouse Kit), basses (Motown, Liverpool, Progressive Rock, Unplugged) and guitars (Dobro Slide, Bluegrass Banjo, Bluesy Acoustic, Heavy Metal Electric) are a sample of the professional-quality software instruments that come with Rhythm Section.
GarageBand, part of Apple’s award-winning iLife '04 suite of digital lifestyle applications, allows both novice and seasoned musicians to easily play, record and create amazing music using a remarkably simple interface. With GarageBand, recorded performances, digital audio and looping tracks can easily be arranged and edited like building blocks to create a song. Songs made with GarageBand can be imported into iTunes and used within movie or slideshow projects created with iMovie, iPhoto and iDVD.
Pricing & Availability
The new Jam Packs are available now through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) each. Jam Pack 1 is also available for a suggested retail price of $99 (US).
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
Mike Wuerthele
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6 Comments
Oooh, techno jam pack....nice.
Check out the bottom of Apple's Jam Pack page:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/jampacks/
There are low- and high-bandwidth Jamp Pack players -- inline quicktime files. I assume this is to hear some of the samples included in each before paying, but they're not working on my work PC at the moment. Nice touch though!
What's the fuss about? Can I really use (a Mac through) Garageband and Logic Express to make my own pro-quality music?
The thing is, I was a guitarist (I know how to play bass and the piano too) for a metal group in the Philippines back in my teens. I quit the band to pursue my studies, now I'm in my final undergraduate year in Japan. I still like music a lot though and joined a band club here in my university. I see a lot of Japanese making their own record with MTRs(Muti-Track Recorder), the price of which varies from $500 to $1000. I wanna record my own compositions too, so I was thinking of buying one. My Japanese friends say they're quite good for recording your own music. Though I've never used them, I think they're pretty complicated machines. And because I'm also in to Macs (I've used them since high school), and because of this Garageband thing that Apple just recently introduced, I'm confused on what to focus on. I've toyed a little with garageband and it seems ok. But my friends (recently converted mac users) say Garageband is too amateur for recording. Well, maybe they just don't know what they're talking about. I just don't know which is better in recording professional-sounding records (Macs or MTR) - especially now that Garageband has new jam packs and Logic Express just arrive.
Well, what the hell! ! you know what I mean, can somebody just give some advice on this!...please
One issue with GarageBand is that you can't record lots of multiple tracks at the same time. So, for example, you couldn't put a mic on a voice, have another input from a guitar, another from a keyboard, and another mic on drums, and then record them as separate tracks. (You could of course mic the whole thing, but you wouldn't have them on separate tracks to do your mixing.) You essentially have to layer them one track at a time, which is OK if you're just one person at home playing a few different instruments, but people in bands usually like to record several separate tracks at the same time.
What's great about GarageBand that you won't get in a mixer is the pre-made loops that you can fiddle with to create your own music without playing any instruments. But to record several tracks at once, mixing midi and mics and guitar inputs all at once, you'll probably want to look at Logic or Logic Express. That software with a computer will be vastly superior to most stand alone multi-track recorders.
dcat-
I've used GarageBand to record my guitar and voice (the noise that comes from my mouth) as individual tracks, which I then put together with drum loops etc. I'ts lots of fun and really quite powerful except for the single track recording issue. The effects you can use are really quite amazing if you think what you would have to shell out for the hardware equivalent. GB is a great way to practice and make basic recordings. It's also very cheap, si I don't think you have much to loose by starting with it.
I think I'll be moving up to Logic Express just because of the extra track possibilities. I think Apple has played it very smart to include an easy path to bring your GB work over to Express.