Garageband Jam Pack 4 Symphony Orchestra
Discuss: GarageBand Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra - media Sign in to comment. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to. For the record, I've been very happy with Jam Pack 4 - Symphony Orchestra. I've been able to easily construct some convincing sound track clips. It's almost overwhelming just listening through all the loops and instruments that come with GarageBand. Each Jam Pack ($99) contains an addition 2000 loops, plus more instruments!
From the garage to the philharmonic.
With a symphony orchestra in tow, you just may have to spring for bigger quarters. But if you're planning to conduct your own orchestra, you'll want better acoustics anyway. Using Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra and GarageBand (or Logic Express 7, Logic Pro 7), there are virtually no limits to the types of sophisticated music you can create. Taking advantage of the prerecorded Apple Loops (more than 2,000 in Jam Pack 4), you can compose everything from classical music to movie soundtracks. Or you may want to lend some symphonic power to your pop, rock or hip-hop arrangements.
Symphony Orchestra also provides you with more than 30 of the most important orchestral software instruments to play, including:
Strings -- In your…read moreorchestral string section, you'll find first and second violins, violas, cellos, double basses and a concert harp, as well. And thanks to GarageBand, you can control not only the dynamics and expression of each instrument but such articulations as staccato, tremolo and trills, as well.
Brass & Winds -- The ever-popular woodwind and brass sections include flutes, oboes, lovely French horns, trumpets, trombones and tubas, among others. Play any as solo instruments or, for a richer sound, as an entire section. You can even control the playing style of individual instruments.
Percussion -- Now's your chance to play a wide selection of percussive elements: bass, snare and field drum; cymbals, gong and bells; the woodblock and still others. You can also try your hand at a full range of pitched percussion instruments, including timpani, celesta, xylophone, marimba and the glockenspiel.
Keyboard -- Your Symphony Orchestra also comes with new keyboard instruments, as well. They includes a Steinway grand piano, harpsichord and a heavenly church organ. read less
GarageBand Audio Examples • 'Sound Track' Examples • Apple Jam Packs • Books • Tutorials
Audio Interface & Hardware Recommendations • Avoid PCI cards
Apple & EMagic
With the newest member of the Jam Pack family you can conduct your own orchestra with new sounds for GarageBand, Logic, and Soundtrack. Create lush symphonic music with this collection of software instruments and loops, including strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, piano, and more. Using Jam Pack 4: Symphony Orchestra and GarageBand (or Logic Express 7, Logic Pro 7), there are virtually no limits to the types of sophisticated music you can create. Taking advantage of the prerecorded Apple Loops (more than 2,000 in Jam Pack 4), you can. 5.0 out of 5 stars The awesomeness that is Apple Garageband Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra. Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2010. Verified Purchase. I love Apple products and this one sure did live up to my expectations. The product was in great condition and arrived at the estimated delivery date. Thanks for everything.
Around about 2004 EMagic is one of the day's top audio software companies. Logic Audio was EMagic's flagship product, and one of the preferred applications for audio/MIDI recording, ranking in the top four with Pro Tools, Digital Performer and Cubase.
Then Apple purchased EMagic, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary.
GarageBand is a result of Apple's ability to bring it's resources to market. (Is it just me, or does it seem like Apple is steadily infusing Pixar's technology into the Mac OS Aqua interface and applications?) Anyway, it's safe to say, GarageBand is a slimmed down version of Logic Audio,. ( I hear that many prefer it over Logic LE.) Unlike Logic, GarageBand is Mac only product. It does run under any release of Windows.
Garageband comes installed free with any new Mac as part of Apple's iLife Suite(which also includes, iPhoto, iMovie, IDVD and iTunes.) For those with older Macs, or for those who want the latest version of any of these application, iLife it is available for $79, and now includes Garageband 2. If the trend continues, Apple will release a new version of iLife each year, so if you want to keep up to date, you'll need to plunk down some cash per annum ... except for iTunes, which though it's included in iLife, it is free to Mac and Windows users. iTunes is the gateway to Apple's music store.
Apple sells another audio product called SoundTrack. There is confusion regarding the difference between SoundTrack and GarageBand As I understand it, SoundTrack is primarily a loop editor/player. It does not have the recording or MIDI capabilities that GarageBand possesses. GarageBand however is a great tool for loop arranging, and now in Garageband 2.0 you can create your own loops as well. Thus I believe GarageBand 2.0 has rendered SoundTrack nearly obsolete.
The GarageBand Niche
In short GarageBand is
- a loop arranging/editing tool
- a powerful digital audio multi-track recorder
- a MIDI sequencer
- an automated mixer
Apple carefully crafted Garageband for the prosumer, amateur/hobbyist and newbie market. GarageBand is for anyone who wants to get involved with recording digital audio or who wants to experiment with an inexpensive yet powerful tool. Free (with your new computer) is quite inexpensive! With Apple's iLife Suite selling at $79, you can think of the cost of Garageband as under $20! ) There's nothing else that competes.
Professional aspects::
- It produces CD quality sound.
- Certain features equal, rival and even surpass the pro packages.
Consumer aspects:
- GarageBand takes a lot of the initial grief out of setting up an audio interface and a MIDI configuration. It quickly gets the user involved without discouraging at the outset. It's easy to get confounded at step one with most audio packages.
- With simplicity come limitations, specifically regarding input, output, and editing. Many professional tools are intentionally withheld, otherwise Apple would be giving away Logic Audio.
- Think of Garageband as an iBook, and Logic as PowerMac G5. The iBook doesn't have gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, DVI output... GargageBand 1.0 only lets you record one stereo track at a time, there's limited MIDI editing, there's no way to export MIDI, doesn't support 24 bit audio, no MIDI outs, so you can't drive external sound modules. ... You get the idea.
Apple also sells a number of Jam Packs. These are tailored collections of loops and instruments that fit a certain niche: Hip Hop, drums and rhythms, symphony orchestra. For the record, I've been very happy with Jam Pack 4 -- Symphony Orchestra. I've been able to easily construct some convincing sound track clips.
It's almost overwhelming just listening through all the loops and instruments that come with GarageBand. Each Jam Pack ($99) contains an addition 2000 loops, plus more instruments!
GarageBand supplies you with loops and not much more, so it's tricky to construct a piece with an honest ending. A studio fade is easy way out, but sometimes you just want a real ending. With a combination of MIDI and some musical creativity, you can create and fashion your own endings any way you want. However, creating endings for GarageBand's digital audio loops is a regular undertaking, with uncertain outcome. How you gonna get that long, sustained last chord? This is the main area where GarageBand falls short. Ideally Apple include alternate endings for each type of 'real instrument' loop provided. Let's hope they do.
It almost goes without saying, anytime you're working with audio or video, a fast computer is recommended. Garageband is not a light weight program. It has an appetite for CPU resources and hard disk space. Nevertheless, I had no problems with GarageBand 1.0 on a Dual 1.25 GHz G4 under OS 10.28. GarageBand 2.0 runs well too, however it requires Mac OS 10.3.
NOTE: Here's a list of the main improvements in GarageBand 2.0:
- You can record up to eight tracks live.
- There's a notation view of single MIDI tracks.
- Finally you can import MIDI files (Unfortunately, still no MIDI export.)
GarageBand Learning Resources
Here's a list of GarageBand resources that I uncovered in my research, including discussions, documentation, examples of user's achievements, and related products.
Online:
- Apple info and discussions
- http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband
- http://discussions.info.apple.com
- http://www.apple.com/feedback/garageband.html
(Here's a place where you can provide Apple with your feedback and enhancement requests!)
Apple Documentation
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93615
(Apple PDF Manuals are located here!) - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93701
(If this article doesn't appear at this page, search for 93701 at http://www.apple.com/support/) - http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/logic/Logic_for_GarageBand_Users.pdf
- http://www.apple.com/logic/
Installed on your computer, installable, or downloadable:
GarageBand/Help takes you to Apple's Help Center. As usual Apple's Help Center is only marginally helpful, erring on the side of brevity.
Apple's documentation from Apple's iLife '04 DVD (installed but easy to overlook:
- Macintosh HD:Library:Documentation:Applications:GarageBand:GarageBandAtAGlance.pdf
- Macintosh HD:Library:Documentation:Applications:GarageBand:English:GarageBandTutorial2.pdf
- Macintosh HD:Library:Documentation:Applications:GarageBand:English:GarageBandTutorial1.pdf
- Macintosh HD:Library:Documentation:Applications:GarageBand:English:GarageBandTutorial3.pdf
Sample GarageBand projects:
On iLife 04's DVD in the :GarageBand Demo Songs folder. These examples are not installed with GarageBand 1.0, You have to copy them from the DVD to your hard drive They are about a half a gigabyte, which is probably why the installer doesn't automatically copy them to your disk.
'G3 projects' folder:- For the Mind
- Half Dome Shufflin'
- Guitar Blues
- Daydream
- Glide
- Meadow
- Reflection
- Shufflin' Piano Blues
- GarageBand: The Missing Manual by David Pogue (davidpogue.com)
Covers GarageBand 1.0
http://www.oreilly.com
List Price: $19.95 (Street price: $13.50) - GarageBand 2.0: The Missing Manual by David Pogue (davidpogue.com)
Covers GarageBand 2.0
http://www.oreilly.com
List Price: $24.95 (Street price: $16.50) - Apple Training Series: GarageBand 2
By Mary Plummer .
ISBN: 0321330196
Mar 25, 2005
List Price:$29.99 (street price $13 - 20)
GarageBand related software
- Dent Du MIDI -- for importing MIDI into GarageBand 1.0
http://homepage.mac.com/beryrinaldo/ddm/
NOTE: GarageBAnd 2.0 imports MIDI, so Dent Du MIDI is no longer needed
Diablo Valley College (Classes in digital audio)
- DVC has an excellent Music Technology Center in the music building. The center opened in 2003 so it's up to date, state of the art, with about 36 stations, a couple of sound booths, and good equipment all 'round.
- I took an excellent course there on Pro Tools. It was a surprising amount of work, but I got a working knowledge of Pro Tools and a lot of insight into digital audio, signal routing, effects, etc. My instructor, Tim White, was great. I started another class with Nick Peck, a honcho from Lucas Studios. He was quite a force! As a pre-requisite, you should have bit about MIDI and multi-track recording, or take MUSIC-172 .
- DVD offers once-a-week Saturday classes. See the schedule at: http://www.dvc.edu
- MUSIC-172 Introduction to Electronic Music and MIDI
- MUSIC-174 Introduction to Pro Tools
- MUSIC-175 Applied (Advanced) Pro Tools
- NOTE: Previously these courses were listed as 190 classes.
Other music software offerings:
- Melody Assistant (Notation shareware, $20)
http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melody.htm
Harmony Assistant (Notation shareware, $70?)
http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/harmony.htm
http://www.myriad-online.com/en/index.htm - The Amazing Slow Downer
http://www.ronimusic.com
Play CDs at any speed without changing the pitch -- great for musicians who learn by ear! - ScoreWriter
http://www.geniesoft.com - Overture
http://www.geniesoft.com
Hardware Options
Garageband Jam Pack 4 Symphony Orchestra Music
- USB Microphone/Line input device
- The iMic by Griffin Technology offers the easiest way to connect a mic, electric guitar, or line level piece of audio to your USB ready Mac, and Griffin's tech support is great!
http://www.griffintechnology.com
Why iMic? Many Mac have no mic and audio inputs. Finally Apple again includes a line-level input on many models., but not on iBooks, iMac ... but even still a mic signal is not strong enough for a line level input, so you'd need a mixer or a preamp. - Tascam US-122 -- I like the layout of this interface. The knobs and inputs are in the right locations. Just plug it in. No drivers required. Only wish it had a digital input.
- Microphone
- Sony ECM MS-907 is a great all purpose stereo mic. It lists for $99, but street price is about $75.
- Keyboards
- I use a M-Audio Evolution MK-449C keyboard which connects directly through USB and requires no batteries or AC power. I'm not wild about this keyboard: the fell is pretty spongy, and the display is hard to read -- ten point type? But for $99 it is portable and adequate for many projects.
- If you're looking for a keyboard I'd consider one by Edirol or Fatar. The low end Edirol sells for about $99 too! The keyboards Apple sells are by Edirol, owned by Roland, and M-Audio, formerly MIDIman ... recently purchased by DigiDesign.