As part of the new iLife '11 software suite, Apple just revealed the details on the new version of GarageBand. It now has Flex Time audio track manipulation (same as in Logic), Groove Matching audio quantization, new stompbox and amp modeling effect plugins. iLife '11 will now cost just $49, used to be $79. Quite an amazing deal!
I think my favourite thing is to come home to a whole pile of new apple products...The new features in garageband are features that i was thinking of upgrading to logic to get, i can say i am really happy right now
Interesting to see some of Logics advanced features trickling down to GB. GB is great value for money, but Logic Studio is also incredible value if you want a sequencing powerhouse/full studio and is much, much more powerful. Also it doesn't look like they've added a MIDI out to GB although there are workarounds apparently.
Flex Time was the only feature that made me consider upgrading to Logic. And now that the GB has it, I can continue rocking with it I love GB for it's minimalism and Logic-grade sound quality. Indeed, Logic has more instruments and effects as standard, however, I have expanded my arsenal with many great third-party plugins (close to $1500 worth of them over the past few years). And I have chosen them very carefully so this is truly my own custom setup now.
Great if that works for you Art! GB is a good way to get Logics sound without needing the full thing, but please bear in mind that there are many, many more seriously advanced features and applications for Logic than GB can get anywhere near (the same software instruments in GB are VERY dumbed down versions of the full things from Logic), but it all depends on how you work, and of course the 3rd party plug-ins work the same. Personally I find GB too limited and a bit slow, but that's just me. Also I couldn't live without the ability to work with hardware synths via MIDI either. I'll be sticking with Logic Pro. It's the beating heart of my setup for the studio and Mainstage is my current rig for live work, though the FG or it's successor may change that.
Of course I know that Logic has more to it than more advanced standard instruments and plugins. And I am not saying that I will not upgrade in the future.
It's that I like the fact that tracks and mixer are one big thing in GB, makes things more simple and quick to operate. And I never used it's stock instruments or effects, I only use plugins that i have purchased, so that is not an issue.
BTW are you saying that Logic feels more snappy in the UI department? GB can often indeed be a bit sluggish, mostly when you open the track editor or inspector.
One limitation that I don't like, though, is that you cannot have multiple plugin windows open, just one.
Well if you do upgrade down the track it will be worth it! But yeah I can understand people enjoying the simplicity of GB and it depends on what the user needs. Logic was actually updated to be more like GB a few years back, better UI. I've been using Logic since 2001 so i'm used to it's complexity now. The stock instruments and plug-ins are quite usable (the B3 and EP are brilliant) but yeah I have 3rd party instruments as well. I have all sorts of stuff going on in Logic to manage my studio. The best thing is in Logic if you want to do anything with audio or MIDI processing you pretty much can.
Yeah to me Logic is more snappy than GB though I haven't really used GB for a while. Never really did much music in it, but used it for podcasts. Maybe the pretty graphics etc slow it down.
How much to you use you Fantom now? What role does it play for you these days? I'm getting back into my hardware right now and I think some of it holds up quite well against the modern software stuff.
Well, for me GarageBand is mostly the arrangement and mixing environment. I do fine audio editing in Wave Editor, I also bring in audio that I do on my hardware synths, apps on iPod touch and iPad.
Right now I am using my Fantom-G as an audio/MIDI interface, I love how it works this way. Very transparent and tasty sound is coming out of it. I of course use it's synthesizer and effects possibilities as they are quite unique.
It won't handle extremely low buffer sizes, but the setting of 192 samples works well as I remember. The latency with NI MASSIVE on my 1.83 GHz iMac is about 8 ms which is more than acceptable to me, feels as snappy as G's internal sound engine.
I love GB for it's minimalism and Logic-grade sound quality. Indeed, Logic has more instruments and effects as standard, however, I have expanded my arsenal with many great third-party plugins (close to $1500 worth of them over the past few years). And I have chosen them very carefully so this is truly my own custom setup now.