The Garageband Studio

First GarageBand 3 impressions at the Unofficial Apple Weblog

Some initial impressions of GarageBand 3 at TUAW. Here's the bit I really like:

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.

This sounds very promising. GarageBand 2 is great but it is a little lacking in performance and responsiveness.

Apple adds "Learn to Podcast"-tutorials to iTunes podcast directory

This is pretty neat. Apple just posted some "iLife '06 Multimedia Tutorials" as a video podcast. This takes you through all the steps to create your own podcast with GarageBand, iMovie HD and iWeb. It is pretty basic stuff, but it does give some good pointers and a nice way to get to know the new iterations of the iLife applications. It is also yet another sign that Apple takes user-generated content very seriously.  Go and get the podcast on iTunes.

[Via: TUAW]

New GarageBand, New Jampack, Intel iMac, Macbook Pro

Wow, lots of news at Macworld. First of, iLife '06 with a new GarageBand. Most of the new features are related to podcasting, including:

• Podcast Recording Studio. Easy Chaptering, add artwork to your podcast with the iLife media browser, and easily upload your podcast to the web/iTunes.
• Podcast Sounds. Over 200 sound effects, and over 100 jingles.
• Podcast Radio Engineer. "GarageBand lets you put the talk above the tunes with a dynamic “ducking” effect that automatically reduces music volume while you’re speaking. And a new Speech Enhancer makes the most of your mic skills by reducing distracting background noise, simulating a professional microphone, and using clever compression techniques to improve your voice."
• iChat Interview Recording. Very nice!
• iMovie Scoring. Better  integration between those two apps.

So not much for the musician but great news for the podcaster. The new Jam Pack: World Music is great news for the musician:

For this trip, feel free to pack light. Leave the luggage at home and bring your headphones to experience the sometimes unfamiliar and always mesmerizing sounds of music from around the world. With the World Music Jam Pack, you can assemble and create music from a collection of over 3,000 Apple Loops played by master musicians from nearly every corner of the globe. Or play 40 rare and exotic instruments from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, India, Europe, the United Kingdom, South and Central America, Cuba, and Jamaica.

More sounds is always better I say, and I could use a little more variety in my sonic palette. And then there's the new hardware...drool.. These promise to offer a significant boost in power and performance, and we all know how power-hungry GarageBand can be.

• Intel iMac
• Macbook Pro

All in all, a good keynote for the digital musicians and podcasters. I really want a new Mac now...

iLife 06: New Garageband!

There is a new iLife with a new version of GarageBand. It does indeed have new podcast features. This is from the Engadget Keynote coverage:

We have added a podcast authoring studio." It has: Artwork track, 200 royalty-free sound effects, 100 jingles, automatic ducking (?) for audio, and a speech enhancer." You can use iChat for remote interviews.

Nice!

Anticipating Macworld 2006

Macworld is just around the corner, and as usual the Apple rumor ciruit is working overtime. Of course, I'll be posting all the news related to making music on the Mac. So, what can we expect? Intel Macs appear to be right around the corner, and various rumor sites are claiming that we'll see Intel iBooks and an Intel-based Mac Mini. Both would be pretty significant for the mobile musician on a budget, especially if they live up to the promise of offering a significant performance boost. However, these are just rumors at this point.

iLife '06 does seem to be a given, so we'll probably see some improvements in GarageBand. Garageband 2 was a very significant update, but I don't expect as much for Garageband 3. My prediction would be that we'll see mostly incremental updates, and perhaps some features directly related to podcast creation.

Still, Steve Jobs keynotes are usually full of surprise so we'll just have to wait and see.

Free Apple Loops, Part 6

I've been out of the loop for a while (hey, I think it's funny, so I almost missed the new free Apple Loops pack at iCompositions. Here's what they have to say about it:

Perimeter Sound Arts, a newcomer to the Apple Loops market, and iCompositions are offering the largest free Apple Loops package in history, containing 264 Apple Loops!

Nice! You can find the loops here, but as always you will have to have an account for the iCompositions website to grab the loops.

For more free loops see: Free Apple Loops, compiled.