So I have been using this app since the iPhone 5s. And I have a major complaint it is a major book for those who are using voiceover with GarageBand. It’s a book Apple needs to take care of. I am a voiceover user myself and I have been having this issue. Whenever you would like to add compression, change your EQ, add reverb, or echo, or any really cool affect like reversing the track, changing the speed so if you were trying to make those rap style high hats, or adding other great effects. Garage band will not let you, as soon as you close out of your mixer it erases all of the things you’ve done. Matter of fact it doesn’t even add DFX it’s like you never even added them. I have been dealing with this bug, since I started using this app I have never been able to successfully add any of those amazing plug-ins garage band will not even change the sound of your recording, as soon as you go and increase or decrease the amount of compression reverb or like I said any of the other affects, and you close out of the mixer and prepped play to hear your track it doesn’t add them, then you go back to your mixer and look at it and see they’re all back down to 0% Apple please please fix this issue, recordings with sound so much better when you can actually affect the sound. This bug has been going on long enough. On behalf of me and other voiceover users a like please fix this issue
I love what Apple’s done with GarageBand and GarageBand iOS over the past few years, and I’m glad that now you can import and playback MIDI files on GarageBand iOS. HOWEVER, I’m still waiting for Apple to allow the EXPORT of MIDI files FROM GarageBand Mac & iOS. That would be a feature I could use that would round out the app as a near-“proper” DAW. That aside, I love the Alchemy presets and all the ways you can tweak them to create your own unique patches, plus the great user interface which makes it easy to use for both people new to making/recording music and longtime producers/DAW users. I’d also like to throw in though, that while I don’t generally use them myself, as well-crafted as the (post-2016) built-in and downloadable loops are, they’re pretty much only for EDM and dubstep music, maybe occasionally scratching the surface of pop-trap beats and glitch-hop. I’d personally like to see more loops that lend themselves to old-school hip hop or something.
P.S. — This is all coming from someone who has used multiple DAWs (GB being a constant usually) separately and together, for many different styles/genres of music, electronic and otherwise. 🙂
So, all of the worse reviews are 100% because the users didn’t try hard enough or put in enough time on this app, because I’m not saying it easy for a beginner to use all of the complex features on this app. People who complained that they got discouraged when they couldn’t figure out the app, just keep trying, because there is honestly NOTHING YOU CAN’T DO with this amazing app. One motive for this review is that I felt bad for GarageBand getting beat down by all the bad reviews of people saying that it was bad because it was too hard or they just hadn’t figured it out yet. (no offense to those people) GarageBand is truly one of if not the best mobile music maker apps out there, you just have to put in the actual time and effort to unlock a world of musical possibilities. My only problem, and this started happening very very recently, is that now my device crashes whenever I try to open it up, but its no big deal because I’m sure that it’s just a problem with my device, and if not, it will be fixed soon. 😄😄
I have been writing songs for over 20 years through a simple 4-track and using a drum machine. When I first heard about GarageBand, I thought it was a music-related computer game. I even got an iPad which already has GB downloaded on it from the factory and never even opened it for a year. Finally, I was bored one day and thought I’d take a look at it. WOW! I couldn’t believe how robust and professional it was! Here I’m tinkering with a 4-track and drum machine from the 80s all this time while I had a pro-quality music studio to write and produce sleek sounding demos just waiting for me to discover it! I’ve recorded some 400+ songs in GB that sound so good, some people actually think I recorded with an actual band! The drum sounds are impeccable along with fantastic bass, piano and string instruments. They even added brass horns! I just wish they included a saxophone with the horn selection. My favorite feature is the edit feature for each virtual instrument, especially when it comes to the drums. I’m able to move snare hits, kick hits, hi hat patterns, etc. to make them sound much more natural, like a real drummer would play. GarageBand is easy to use. You’ll be recording masterpieces in no time!
Okay the program works great, but once you add some FX, get ready for rage quit. The program will take at least four bars to get in time and in Tune for some weird reason and it’s quite annoying when you can’t get an idea out because the program is having ridiculous issues. On top of that, there has been multiple times where the program won’t even launch, and when it does all of my data isn’t there. It seems to be a serious hassle when your data isn’t there and you got to reset your iPad and reload the program 100 times before you can even enjoy yourself. I have even downloaded this programs most recent update along with my software update and these problems are still here. As far as I am concerned you people are lucky this program is cheap and is easy to work with when the issues are not present. As of right now, I wouldn’t even give this program a star for the problems that come along with it. And when the problems are fixed, I’d give it six.
As a blind musician, I want to say, this is by far the best app I’ve tried, and the most accessible. It’s very screen reader friendly, and works very well with apple’s built in screen reader, voiceover. However, there is something that I really think would make the experience better. When I customize the chords, for example, if I want a major 7th chord, when auto play is turned off, it plays the chord just fine, and it sounds exactly like a major 7th chord. When auto play is turned on, however, it only plays a major chord. It does not play the notes to make the major 7th chord. I’ve also noticed this in minor 7th chords. It will just play a regular minor chord in auto play. And it also doesn’t play 9th chords. Pretty much the custom chords have no auto plays that play the notes of the custom chord. Auto play only plays the basic major and minor chords respectively. I would really like to see an update that auto play will make the changes to custom chords. Other than that, very good, and I enjoy using it.
GarageBand is awesome, especially for a free app. However, it’s missing a couple critical components: First, it NEEDS FULL MIDI CONTROL. All buttons and parameters need to be MIDI mapable. The iPad is such a great tool for live performance (way more potential possibility than a laptop), but until Apple makes GarageBand a little more hardware-friendly, the laptop will continue to win. Second, the looper is dope but again needs to be MIDI controllable (so you could record and play loops with a MIDI foot pedal for example), have easier access to mute and solo functions per track, and the ability to optionally have audio effects tails continue after a loop or track is muted. Also, a MIDI clock visualizer so you can easily tell what beat you’re on before the first loop starts would be extremely helpful for those who don’t want the audience hearing a metronome click. More loop/pad playback options would be great too. There’s more to be done, but these are a couple key places that need improvement.
GarageBand is one of those music softwares that gets backlash because it’s “not professional” or because it’s “on a phone”. However, a quick look at all the new effects and instruments Apple has added to the newest version of the iOS GarageBand will nullify those criticisms. I have used GarageBand on my iPad and phone for three years now, and I have produced very good sounding music with it. Its pre-made synths are easy to play with and manipulate to the producer’s liking. If you are not content with your technical skills or musical connaissance, then Apple offers hundreds of loops, from beautiful synth chord progressions to distorted rock drum kits, that you can chop up and use in your songs. It is hard to see any flaw with the newest GarageBand. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in dipping their toes into production. And if music-making isn’t your goal for your future career, the app is still loads of fun and a good way to unload creativity and boost your imagination. Strong 5/5 for this app!
I’ve been using GarageBand for about seven years and I love it. The biggest problem right now is that with the new iOS update GarageBand force closes immediately every time. I’ve tried turning off iCloud for it in settings like Apple suggested to no avail.
Other than that some things that I would love to see (and others from what I’ve read in the reviews) include:
1. Allowing key and tempo changes in the song. When you click a section one of the options could next to “join, delete, split ex.” Could be key change and tempo change.
2. More user friendly ways to mix and master songs. It CAN be done with the current version, however it does require a plethora of steps to accomplish. Instead of controlling the EQ for each track as a whole at least let us control each section of a track. That would be incredibly helpful.
3. The map for each note being played is INCREDIBLE, I would like to see the same map for vocals in order to fix slightly off pitch vocals without the Auto-Tune sound.
4. More types of guitars and a more realistic sounding acoustic guitar.
Overall I love the huge strides that the developers of this app have made over the years from the ever growing sample library for beginners to being able to legitimately write your music in the note grid. I would love to see these in a future update, as well as getting the crashing issue resolved so we can continue using our favorite music production app.
Apple has really stepped up the mobile DAW scene with this update. There's NO mobile software out there that's better than GarageBand right now.
I don't use much samples in my work so the added mixing features helps me customize and bring out my sounds even better now and I can finally practice touching knobs before I buy a Macbook and really start working on tracks at a more professional level. I started using GarageBand a year ago and it just gets better and better.
*UPDATE*
So I'm 2 years into using this app and I really learned a lot. You can make underground level tracks using the app alone it has a ton of features and if you know what your doing you can create really cool sounds.
I have the alchemy synths (via iPhone 6) and they sound great so far. The electric drum kits need a new update like the keyboards did they sound a bit outdated at times with the new sounds. I think an updated 808 trap kit would be good and a few more basses other than all the dubstep ones. A couple of amps for guitar/bass would also be pretty cool!
A few extra mixing effects wouldn't be a bad thing either I really learned a lot with that new feature and it's really key for beat makers to become real producers.
Also if you really read these reviews apple you should add to the mastering options a bit as well. Just a few more options to help introduce beginners to the world of engineering more.
Great app though keep up the great work we appreciate it!
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