VJ Heaven

Apple’s latest release of GarageBand (GarageBand 08) is a pretty piece of software. GarageBand remains a simple and fun way for Mac VJs to get into music making. But is it good enough for serious music making? Thats a good question. There still remain reasons to keep GarageBand around. It has a new streamlined interface that makes applying effects cleaner and easier than before. With multi-take recording this version is almost ideal as a way to demo music ideas - even if you end up doing the rest of your music in another program. You can also print notation. GarageBand has gotten some hype because it comes from Apple and it’s free. But it does have some useful applications - there are some nice instruments and effects and it works well as a sketch recording device. For podcasting GarageBand is also excellent. GarageBand does have some fun tricks but the inability to change tempo during a song is still a problem. Many will undoubtedly view GarageBand as a toy but toys can be fun to play with, especially the loops. It is simple enough and flexible enough to be the tool of choice for a professional that requires only low musical complexity.