Garage Band, or a program just like it.

Masked_Mullet

Hello there.

Last night i was at my friends place an they have a MAC computer. For about 3 hours straight i was fooling around with Garage Band and it was awesome. I just want to know if there are any programs just like Garage band that has all the instruments programmed into the well program. If anyone could help me that would be awesome.

embrik

Sony's Acid would probably fit the bill.

Edit: There's a free trial, too, so you can see if it's what you're looking for.

Masked_Mullet

embrik wrote: »

Sony's Acid would probably fit the bill.

Edit: There's a free trial, too, so you can see if it's what you're looking for.

awesome thanks very much.

blakfeld

I just started fooling about with fruity loops, its a bit of a different thought process, but I'd recommend it.

METAzraeL

FL Studio is a good choice. There's also Cubase.

blakfeld

METAzraeL wrote: »

FL Studio is a good choice. There's also Cubase.

Cubase is good, but without putting a lot of extra effort into finding the VSTs it doesn't work like Garageband, also, its considerably more convoluted then Garagebands' two button interface

TaGuelle

How much energy are you willing to put into learning one of these programs? Garage band is decent enough, but its kind of primitive compared to some of the other programs out there. Fruityloops is damn fine as is Reason and Acid Pro.

Bendery It Like Beckham

Fruityloops is not too bad, I prefer Reason over it though. Easier to use and has a better sound variety.

That's just my opinion though.

TaGuelle

Yeah at that point its like comparing different types of Apples, all pretty much the same type of fruit.

EggyToast

Garageband's elegance is its simplicity -- you can put together a pretty rockin' little track really quickly.

There isn't anything as straightforward, or that's free, as Garageband, since it looks like the examples posted above are the same examples that have been used since 2004, when Garageband debuted.

Ableton Live is the closest to Garageband's loop-based construction toolset, but it is a little more complicated. All of the examples above will also let you make music, but are less straightfoward than Garageband.

There is also no free application (since all these Mac users have Garageband only because it's free with the purchase of a Mac), and if you try to download an illegal copy, it will likely not come with any sound loops.

Gihgehls

Seconding Ableton Live as a GB replacement. I much prefer FL Studio but it is a completely different beast with a completely different workflow.

XenosX_

I was once in the same predicament, and I ended up buying Mixcraft. It comes with a similar interface with myriad decent quality digital instruments, including a very very sweet hammond organ (which happens to be my soft spot). I would definitely recommend it. I've used Cubase as well and would also recommend that, though it's more expensive, and it takes some getting used to in order to actually make stuff, if memory serves...

If you're looking for a Garageband experience, I would NOT recommend FL Studio. Completely different way of putting stuff together. This isn't to say it's not good... but it is very different.

Masked_Mullet

Awesome. Thanks for all the suggestions.

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