Best For Garageband Software That Comes

The app is still the best way to learn piano or guitar on a computer and easily earns our Editors Choice nod.

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A couple of decades ago, it took a mountain of gear to make an album.

Best For Garageband Software That Comes

Now, you can do it with the built-in software that comes with every Apple computer, thanks to the free GarageBand.

Unlike the cartoonish version that debuted in the early aughts, the new GarageBand features a surprisingly serious presentation that roughly mirrors the high-end Logic Pro X digital audio workstation, or DAW.

Although GarageBand lacks Logics amazing flexibility, vast array of instruments, and powerful mixing and mastering features, its almost as powerful when it comes to handling other tasks.

The fact that GarageBand is free makes the app all the better, and a clear Editors Choice for entry-level recording software.

To use this app, you must plug in a USB-compatible MIDI keyboard and either a pair of headphones or a small pair of desktop speakers.

For plugging in an electric guitar or bass, or connecting microphones to record vocals and other acoustic instruments, youll need an audio interface of some kind, such as the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd Gen) or the PreSonus AudioBox USB 96.

I vastly prefer this to GarageBands old design, which tried to imitate a four-track tabletop recorder.

When you first create a project, youre tasked with selecting a template for the kind of music you want to record, as well as an empty project you can populate from scratch.

The top-right portion of the window is where you add and mix new tracks.

You click any recorded data to bring up an editor in the bottom portion of the display.

Here you can switch between piano roll and score views, an audio editor, and, where appropriate, an EQ tab that displays a beautiful, clean-sounding parametric equalizer for the given track.

The top bar includes icons for triggering the various windows, a transport bar for recording and playback, an LED-style readout for the current beat, bar, tempo, meter, and other information, icons for loop recording, a guitar tuner, a count off, and a metronome.

Its easy to resize the various windows and zoom levels using the on-screen sliders.

To the far right, you can launch a Notes page, an audio loop browser, and a media drawer for recorded audio and movies you want to sync music to.

Apple also added support for the Force Touch trackpad and Touch Bar that come built into the latest MacBook Pros.

You can record at 24 bits with a mic, if you have a USB-powered one or an audio interface with a mic preamp into which you can plug a microphone.

You can record and mix up to 255 tracks, and only your audio interface limits how many you can record simultaneously.

With version 10.3.2, you can drag and drop on-the-fly Voice Memo recordings of your latest idea right into GarageBand.

These are surprisingly transparent sounding, as long as you use them within reason.

Instead, you use the left side of the Arrangement window as a mixer, with horizontal sliders on each track.

Best Mac For Garageband