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Garageband 10.1 Review

Garageband 10.1 Review

4.6
Essential

It wasn’t so long ago that the word ‘update’ struck fear into the heart of many a Garageband user. Back at the tail end of 2013 Apple unleashed version 10 of Garageband, an all new iteration of the program, designed to function as a ‘lite’ version of their premium DAW, Logic X.

Simply put, it was a colossal misfire.

Stripping out long standing and well loved features in favour of over simplified controls and questionable design choices, it left many users feeling confused and disappointed.

Fast forward a year and a half and it’s a different story altogether. Having redeemed themselves last year with their excellent 10.0.3 update, Apple have gone a step further with version 10.1, giving Garageband users a huge amount of free exciting and useful new content.

What content you ask? Well, to whet you appetite, check out the video below, where I give you 3 reasons to hit that update button:

 

 

You can also get a taste of the new loops included in version 10.1 in this demo:

 

 

 

That’s Not All…

 

Other brand spanking new additions include:

 

Double Drummers

 

GB 10.1 Double Drummers

 

You can now add two Drummer tracks into your projects at the same time. Perfect for filling out your rhythm section!

This is yet another Logic X feature to make it’s way into Garageband and a brilliant addition it is too! Big shoutout to John Orell (fan of The Garageband Guide Facebook Page and all round great guy) for letting me in on this feature.

 

 

Playback In Reverse (Finally)

 

GB 10.1 Reverse

 

That’s right – you can now playback your recorded audio in reverse. It’s a feature that Garageband has been sorely missing for a while now, so it’s great that Apple have added it with this update.

You can switch your desired Audio regions to be played in reverse by opening the Editor window, selecting ‘Region’ and checking the ‘Playback In Reverse’ box.

Bear in mind that just like in the Logic X version of this feature, your audio track must be in WAV/AIFF format (mp3’s won’t work) in order to get the reverse treatment. Big thanks to Dan Cox who pointed the reverse function out to me on The Garageband Guide Facebook page. You rock Daniel 😉

 

 

More Automation control. 

 

Garageband 10.1 Update Automation

 

You’ll find a lot more control built into the Automation menu in Garageband 10.1. Now, when you click on a track’s Automation dropdown menu, you’ll see a whole host of parameters available which correspond directly to effects and AU Plug ins you have active.

Having this level of control right at your fingertips makes fine tuning your tracks – especially when mixing a project – super helpful!

 

 

Share With The World…

 

..kind of.

 

Screen Shot 2015-07-07 at 22.21.38

 

Garageband 10.1 has the ability to share finished projects directly to Apple Music Connect, which is simultaneously very cool and a little confusing…

Cool because it give you the opportunity to share your brand spanking new track with potentially dozens/hundreds/thousands of fans!

Confusing because, well – have you tried signing up for an ‘Artist’s’ Music Connect account? Talk about hassle.

Still the feature’s there and if there comes such a time that Apple make getting involved with Connect easier i’m sure it’ll prove useful. Maybe. 😉

 

 

The Verdict

 

 

Garageband 10.1 Review
When all is said and done, this is another winning update from Apple. They’ve successfully integrated that lovely audio tech they acquired with the takeover of Camel Audio earlier this year, as well as providing us with yet more Drummer variations and loops to boot. Add in some of the less flashy additions like the myriad bug fixes and Accessibility improvements and there’s not really any negative points to mention.
Positives
The Transform Pad is a welcome addition
Tons of useful new features
More stable than ever before
Negatives
Not much
4.6
Essential

Show Comments (35)
  1. nice review and overview, but I take it you haven’t noticed you can have more than one drummer track, just like you can in Logic. Apple don’t seem to have made any song and dance about this feature in their publicity for GB 10.1 yet the possibilities are extraordinary.

    1. I didn’t until you pointed this out on Facebook John – i’ve added the feature to the review above so no-one else misses it. Thanks again!!!

  2. Great review as always Patrick thanks. I’ve started working my way through the new synths to see if I can find an orchestral hit patch. Do you know if one exists?

  3. Anxious to upgrade but I am waiting on early adopters to make sure there aren’t any unfortunate surprises. In a previous major upgrade ( GB 11 I think) a slew of loops vanished without warning or explanation and it was hell to restore them. Has anybody checked to make sure this upgrade didn’t make any previous features/options go away unannounced? Thanks.

    1. There have been a couple of small negative-ish changes – if you had any loops saved as ‘Favorites’ in the loop browser, you’ll need to re-add them (a wee bit annoying). The noise gate has also moved into the AU plug ins folder as opposed to being front and centre on the Smart Controls inspector pane. That’s it as far as I can see?

  4. All I can say is: Bless you Saint Patrick ! Thanks for sorting things out and making the learning curve less difficult.

  5. Hey Patrick,
    having fun with this for a few days now. Thanks for all video / info
    This is awesome ! I’m one of the one’s that has Alchemy by Camel but, it doesn’t work anymore.
    So , having this Transport pod is sweet. I also added two drummers to a project, very helpful.
    Thanks again,
    Jim

  6. I’m sure I managed, using one of the new synths, to record me playing, and then record over the to of that, but only record automation changes.
    I can’t seem to get that to work now. Has anyone tried/achieved this?

  7. Hi Patrick,

    Great review. I’d like to know if there is a way of getting the ”dreamy shimmer” guitar sound with the new version of Garageband. I used that sound with an old version of GarageBand and I kind of like it.

    Thanks!!

    1. with all the delays, reverbs, choruses and tremelo’s in the au effects; not to mention all the stompbox plugins, i should think you could get that shimmer effect.
      do you have a particular sound you’ve heard in a song that i could reference?
      robin guthrie kind of thing, perhaps?

      1. Thanks Alx,

        I don’t have any particular reference except for the songs have written using that old guitar sound. I guess I was looking for some sort of plug-in ora magical formula to get the sound. I will continue playing with effects to find it.

        Thanks again!

  8. Hey Patrick-Thx for your time My Man! Do you know which Midi Controller works best with Garage Band? I have the M-Audio Axiom air 25 and I’m having issues with Pad triggers freezing white tapping beats. 2.When i play the Keys sometimes the sound of a particular patch shuts off and when it does I have to turn the unit Off, then on again to restore it!

  9. Has anyone had problems with opening projects created in previous versions of GB? I want to upgrade, but fear losing the ability to continue working on a new demo I’m creating. The idea of re-building a song from scratch makes my liver hurt…

  10. Thanks for keeping us informed re everything to do with Garageband.

    I’m not getting some of the things you have mentioned with the update — for example, all the additional bass controls/effects and share to mail. Is is because I’m still on Mavericks? From everything I’ve read, I’m reluctant to go to Yosemite.

  11. Hey Patrick,
    I’ve been wanting to mention this for a while but, kept on forgetting. Which is a muting tool, so you can audition parts of a song in detail by muting any part of a measure just by highlight, split and mute. I remember using Cubase a while ago and this really came in handy for composing and arranging.
    Thanks again for all this great info.
    Jim

  12. Great to find this site! Perhaps you can help me though. I have a Digidesign 003. My buddies want to work via GB but I can’t seem to get my Digi to work with it. It works fine with Logic and PT but a no go with GB. My very knowledgable friend (mixes in PT for a living) couldn’t get it to work either. He thought it might be an over site on Apple’s part and that it could be later rectified when another up-date comes out. Any thoughts? Thanks, Matt

  13. I just upgraded from Lion to ElCapitan. I now cannot monitor or record my bass or guitar through the amp models.
    ALSO: I would like to upgrade GB 6.0.4 to GB 10.1. Will this fix it, or am I in for a lot of headaches from attempting such a big leap?

    1. I’m not sure Peter, i’ve not used version 6 for years now, sorry! Updating may fix the issue and if you’re worried about the learning curve you can always grab my quick start guide for free?

  14. Please help. I upgraded to 10.1.3 on OS El Capitan and my entire library of personally created music is gone. What is that about and how can I recover my files? Thanks.

  15. I have no problems with guitar and drum track, but I get really bad latency with the mike, I have an I mac 8gig ram and 1tb, and 5400 speed any help would be great

  16. Hi Patrick,

    I have a question.

    Which (M-Audio) Avid audio interfaces will work with Garageband 10.03 running on OS X El Capitan 10.11.4. I will need to switch back and forth from Protools that’s why I ask.

    Bets regards
    Dale

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