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Spitfire Audio LABS ; the Best Free Instrument for GarageBand

The Best Free Instrument for GarageBand

Over 20 unique, pro quality software instrument sounds captured in one of London’s  most prestigious sound stages.

A dedicated App and Plugin with fully featured, clutter free and focussed controls.

Presets and sounds sculpted by some of the brightest and best composers, engineers and musicians on the planet.

Sounds pretty good, right? How much would you be willing to pay for something like that?

This is LABS from Spitfire Audio, An infinite series of free software instruments, made by musicians and sampling experts in London, for anyone, anywhere.

It is, in my opinion, essential and the best free instrument plugin for any GarageBand music maker. The best part about LABS? It’s completely free.

In the video below, discover how to install LABS, how to use it in GarageBand and some of my favourite free instrument sounds.

 

Patrick
I've been a musician for longer than I care to remember and though I don't make a living in a recording studio, I have spent the last decade getting to know everything worth knowing about Apple's GarageBand on Mac and iOS!
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13 Comments

  2. I grabbed this last month and I agree it has some stellar high quality sounds,I’m really loving the Choir type voices and strings,
    Cheers Pat 🙂

    Reply
  3. Pingback: How to Install Plugins in GarageBand - thegaragebandguide.com
  4. Pingback: The BEST Free Music Tools for Beginners - thegaragebandguide.com

  5. Hi there! I had a question about the recent article concerning the Spitfire LABS usage in Garageband. I downloaded the soft piano and its all there in my folder for spitfire but when I try and open it into GB, the option for Spitfire isn’t in the dropdown menu even though I’ve enabled plug ins etc etc. Not really sure what to do but figured you might know.

    Reply

    1. Hi Will, I have the same issue. Were you able to resolve your issue and if so, how did you do it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers for the very helpful video, Pat. Thanks, Ruth

      Reply

  6. Great post, Patrick! Thank you for the detailed instructions. The only obstacle I had to resolve is that I first had to go to activate the Audio Units in the GarageBand preferences at Audio/MIDI Tab — Effects — “Enable Audio Units”. Now it is working great! I am currently considering to acquire Logic Pro. Do you know whether Spitfire Audio will work with that as well?

    Cheers,
    Frank

    Reply

  7. Great post — thank you, Patrick!

    One (minor) issue I had was that it did not show up as advertised until I activated “Enable Audio Units” under “Effects” in the Audio/MIDI Tab of the GarageBand preferences.

    I am considering to acquire Logic Pro X. Do you know whether Spitfire Audio will work with that as well?

    Cheers,
    Frank

    Reply

  8. Hiya! I have just downloaded many LABS plugins, but for some reason, when I go onto my Garage Band plugins dropdown bar, there is no option to change the software instrument or anything? Do you have any advice?

    Reply

  9. Hi Patrick, yet another useful bit of info from you TY. I have an iPad Air 2 and looking for free orchestral instruments
    To use in GB, have tried downloading a few progs, but they won’t download, is it because they’ll only work on a windows prog or can I somehow get them to download AND work on my iPad, soooo frustrated now lol! X

    Reply

  10. I’ve used garageband for years, the one thing I’ve noticed is that it gets worse with each and every new update. I used to have access to violins, etc. Now I don’t.

    Garageband is the one program that devolves.

    I’d love to get an older version but my mac won’t allow me to use any good programs.

    Reply

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