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Okay.

Until today I had zero interest in the iPad.

Then an old friend came to visit the shop today and showed me his iPad and Garage Band.

Where the hell have I been??

Just curious to know what others think of this and how I should proceed.

Discuss...

Have only messed around a little with my friend's, as I don't have an iPad, but it was pretty sweet. I could see it being real useful for quick, raw recordings and sharing ideas and such with bandmates...

They also make mixers that you can control wireless with ipads now, this one supports up to ten at a time
http://www.mackie.com/products/dl1608/

I've got an iPad for work.

Garage Band is great. It's limited, but it's great.

I've used it to compose songs, usually while I'm waiting in an airport or on a plane (for work).

I also use it to make "backing tracks" to play along with.

It ain't Pro Tools or Reason, but for $10 or so, it's awesome.

Here are some of my compositions. None of these are actual instruments, all Garage Band electrons:

http://soundcloud.com/scott62/t18-expanded

http://soundcloud.com/scott62/ohare

http://soundcloud.com/scott62/flyover

http://soundcloud.com/scott62/rocker

Amazing iPad mixer! Not to derail, but their product demo video is pretty freaky Did they hire Tim & Eric as the ad agency?

Limited how??

Please elaborate!

I'm guessing that due to the ipad's limited processing power compared to a typical recording computer there would be limits to the amount of tracks, effects and plug ins you can have running at once, plus there is the limited hdd spaceof an ipad vs a desktop computer

Limited (or I couldn't figure out how):
You can only adjust the volume for the entire track (say, the bass). If you want the bass louder for the chorus, you need to put it in a separate track (row on the screen).

Each "smart" guitar or bass has 4 preset strum patterns. I don't know a way of expanding that. So, for the songs I posted, T18, O'Hare and I think Flyover use preset strum patterns. Rocker uses samples that are stored in another spot in the program. There is a wide variety of these samples, but they are what they are, meaning I can't use the first 2 strums of one then shift to another, and I can't easily use the same "strum pattern" of a sample using different notes or chords. <<That probably doesn't make much sense if you haven't used garage band at all, sorry.

As you keep adding tracks to a song, maybe past 4 or 5 the program takes longer and longer to save the song, and it saves it whenever it wants to, not when you want to. So, with 8 tracks it seems like it takes forever to save the song (forever = 10-15 seconds probably).

You can't program the drums precisely. You drag the individual drums (kick, snare tom) or cymbals onto a grid with 2 axes: volume and complexity. These are teh "smart" drums. You can play a drum kit on the screen and record that, but it would be nice to have sort of a traditional drum programming machine.

I still say it is an amazing program, but once you figure it out, it won't be long before you'll be wishing it could do more.

For anyone who isn't familair with GarageBand, here's what it looks like. One photo is for the song "Rocker" I posted. Note the two bass tracks on the bottom. I had to do that because I wanted different volumes in different parts of the song.

The other photo is of the "Smart Guitar" instrument. You can add effects pedals, and select one of 4 "Autoplay" strum patterns, or play individual strings if you turn Autopaly off. You can set the bpm and key of each song. Depending on the key, different chords will be displayed.

It's my favrotie way to pass time in airports and planes. I'm traveling again next week, so I may be creating a couple more songs.

Ok, for the self-proclaimed CPU-Dumb guy.....

Can I record into it? If so, is the quality any good?

Can I import WAV files?

Are the files stored on the iPad or a host (iCloud, I think I remember hearing about)?

I'm a ProTools guy, but I know folks who do great work on Garage Band. Fella in town recorded his band Conspiracy of Owls on Garage Band, and listening to their record I'd have to say you'd never know it. It sounds better than some records done in "proper" studios.

On GarageBand for the iPad (not Mac), recording is thru the built in mic, so I assume the quality is not great. I got the Line6 Mobile In which plugs into the big iPad port then I can plug an electric guitar into it. the sound quality is ok, good for recording ideas, but I wouldn't use it for any serious recording.

Files are stored on the iPad and can be exported to PC as audio files or as GarageBand files - if you have GarageBand on your Mac.

I have not found a way to import wav files into it. It would be nice if it could do that.

Thanks for the info.

Does garageband on the Mac differ from the Ipad in terms of what it can do? I've got it on the Mac but have never used it...mainly cuz I'm about as dumb with this stuff as a man can get. But, this is sort of motivating me to try at least to record my crappy pickin. I need to leave something behind when I die right

Yes you do Hawky!

I just saw this today...have you ever wanted to turn your ipad into a digitech multiFX unit?
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... hwod-BTv-Q