Thinking of using Garageband

**C. Hanson** · 06-05-2012, 05:42 AM

I'm thinking of getting an IMac desktop and mostly use it for music recording and production.
Are most USB soundcards compatible with OS 10.6 Lion (I think it's called)? Are there some I should avoid that you know of?
Perhaps there's a good one, and I'll just need to download the drivers. Any advice would be great.

**Pande** · 06-05-2012, 09:05 AM

Garageband is crap, download a free DAW instead of that. There are tons of cheap DAWs too that are very professional, if you don't have the money for mac's native Logic (which is top-end).

**chckn8r** · 06-05-2012, 09:31 AM

Yeah, I'd say try out something like PreSonus Studio One (free intro version on their site). Garageband will only get you so far - probably a fine place to start if you're unfamiliar with DAW's (although, I wouldn't say that it's remotely in the same league as other DAWs out there).

Pretty well any USB audio interface from major distributors is going to work with OSX. If you haven't heard of it, don't get it. Presonus, Focusrite, M-Audio, Roland, MOTU... all name brand stuff. To boot, they're usually all ready to work with OSX - you typically don't need to download anything. The beauty of Macs - REAL plug 'n play baby!

**jbreeden** · 06-05-2012, 12:59 PM

Hey there,

I'm an Apple guy myself, I strongly recommend taking the plunge if ease of use and reliability are of any concern to you. Most audio interface companies make Mac drivers for their products, and some even exclusively. Be sure to check the mfr website.

I use MOTU products. They have a reputation for working well with Macs(not as well with PCs), and I've not had any issues with my gear(which I bought used). They're integrating more USB into their lineup, but they have traditionally done mostly firewire stuff. Regarding drivers... it is still a good idea to download device drivers for your soundcard even on a Mac. Typically there are useful included mixing and routing features to be had. The MOTU CueMix software comes with a super accurate tuner that has become a staple in my studio, included with the drivers of course.

I think firewire has a little bit better reputation for low-latency and higher constant throughput(without choking). My speculation is that most companies are trending towards USB because firewire tends to be a driver nightmare on Windows PCs.

Regarding DAWs:

GarageBand is a great place to get started if you've never done any recording before. It'll allow you to do multitracking with basic functionality, but it doesn't offer much in the way of serious sounds and plugins.

Reaper is a great program, and only $60 for home use, last I checked. I don't have much experience with it, but it seems really intuitive and fairly full featured.

Logic Pro is what I use. at $200(through the Mac App Store), it is probably the cheapest full-scale, fully featured DAW(including loads of built in plugins, sounds, and samples), and I think it does a great job. It used to cost $500, it's really a steal now.

I've not used any others on a Mac, but there are several others with good reputations, and you will surely find many threads with further information.

**JCabasagan** · 08-09-2012, 10:27 PM

Hello sir..Just currently starting with Garageband, and proceeding with Logic Pro 9.
Indeed, garageband is good for starters like me,. It seemed to me like a Preview to what Logic Pro is.,
IMHO, if you would like to buy mac, and planning to buy Logic Pro soon - start with Garageband., I like it very well for its ease of use and user friendly gui.Even though it isnt as fully featured/powerful as other else.

**Red Stair Records** · 01-30-2013, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by JCabasagan

Hello sir..Just currently starting with Garageband, and proceeding with Logic Pro 9.
Indeed, garageband is good for starters like me,. It seemed to me like a Preview to what Logic Pro is.,
IMHO, if you would like to buy mac, and planning to buy Logic Pro soon - start with Garageband., I like it very well for its ease of use and user friendly gui.Even though it isnt as fully featured/powerful as other else.

I'm pretty sure that Mac bought emagic years ago and had them develop Logic and Garageband at the same time (Garageband being a more user friendly version of Logic). So if you start on Garageband, making the switch to Logic should be easy.

I personally started on Garageband years ago, then quickly moved to Logic so that I could use outside VSTs (specifically Drumagog). Today I switch between sequencing in Digital Performer (I don't know anyone on this forum that uses DP), and ProTools for live tracking/mixing/mastering. The moral of that story is that, once you learn one Pro DAW, the rest are very easy to learn because they all are capable of the same stuff (with the exception of ProTools ease of Audio Editing), but then again I'm sure many people think that Logic or Cubase are just as good at this.

**m24p** · 01-30-2013, 02:59 PM

Protools is good at editing now? When did this happen? I know people who moved off of protools because it didn't handle serious editing. (Fade files etc)

**Red Stair Records** · 01-30-2013, 11:34 PM

I've heard of the fade files bug, but have never seen it myself. Moving around, cutting, fading (command f) has always been simple in ProTools to me. Every daw has the latch setting, as far as I know, but ProTools has always had the quickest workflow to me. Maybe I suck at Logic though... can't say anything about Cubase as I am not experienced on the DAW

**klspahr** · 02-06-2013, 05:16 PM

Garageband is a great intro into recording imo. It has some nice loops, great midi sounds, and a nice selection of effects.

When it comes to interfaces I always look for interfaces that require no drivers on a Mac. This will save you a lot of trouble in the future - you can update you OS and you do not have to wait a year for the maker to update their drivers. Presonus has a number of interfaces that do not need a driver.