GarageBand for iPad,: music talent is not required

This year I've had this recurring dream: I walk into a room to find a guitar which I pick up and play with Eric Clapton-like proud. I am always at my newfound skill. I can only sometimes perform a melody and has absolutely no musical talent. But a new program makes it so easy to play, record and also composing music that I feel almost as if my dream has become reality. What makes the program even more remarkable is that, despite its power, running on a non-traditional mobile platform.There is Garage Band the iPad, and if you have a native iPad, or the new iPad, 2, you'll get it and install it posthaste.If you are using a Macintosh computer, trust you've seen Garageband, because it has been included on all Apple's traditional computers since the mid 2000s. Mac OS X version is powerful, but it is also daunting for non-musicians. Yes, there have been some cute and milj?v?nliga features, but for the most part is designed for people who want to make music and know how.IPad, version, however is a very different beast. While there are lots of features aimed at those with musical talent, it really is a product for those of us who barely can hum-key. Even if you can't play a note, Garageband for the iPad, you play and compose music shortly after you fire it up. It is an amazing software, easily the best program I've seen so far this year.Line in instrumentsAfter you download software from the iTunes App Store and install it on your iPad, launch it and you'll be presented with a horizontally scrolling line instruments. There are traditional on-screen keyboard, see the Mac version of Garageband and a drum kit. But what to focus on is the smart tool, which allows much of the musical heavy lifting for you. It is a Smart keyboard, smart bas, smart drum and my favorite, the smart guitar. When you tap the icon for the smart guitar, you are presented with sound hole and six strings of an acoustic guitar. Under cover of these strings is eight strumming panels with the names of the chords at the top. You can click on all the strings to play it or strum of a set of strings playing chords. You can also just tap the Chord to play it. Basically making Garageband job placing the fingers on the fretboard, leaving you worry about strumming and picking.Some chordsMusicians can initially be frustrated at how few chords that you can access. But the app developers have chosen chords that sound good together, and you can get to different chords, tap on the screen shift key icon and change the key. That same settings panel, you can set the tempo by simply tapping on the screen, setting beats per minute based on your taps.Would you rather play a guitar? There are three electric models — classic pure, hard rock and Roots Rock. And each of them comes with two on-screen stompboxes that lets you change the sound of the instrument. For example I Roots Rock Guitar, and I tap Hi-Drive treble Boost stompbox for a grungy sound. I can do a passable imitation Neil Young this way (although not ask me to sing like him).If you would rather play lead than guitar, you can flip a switch, switch to notes from chords. You can then tap strings and even drag them to bend notes. Accelerometer in iPad, can tell how hard you press to vary volume and attack.Smart keyboard and smart base works the same way, but the smart drums takes a completely different strategy. You are presented with a grid, along with a set of drum kit components. If you place a drum trap, determines the Tom-Tom, high hat, cymbals, or even a cowbell in the grid, complexity and speed of the rhythm. You can choose between different drum kits and even electronic drums.You can also record any sound from the test taker, which then enables you to play sounds on a keyboard.Create a Disney film can record your work at any of these instruments that track and then mix them together to create a song, which can then be added to your iTunes library, via email to a friend or exported to the Mac version of Garageband for more advanced tweaking. With the proper adapter, you can also Connect to a real guitar, iPad, change how it sounds, run it through virtual amps then add that as a track.There is much more to Garageband for the iPad, but I've detailed here. It is a rich program with many layers of functionality. If you spring for it, do it when you have a couple of hours to kill. It is to compelling.dwight.silverman @ chron. comhttp://blogs.chron.com/techbloghttp://twitter.com/dsilverman

View the original article here