iMovie’s not the only iLife staple coming to iOS this month, though. Apple’s now announcing Garage Band for iOS.
Featuring touch instruments including grand piano, organs, and guitars, guitar amps and effects, 8-track recording and mixing, 250+ loops and compatibility with the Mac version, Garage Band for iOS turns your iPad into a musical instrument.
When you load up the app, the first thing you see is an instrument browser. Tap one and it brings up the instrument to fill the display. Apple showed off the grand piano as an example: keys were tappable like a real piano, with a button for pedaling, and the accelerometer is used to measure the force with which your fingers are striking the display to determine dynamics and volume.
Each instrument is different, but uses a similar loyal approach. The drums and organs are simularly amazing. It’s breathtaking. On the organ, you can not only slide your note up along the keys, but also tweak the vibrato as you go. On the drums, you can get rim sounds if you hit the rim of the snare, or change the sound of the cymbal.
The music that is going to come out of the iPad thanks to Garage Band is going to defy belief. You don’t even need to know how to play: just load up the Smart Guitar and start strumming.
Recording is simple, toggled by a bright red button at the top of every display. To toggle tracks, you just hit the tracks button, allowing you to overlay multiple instruments, with support for up to 8 tracks. You can trim your recordings, shift them around, etc.
Once you’re done, you can email your song from right within GarageBand, or just send to your iTunes library.
GarageBand for iPad will be available on March 11th for $4.99 in the App Store.
