GarageBand update brings some welcome improvements

Apple’s iLife suite was updated today, and that means a new version of GarageBand is now available. The three new features that seem the most exciting (and help bring GarageBand up a notch) are visual EQ (finally), a multi-take feature and the new arrangement feature.

Visual EQ

The first time I saw GarageBand I was surprised the EQ didn’t give the visual feedback I’ve become accustomed to in DAW setting. Getting a visual representation of EQ curves can be a great way to learn about sound. Anyway, it’s finally here.

Multi-take feature

This is great. And if it’s implemented like it looks to be, it’s going to be stellar. Just keep recording take after take of a part, and audition each one after to find the best. Of course you could do many takes before, but there was no neat and tidy may to keep track of everything.

Arrangements

This was one of the things that Steinberg has done with Cubase (and now Sequel) for a some time now. In short, this feature allows you to label different parts of your song (verse, chorus, etc.) and then chose the order in which it plays the sequence. With this feature it is easy to answer the question, “what would it sound like if we did another bridge before the guitar solo and then did the chorus twice at the end of the song?” No need to rerecord, just get GarageBand to take what you’ve done and move it around. Maybe if it sounds good you’ll want to record it over again. If not, go back to the original. Steinberg users: I’m sorry if all that seemed like dreadfully old news.

So now that GarageBand has been upgraded twice since the last version of Logic was released. When are we going to see Logic 8?