GarageBand iOS Update - Artists Packs and Lady Gaga/Dua Lipa Live Loops Project

Edward_Alexander

@Jumpercollins said:

@Edward_Alexander said:

@MadeofWax said:

@Edward_Alexander said:

@iOSTRAKON said:
Meh, I don’t want some pop artist to write my tracks 😂

Yeah, I don’t understand the “artist packs”.

Of course I’ve never understood taking someone else’s music (samples, Loops, whatever) and trying to make my own music with them either, but I guess I can understand the market for this kind of stuff; There are people that aren't musicians out there in the world that may just want to goof around. Y’know, get their Lady Gaga kicks? Idk 😂

If you've never watched Andrew Huang's "Four Producers One Sample" videos on YouTube they will give you an idea of how creative people can get just using a sample. I frequently participate in the the HitRecord Play Along where you can remix or add to a weekly sample and it's a great exercise to push yourself out of your musical boundaries. I wouldn't use popular music personally, but I've heard some amazing remixes of songs and weird mashups that came from people goofing around with someone else's loops or samples. To each their own.

Oh I’m subscribed to Andrew’s channel, and I get it. I guess maybe I need to retract a little, because you’re totally right, a lot can be done with just a sample, but I don’t think that’s what this is here. Maybe I shouldn’t have said “samples”, but rather just artist “loops”.

I’ve worked with sample based stuff myself , and I think there’s a fine line between being truly creative with something and taking it in a whole new direction (for example, breaking a sample down into modular/granular bits and using parts of these bits rearranged to create something totally different) or just sticking a loop of someone else’s work in your mix and riding on the coattails of someone else’s ideas.

So, I’m going to give myself a little challenge with all that said, by extracting a sample or two from one of these new “artist packs” (I think I’ll start by looking at the Lady Gaga one). I know about the stringent copyright and usage stuff they’re talking about, but I have no worries, as I plan on totally f&%$ing it up beyond recognition.

@Edward_Alexander Or u could take u chances and just put it out there like this guy!

Well, that sounds exactly like the Lady Gaga song, so I don’t see where he “made” anything out of it or changed anything and/or “made it his own”

It’s funny though, I just got done watching the accompanying Lady Gaga video with “Jimira” (who is evidently a self proclaimed “Creative Pro”!) and the funny part to me, is Lady Gaga is saying things like “I want you to make it your own” and “do whatever you want to with it”, but then you get the message in Garageband that these “Remix sessions” may not be used or distributed outside of the GarageBand app without the explicit prior written consent of the copyright holders.

Then I had a thought, as I “unpinched” and zoomed out of the whole GB app: WTF am I even doing wasting my time with this LG stuff anyway.
Swipes up and closes GarageBand

icsleepers

@BitterGums I've not yet had a crash here. I don’t know I’ve pushed it TOO hard with AUv3s but on a 2017 iPad I had a project with about 800mb of audio tracks and it didn’t flinch (and that was still adding built in instruments and AUv3 effects on top of that).

@Lil_Stu07 The workflow you’re describing does not exist, GB is happy to suck stuff in but doesn’t really play nicely with output. Your best case scenario would be merging all tracks with a blank Recorder then you can get to the “stems” at that point from within the project file (it’s kind of like a glorified .zip file).

The animations are pretty annoying. Being able to turn them off would be pretty sweet.

@god So, you KIND of can use sequencing MIDI AUv3’s - but only on other AUv3 tracks. Pop in something like Fugue Machine or Rozeta Bassline, set it up, hit record in transport. It will record the MIDI. Then you move that MIDI clip to another AUv3 instrument track.

Is it jank? Yup. Does it work? Yup.

I know I’m sounding like a total evangelist lol, I don’t mean to, but it does offer QUITE a lot of good. For free* it’s pretty good.

You wanna know something else I just found out? This doesn’t work with imported samples, but any AUDIO you record can be affected by key and tempo change. I pushed it pretty hard and it holds up well.

god

@icsleepers said:
@BitterGums I've not yet had a crash here. I don’t know I’ve pushed it TOO hard with AUv3s but on a 2017 iPad I had a project with about 800mb of audio tracks and it didn’t flinch (and that was still adding built in instruments and AUv3 effects on top of that).

@Lil_Stu07 The workflow you’re describing does not exist, GB is happy to suck stuff in but doesn’t really play nicely with output. Your best case scenario would be merging all tracks with a blank Recorder then you can get to the “stems” at that point from within the project file (it’s kind of like a glorified .zip file).

The animations are pretty annoying. Being able to turn them off would be pretty sweet.

@god So, you KIND of can use sequencing MIDI AUv3’s - but only on other AUv3 tracks. Pop in something like Fugue Machine or Rozeta Bassline, set it up, hit record in transport. It will record the MIDI. Then you move that MIDI clip to another AUv3 instrument track.

Is it jank? Yup. Does it work? Yup.

I know I’m sounding like a total evangelist lol, I don’t mean to, but it does offer QUITE a lot of good. For free* it’s pretty good.

You wanna know something else I just found out? This doesn’t work with imported samples, but any AUDIO you record can be affected by key and tempo change. I pushed it pretty hard and it holds up well.

My main issue with GB is the terrible automation control . Practically a dealbreaker to me.

icsleepers

@god said:
My main issue with GB is the terrible automation control . Practically a dealbreaker to me.

No argument here on that front LOL, most certainly one of the weakest points in my book too. I know you can automate the controls for built in instruments, but you don’t get a visual or editing capability after the fact so that’s not helpful at all

MobileMusic

@BitterGums said:
the drummer feature is pretty impressive. Unparalleled in iOS. And the instruments sound great. Plus it never crashes?

That said, people use it for so many different things and somehow it facilitates that wide spectrum of users and for that I would recommend it to anyone starting out.

Agree, the Drummer module is unlike anything on iOS - AI + ML + wizardry + voodoo magic!

Check this out -

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/46298/the-weeknd-blinding-lights-instrumental-with-contemporary-drums/p1

Yup, Just use GB in bits and pieces for what it does great.

michael_m

@Lil_Stu07 said:

@michael_m said:

@Lil_Stu07 said:
Haven't messed with GB much at all. Is it possible to send tracks out to AUM and master there? Like IAA multitrack outs?

Yes, you can export a few formats of stereo audio files from it, and I'm pretty sure there would be no compatibility issues with AUM.

I know you can export. My question is can you route individual tracks to AUM through IAA? So then you can send them to a master bus in AUM.

Exporting from GB then importing into AUM and then recording in AUM is way too many steps and files to deal with.

Sorry, you said “mastering”, so I assumed you were looking at a mixdown to master, so wouldn’t need the individual tracks.

klownshed

I’m not sure I get the criticism about the Dua Lipa or Lady Gaga live loops.

Apple have done this for decades. An older version of Logic Pro from about 2005, for example, had “The Hand that Feeds” by nine inch nails as a demo track and I loved being able to play with all the parts and see how it was put together and mixed. It was obviously for personal use only. And I learnt a lot from that one file. I never worried that I wasn’t allowed to use any of the files for my own stuff. Although i did use to use Match EQ with THTF as the source quite a bit :-)

The point of these loops is clear. There’s plenty of other content that you’re allowed to use (basically all of the other content) in your own tracks to distribute as you wish.

For people learning music production, having the parts of hit pop songs laid out for you to play with is huge. Not being allowed to use the content other than within GarageBand for your own purposes is fair. If you want to sample lady Gaga you better get clearance. No different whether it’s from vinyl or these loops. If you want to release a commercial record, of course you’ll need to clear the samples.

All the other content is supplied without these restrictions. But they’re not commercially released songs.

I’d have been monumentally surprised if you could use any of the parts of a commercially released hit single without permission.

And as for GarageBand being dumbed down. Yeah it is. But it’s still very capable and nothing else on iOS is close to desktop class either yet.

Hopefully things will improve both with GB and the third party DAWs. As for now, for me iOS is for jamming and coming up with ideas. GB works fine for me in that regard. Once an idea has germinated, I use Logic is for getting serious and finishing stuff. I’m enjoying the process.

I love iOS’ roll in my music making. I don’t personally have any plans for it to take over from desktop any year soon though.

seonnthaproducer

Popped in here to applaud @klownshed
Seriously, that's one of the reasons I'm using Garageband. It's been a blast teaching kids and teenagers how to make music with their mobile devices.

BroCoast

@BCKeys said:

@BroCoast said:
but it's like no matter what it's always got that Garageband sound to it.

I guess you mean good sound ?

Neither good nor bad. It just has a signature sound that's easy to pick up on.

I often use it for just one track and bounce that out to use in a different DAW.