Garageband "like" software

[havik180]

I've been lookin for something like garageband for PC. My teacher has garageband and I really like the real drum kits and all the other instruments you get for like $90 .
I was wondering if there's any other software like garageband that has real instrument sounds and is easy to use (just for hobby type stuff nothing professional yet) for PC's.I dont know if I wanna commit to ALL APPLE stuff.

[ghorvers]

Have a look at Band in a Box:

http://www.pgmusic.com/

Cheers,
Geert

[havik180]

Originally Posted by ghorvers

Have a look at Band in a Box:

http://www.pgmusic.com/

Cheers,
Geert

Cool ! Thanks. Looks kinda complicated though. Not sure if I like the samples from what they show on the demo's

I'm just lookin for something I can jam with (real drum and guitar sounds) and maybe put together a few songs with my buddy on guitar and me on bass.Nothing too fancy.

[chardin]

Band in a Box is great software but doesn't make any sound on its own. It only generates MIDI so you'll need a good sounding synthesizer to accept the MIDI. The PG Music web site has some good suggestions for software and hardware based synths.

Back to your original question. You should check out Sony ACID Music Studio for around $70 US. It comes with 1,700 loops and you can get more when you're ready. You might also want to look at Sony ACID Express for free. Very limited functionally but what do you want for free?

[DougP]

i think Cakewalk has an equivalent to the Acid Music Studio called Kinetic...just another option.

[Josh Ryan]

Someone here pointed out ableton.


http://www.ableton.com/

[Yvon]

I use adobe audition.
Very easy to use and some really nice loops.

http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/main.html?c=us

[Luke73]

Really, there is no equivalent.

Get a Mac, and use Garageband.

You'll be glad you did.

And if you absolutely must run PC apps, no problem - Boot Camp allows you to run Windows XP natively on your Mac now too, so you can dual boot either OS X, or Windows.

[David Vector]

I don't know about equivalents at an entry-level price range, but Sony Acid Pro 6 goes quite a bit beyond what Garageband has to offer, especially with version 6 (which also comes bundled with a special version of NI Kompakt loaded with various instruments). It's definitely more of a pro-level app you wouldn't as easily outgrow. Many of Acid's features might be irrelevant to you at this point, though, so it might be overkill for now, but as someone suggested, you could always start with one of the "lite" versions and upgrade later.

I have both a PC and a Mac in my home studio and Macs are very elegant, cool computers, no doubt (I used nothing but Macs for several years). But ever since the arrival of Windows XP, all the talk of PC's being hard to configure for audio work is greatly exaggerated and either platform is equally viable for making music.

[Luke73]

Originally Posted by David Vector

I have both a PC and a Mac in my home studio and Macs are very elegant, cool computers, no doubt (I used nothing but Macs for several years). But ever since the arrival of Windows XP, all the talk of PC's being hard to configure for audio work is greatly exaggerated and either platform is equally viable for making music.

That's very true...I'm a Mac user, and a Windows user too (in fact I'm a Microsoft Instructor).

Windows based PCs are of course very capable of recording, and used in many professional situations....but right out of the box, with Garage Band included with every new Mac as part of iLife, Windows PCs don't come close for home recording.

[Stingrayz]

Hey

Just make your life easier and go with a mac.. its good for everything, not just garage band.. but yeah garageband rocks..

Get out of the dark, switch to mac :P

[David Vector]

My concern was moreso the upgrade path, when someone gets to the point where they want to move beyond Garageband into a more full-featured recording environment and faces the "sticker shock" of paying $999 for Apple Logic Pro. But I just noticed that Apple is offering an intermediate step, Logic Express, which is $299 and does allow importing of Garageband loops. That's cool - it's good to see that Apple is providing Garageband users a place to go without having to take such a big financial hit all at once.

[thehurlatron]

Originally Posted by David Vector

My concern was moreso the upgrade path, when someone gets to the point where they want to move beyond Garageband into a more full-featured recording environment and faces the "sticker shock" of paying $999 for Apple Logic Pro. But I just noticed that Apple is offering an intermediate step, Logic Express, which is $299 and does allow importing of Garageband loops. That's cool - it's good to see that Apple is providing Garageband users a place to go without having to take such a big financial hit all at once.

I'm using logic express 7.2 and it's an awsome upgrade from garagband. And it's of the same caliber as logic pro, but without all the bells and whistles and track capability.

[BassGod]

Has anyone here used Reason software? You may want to check that out, though I've no idea how much it costs.

Graeme

[MM-Stingray5]

I am also a mac guy. I use garage band but recently i have started playing around with Cubase from steinberg and i must say its worth a shot as well, its simple and does a good job!

[stratology]

Originally Posted by Stingrayz

Just make your life easier and go with a mac..

+ 100000000000000000000000000000000000

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by BassGod

Has anyone here used Reason software? You may want to check that out, though I've no idea how much it costs.

Graeme

It's pretty pricey at the $400 range. Cool software for sure, though.

[disenchant]

I used Garageband and then I upgraded to Logic Express and I love it! You can even import your Garageband songs into Logic and work with them.

You can get a Mac Mini starting at $599 and it's more than enough to run Garageband and/or Logic Express. It is SO worth it. If you want Mac-like quality, you just have to get a Mac.

[jonrey]

Hello All - This is my first post! If you haven't looked at this program you're missing a whole lot:

http://fasoft.com/

N-Track is a very robust and VERY inexpensive Windows-based program that, depending on what you want to do, is WAY better than Garageband. While Garageband is is built to allow amateurs easy access to recording, N-Track is the real deal. It supports 24-bit recording, 96khz files, has its own built int drum software, supports MIDI recording, and there are a huge number of free plugins on the Windows side that allow you to do an unlimited number of things. It's also CHEAP. The developer is great - one guy in Italy.

By the way, I use Macs all day at work, and have built several PCs on my own, and own a G4 on steroids. The superiority of Macs is mythical to me. I work in graphic arts - you can do anything on a PC that you can do on a Mac - the best software is all cross-platform.

Peace
Jon Reynolds

[stratology]

Originally Posted by jonrey

The superiority of Macs is mythical to me.

Spotlight, Expose, spring-loading folders, column view, Automator, Stickies, Smart Folders, Labels, Services, Core Audio, Core MIDI, iTunes & iDVD & iPhoto & iMovie & Garageband free with every new Mac and fully integrated with each other, Dashboard, pdf integration, FileVault, Keychain; free Developer Tools; open source Unix foundation; ...
System Folder is owned by root & OS X comes with all ports closed & installers require admin authorisation -> no spyware; no viruses as of today; ...

No offense, but if you use both and don't know what's better about the Mac, get a good introductory book like David Pogue's 'Missing Manual' for OS X - it will turn you on to lots of interesting things...

Frank