Tell me about garage band (on mac)

[pyroguy305]

How can I record using my electric guitar? I have a 1/4 to 1/8 audio thingy. So can i just use that? or do i need to run my guitar into an amp and then from the amp to my computer? Or is it just lacking the drivers necessary? Thanks bunches.

[Man of Shred]

the program has it's own effects for guitar. I haven't liked them very much tho.

[dylanshmai]

The Amp Sims are horrible. I have a good A/D converter, but the last thing I would want to do it send it into its Amp Sim, I would rather suffer through having to listen to it clean. I've written hundreds of songs using GarageBand, and I'm telling you now that it has its limitations and bugs and that its sample libraries of synths, drums, etc etc is really as bad as it gets. If you ever want to really get into music production look into the new Pro Tools coming out soon (version 8). I am using version 7 right now and its great, but version 8 will have many many great effects and a very good sample library which makes GarageBand's shit look like child's play.

[dylanshmai]

you're going to need an "interface" (aka: A/D converter). If you have a mac, I would suggest getting a Digidesign Mbox2 (which comes with Pro Tools LE) If you have a pc, I would buy a M-Box Pro Fire (which sounds much better, but you will have to buy Pro Tools M-powered separately) (this is based on how the drivers work with PC's, or Macs. You can still use either one with GarageBand, but I doubt you will ever want to use it after you've used Pro Tools)

[adam has a dream]

It's best to at least run the guitar through an effects pedal (that's turned off) first to ge a much clearer sound. All I do is use a cheap microphone and the 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch converter. It sounds fine for home demos but I'd recommend buying better equipment if you want a proper recording. To get an idea of how my setup sounds, listen to http://www.myspace.com/sformat or http://www.myspace.com/adamsdemoproject