GarageBand

Name: GarageBand
Rating: 4 (20866 reviews)
Author: Apple

Make great music anywhere

Free

21K Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Music
Developer

Apple
Language

EN
+ 32 More
Size

1.9
GB

GarageBand turns your iPad and iPhone into a collection of Touch Instruments and a fully featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. And with Live Loops, it makes it easy for anyone to have fun creating music like a DJ. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play keyboards and guitars, and create beats that make you sound like a pro — even if you’ve never played a note before. Plug in a guitar or bass and play through classic amps and stompbox effects. Use a Touch Instrument, microphone or guitar to instantly record a performance, with support for up to 32 tracks. Use the Sound Library to download additional free instruments, loops and sound packs created by some of the biggest producers in the world. And then share your song with friends and family. Live Loops. Make music like a DJ • Use Multi-Touch to tap and trigger a Live Loop cell or group of cells • Get started with templates or build your own grid from scratch with Apple Loops • Create custom loops by recording directly into a cell using any Touch Instrument • Use Remix FX to perform DJ-style effects • Tap record to capture your performance Play your iPad and iPhone like a musical instrument • Play a variety of musical instruments on the innovative Multi-Touch keyboard • Play and record using the Alchemy Touch Instrument • Build grooves inspired by classic electronic drum machines with the Beat Sequencer • Download free instruments, loops and sound packs for GarageBand with the Sound Library • Capture any sound and apply studio-class effects • Recreate legendary guitar or bass rigs using virtual amps and stompboxes • Record performances from third-party music apps directly into GarageBand using Audio Unit Extensions* Drummer • Add virtual session drummers to your song who take direction and play realistic grooves • Choose from acoustic, electronic drummers and percussionists** • Each character provides their own sound and the ability to create over a million realistic grooves and fills Sound like a virtuoso with Smart Instruments • Play an entire string orchestra using Smart Strings • Perform with Chord Strips and autoplay using any keyboard instrument • Groove with a variety of Smart Basses using upright, electric and synth sounds • Strum chords or trigger autoplay patterns on an acoustic and electric Smart Guitar Create a song anywhere you go • Record, arrange and mix your song with up to 32 tracks using Touch Instruments, audio recordings and loops*** • Record multiple times over any song section and choose your favourite using Multi-Take Recording • Use professional mixing effects, including Visual EQ, Bitcrusher and Overdrive • Recording, mixing and exporting a song can be done at 24-bit audio resolution • Trim and place musical regions exactly where you want them to play • Automate the volume and record the movement of controls on Touch Instruments • Add comments or lyric ideas to your song with an integrated notepad Share your songs • Keep your songs up to date across all devices using iCloud Drive • Create custom ringtones and alerts for your iPad or iPhone • Share your songs using email or to social media sites like SoundCloud**** • Remotely add new tracks to your Logic Pro project from your iPhone or iPad via iCloud * Requires compatible third-party Audio Unit Extensions apps from the App Store. ** Requires free download from GarageBand Sound Library. *** Multitrack recording requires a compatible third-party audio interface. **** Sharing to some social media sites may require apps like iMovie, Clips or other third-party apps

Ratings & Reviews

4.0

out of 5

21K Ratings

Need more guitars - with effects
19/05/2019

Micky_BluEyes
I love this app, I’ve made many songs from it which sound great, but it seems like there is a limit of what you can do, unless you have a cable you can plug from your guitar or keyboard etc into your phone, which I don’t have that cable.There’s only 5 guitars, and being honest the pedal effects on those guitars aren’t that great, there should be a wide range of pedal effects for all the guitars, so no one is limited as to what sound they are wishing to produce. I see there are many packs for the person that does dj-ing, but as a guitar player, or bass player, even piano/keyboard player, you’d hope there would be a tonne more of stuff on there for us. The bass genre is the same and the piano section only has like 2 organs, so a few more packs for the people that play instruments would be nice. But with that being said, I guess I could just go out and buy a cable so I can plug my instruments directly into my phone, but then that defeats the point of this app. What if it’s not just you in the house, living with family or friends or a partner etc, and your mind is alive with creative content, but you can’t just start playing your guitar or piano because it’s the middle of the night and they’re sleeping. All I’m asking is for the musician that wants to write whenever they can without making any loud noises to interrupt other people’s routines, there needs to be an extension added to the guitar, piano and bass sections - the drums are solid, loads of options for drums.But like I say, I do love this app and I have made some great music from it, but there is a limit.
Need more guitars - with effects
19/05/2019

Micky_BluEyes

I love this app, I’ve made many songs from it which sound great, but it seems like there is a limit of what you can do, unless you have a cable you can plug from your guitar or keyboard etc into your phone, which I don’t have that cable.There’s only 5 guitars, and being honest the pedal effects on those guitars aren’t that great, there should be a wide range of pedal effects for all the guitars, so no one is limited as to what sound they are wishing to produce. I see there are many packs for the person that does dj-ing, but as a guitar player, or bass player, even piano/keyboard player, you’d hope there would be a tonne more of stuff on there for us. The bass genre is the same and the piano section only has like 2 organs, so a few more packs for the people that play instruments would be nice. But with that being said, I guess I could just go out and buy a cable so I can plug my instruments directly into my phone, but then that defeats the point of this app. What if it’s not just you in the house, living with family or friends or a partner etc, and your mind is alive with creative content, but you can’t just start playing your guitar or piano because it’s the middle of the night and they’re sleeping. All I’m asking is for the musician that wants to write whenever they can without making any loud noises to interrupt other people’s routines, there needs to be an extension added to the guitar, piano and bass sections - the drums are solid, loads of options for drums.But like I say, I do love this app and I have made some great music from it, but there is a limit.
A (once) misunderstood music production software.
20/12/2024

Zorrovulpa
While GarageBand is missing a lot of features that many other DAW’s have, such as effect automation, Time stretching etc, I believe it is the best free option out there. I’m seeing a lot of reviews here that mistake GarageBand for a game, and some who think it is only for making ringtones, but It is so much more than that. People just need to give it a chance. I have been using it to create music for 4 years, and have never felt the need to upgrade once. (Although some quality of life changes would be nice.)Edit: Just got the new version of the app on a new iPad and to say it’s buggy is an understatement. App crashes whenever it feels like it, which once lost me half an hour of progress on a song, the onscreen keyboard has a half second delay, volume automation doesn’t work like it used to, sometimes the display will inexplicably darken for no apparent reason, “follow song key” toggle also doesn’t work as expected (midi tracks are still transposed when the key is changed). This isn’t a bug, but I find that the screen scrolling when I don’t ask it to when moving the position marker at the top of the screen is also a major issue for me when pinpointing the area that I want to paste a region or midi note to. The app is still usable, which is why I’ve given it 3 stars, but it is nowhere near as good as it used to be. I bought a new iPad for this. Apple, please don’t ruin the one good product you have, otherwise I’ll be forced to look elsewhere for a music software.
A (once) misunderstood music production software.
20/12/2024

Zorrovulpa

While GarageBand is missing a lot of features that many other DAW’s have, such as effect automation, Time stretching etc, I believe it is the best free option out there. I’m seeing a lot of reviews here that mistake GarageBand for a game, and some who think it is only for making ringtones, but It is so much more than that. People just need to give it a chance. I have been using it to create music for 4 years, and have never felt the need to upgrade once. (Although some quality of life changes would be nice.)Edit: Just got the new version of the app on a new iPad and to say it’s buggy is an understatement. App crashes whenever it feels like it, which once lost me half an hour of progress on a song, the onscreen keyboard has a half second delay, volume automation doesn’t work like it used to, sometimes the display will inexplicably darken for no apparent reason, “follow song key” toggle also doesn’t work as expected (midi tracks are still transposed when the key is changed). This isn’t a bug, but I find that the screen scrolling when I don’t ask it to when moving the position marker at the top of the screen is also a major issue for me when pinpointing the area that I want to paste a region or midi note to. The app is still usable, which is why I’ve given it 3 stars, but it is nowhere near as good as it used to be. I bought a new iPad for this. Apple, please don’t ruin the one good product you have, otherwise I’ll be forced to look elsewhere for a music software.
Vocals…
13/01/2023

Under_ abus 🚎
This game is brilliant I play it quite often and it’s fun making your own ringtones. I was loving it from the start. But… it is quite a complicated game and beginners like me might need a tutorial I haven’t found one at all that worry’s me for garage band because their rating might go down and things like that. Also when you’re making a song you might want it to sound professional yes don’t get me wrong you can do that but when I go into the game there is a lot of different instruments. But if you really want vocals I have found you have to record them yourself??? Why record them when you can get like preset ones for example the vocal from Worlds Smallest Violin. You could use those song’s vocals for your song and that would be really nice and make the game much more enjoyable for me personally because I play this every time I can and the songs in the end make me feel a lot happier. Please respond developers and please fix these two things it would make your ratings a lot better. Have a good day 🤗🤗🤗
Vocals…
13/01/2023

Under_ abus 🚎

This game is brilliant I play it quite often and it’s fun making your own ringtones. I was loving it from the start. But… it is quite a complicated game and beginners like me might need a tutorial I haven’t found one at all that worry’s me for garage band because their rating might go down and things like that. Also when you’re making a song you might want it to sound professional yes don’t get me wrong you can do that but when I go into the game there is a lot of different instruments. But if you really want vocals I have found you have to record them yourself??? Why record them when you can get like preset ones for example the vocal from Worlds Smallest Violin. You could use those song’s vocals for your song and that would be really nice and make the game much more enjoyable for me personally because I play this every time I can and the songs in the end make me feel a lot happier. Please respond developers and please fix these two things it would make your ratings a lot better. Have a good day 🤗🤗🤗
Much better than expected.
08/08/2023

The Funkapuss
I’m four days into using this. It’s much more sophisticated than you’d expect for something on a phone. Good sounds, good layout and easy to use. Experimenting with what does what (some interfaces work differently on different instruments) is well worth while. The more you use it, the more you’ll discover. Then watch some instructionals online and learn more. A file with all your recorded samples in would be good so you can keep those fleeting samples caught on the hoof. As would a fade out for individual tracks (the built in fade out isn’t up to much) but since I’ve just discovered you can record slider moves I may not need it) The ability to import from the phone’s voice recorder would be a proper boon. Being able to record something and then change what key it’s in is very good. The ‘live’ drummers are more than serviceable, setting how many fills you want is useful. You can save in various resolution, including WAV so things can be put into a DAW or (in my case) a Tascam DP 24SD board (not sure how well the tempos will sync as I haven’t tried it yet. Fingers crossed) All in all, a good app that improves when you learn to use it. (Some of the downloadable free packs are well worthwhile as well) One issue, when I export a track as a song the first couple of notes don’t quite trigger correctly, so I always start a new track half a bar from the start.EDIT. I’ve figured out how to use the automatic fader at the end of the song. Some of the effects are a little hidden but a flanger, phaser and overdrive are all built in if you search the plug-in page. Not used the tutorial but there is one if you search. The trick to this app is to explore. There’s a lot more than you think at first look and anyone with basic recording experience should be able to figure it out.
Much better than expected.
08/08/2023

The Funkapuss

I’m four days into using this. It’s much more sophisticated than you’d expect for something on a phone. Good sounds, good layout and easy to use. Experimenting with what does what (some interfaces work differently on different instruments) is well worth while. The more you use it, the more you’ll discover. Then watch some instructionals online and learn more. A file with all your recorded samples in would be good so you can keep those fleeting samples caught on the hoof. As would a fade out for individual tracks (the built in fade out isn’t up to much) but since I’ve just discovered you can record slider moves I may not need it) The ability to import from the phone’s voice recorder would be a proper boon. Being able to record something and then change what key it’s in is very good. The ‘live’ drummers are more than serviceable, setting how many fills you want is useful. You can save in various resolution, including WAV so things can be put into a DAW or (in my case) a Tascam DP 24SD board (not sure how well the tempos will sync as I haven’t tried it yet. Fingers crossed) All in all, a good app that improves when you learn to use it. (Some of the downloadable free packs are well worthwhile as well) One issue, when I export a track as a song the first couple of notes don’t quite trigger correctly, so I always start a new track half a bar from the start.EDIT. I’ve figured out how to use the automatic fader at the end of the song. Some of the effects are a little hidden but a flanger, phaser and overdrive are all built in if you search the plug-in page. Not used the tutorial but there is one if you search. The trick to this app is to explore. There’s a lot more than you think at first look and anyone with basic recording experience should be able to figure it out.