Apple probably made a brilliant move with the release of a Garageband app for the iPad (and iPad 2). With a price of only 5 dollars you get a very nice DAW for your iPad.
Built from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen on iPad, GarageBand turns your iPad into a collection of musical instruments and a full-featured recording studio, making it fun and easy to create music wherever you go.
Play a collection of Touch Instruments and Smart Instruments using Multi-Touch gestures. Or create a song whenever the inspiration strikes using a powerful eight-track recording studio.
GarageBand for iPad features
Touch Instruments – Play a collection of highly expressive musical instruments designed for Multi-Touch that sound and play just like their real counterparts, but let you do things you could never do on a real instrument.
- Drums – Tap out beats on three acoustic drum kits. The snare, kick, toms, hi-hat, and cymbals each produce different tones depending on where and how hard you tap them.
- Drum Machines – Play electronic drum kits by tapping “drum pads” inspired by a classic drum machine interface.
- Keyboards – Select from several keyboards — a grand piano, an organ, a synthesizer — each with a unique sound, distinctive look, and customizable performance characteristics. Hard taps are louder and soft taps quieter, just like on a real keyboard.
- Synthesizers – Play over 70 modern and vintage synthesizer sounds — including synth strings, leads, basses, and more. And use the Arpeggiator to create rich melodies and soundscapes with a single finger.
Smart Instruments – Enjoy a full range of Smart Instruments that make you sound like an expert musician. Even if you’ve never played a note before.
- Smart Guitars – Strum chords on acoustic and electric guitars, trigger fingerpicking and strumming patterns, or tap out your own riffs and melodies.
- Smart Keyboards – Play a range of keyboard instruments by tapping on preselected chords that sound great together, no matter what you play.
- Smart Bass – Perform bass lines and grooves simply by tapping on strings, or switch to Notes view to play individual notes on a virtual bass neck.
- Smart Drums – Drag and drop snares, kicks, and hi-hats to create your own beats, and effortlessly move them around to try out different patterns.
Recording Studio – Arrange and mix your songs anywhere inspiration strikes using a powerful eight-track recording studio that can handle any combination of audio recordings, Touch Instruments, and loops.
- Tracks – Create a song by trimming and arranging musical regions exactly where you want them to play. Swipe to reveal the mixer to fine-tune each track for the perfect mix.
- Guitar Amps – Just plug a guitar into your iPad to access nine classic and modern virtual guitar amps. Touch gestures let you operate tone controls and a swipe switches you from one amp to the next.
- Stompbox Effects – Choose from ten stompbox effects to create your favorite sounds. And add and reorder stompboxes on your own pedalboard.
- Audio Recorder – Record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone on iPad. Then apply any one of eight fun sound effects like Chipmunk, Robot, Telephone, Monster, and more.
Sharing – GarageBand for iPad makes it easy to email your song from your iPad, or export and add your song to your iTunes library. You can even send a project to your Mac and open it in GarageBand to keep refining your song.
GarageBand for iPad will be available to purchase March 11, 2011, priced at $4.99 USD.