Recording on Mac. GarageBand? No…

APE

APE

Inspired
I'm using AxeFX direct into the mac, using Mac's Audio Midi setup, into GarageBand. I like the track layout of GarageBand. I dislike that there's no rehearsal count in, that it constantly "forgets" devices, that it often presents me with dialog boxes, that it hogs up memory, and that it is slow to launch and slow to run.

I want to easily program original drums and also use & tweak default grooves.

GarageBand's Drummer provides some grooves that I can tweak. It's easy to use, and sometimes I get good results. But Drummer has no hard rock grooves, and no double kick drums. I tried clicking and dragging the notes on the editor but this was very difficult and distracting and did not feel like making music ‚— too difficult to keep the groove in my head with all that error-prone clicking and dragging of tiny boxes.

I don't know anything else other than GarageBand.

What software provides for easy custom drum programming and either works with GarageBand or replaces it with something easier, faster, and more reliable to use?

Thank you,
 
Logic X...

If you're on a Mac, that would be the "Logical" upgrade (excuse the pun). I don't have the current version but it's supposed to have a full featured "Drummer" module. Logic is way more complete and professional compared to Garageband, and I believe you can get the current version for around $200.
 
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Get Logic X. It's intuitive and has all the stuff your looking for. The drummers are killer. You won't be disappointed.
 
APE said:
I dislike that there's no rehearsal count in
Click to expand...
GarageBand does this -- it's call count in. You can toggle it off and on from the transport area of the window. It's the button labeled 1-2-3-4:

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 2.40.14 PM.png

You can change the count-in to be 1 or 2 bars long from the Record menu:

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 2.41.25 PM.png

All that being said: Logic X is a fantastic step up from GarageBand and a helluva deal given all the plugins and soft instruments and samples you get with it.
 
+1 Logic X

I use it.

I still occasionally use GarageBand for one purpose in particular. I sometimes poach MIDI tracks off the web, and then mute the guitars, and play along with the track, and record and mix the finished version with me on guitar. For whatever reason, GarageBand seems to choose the appropriate instrument more wisely than Logic does.

What I mean is, if I open a MIDI file that has 5 instruments in it - lead, rhythm, vocals, bass, drums, for example, Garageband seems to get it right, whereas Logic might sometimes get it right, but other times, select a grand piano for all 5 tracks, or maybe 3 piano, a trombone, and a clarinet.

I just open those tracks in Garage band to give myself the best chance for the midi instruments to be properly selected. I then save the song, and then open Logic and open the Garageband song in Logic, and begin to do the rest of the stuff to make my track.
 
Thank you for this post. On the wait list for the Axe Fx and MFC at the moment. I've been using an Apogee One as my interface and Garageband for everything on the Mac.
Agree completely that after a while Drummer has become a process I don't enjoy when trying to construct a new song. Will definitely be looking into Logic once I pay off the most important gear first.
 
JT2 said:
Get Logic X. It's intuitive and has all the stuff your looking for. The drummers are killer. You won't be disappointed.
Click to expand...
It has different drummers for rock and metal? How do I write the custom drums in logic?

Thanks,
 
@APE Here is an sample of double kick drums as another friend of mine did a recording with EZ Drummer in Steinberg and he went a bit nuts with the drums, but good sample to hear. He uses only the nMetall Machine from EZ Drummer, no matter which genre as they sond the best.

 
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