[macvoiceover] Re: New GarageBand Observations
- From: Keith Reedy <keithreedy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 14:41:26 -0400
Bryan,
Thank you for the look at the new GarageBand. As always you are a wealth of
information.
I should have iLife 11 later this week, but, If I may a couple questions.
1Lets say you want to use a drum loop for most, or, all of your song. Is it
necessary to copy it over and over again until you have the length you want,
or, is this handled another way?
2: Is it possible to change the key with a music loop in a region, so, that
your intire song is not in the same key.
Thank you for taking the time to post the info on GB.
GarageBand is now being used by over 5 million people around the world and is
now a high profile app and a number of us on this list are looking forward to
getting our hands on this new puppy, grin, smile.
Here in the studio we record mostly live, but, it is great to be able to add a
loop from time to time, so, this is exciting.On Oct 24, 2010, at 3:09 AM, Bryan
Smart wrote:
Keith Reedy
> Hi everyone. I've spent some time tonight playing with the new GarageBand in
> iLife 11. Decided to write a bit about what I've discovered.
>
> Just a preface to say that my comments are colored by the fact that I'm a
> fairly high end user. My typical working environments are Sonar on Windows
> for sequencing, and Pro Tools on the Mac for editing. Each of these apps has
> profoundly complete accessibility as compared to anything offered in
> GarageBand or Logic, so it is easy for me to point to ways where they fall
> short. Nevertheless, the improvements are significant in the latest version.
>
> The most important part of the new GB is that it is finally possible to
> actually select something to edit it. Previously, the largest problem with GB
> was, regardless of the features, we couldn't edit anything. The situation is
> far from perfect in the new GB, as compares to Sonar or Pro Tools, but, at
> least now, it is possible to edit. More on that in a moment.
>
> What most people will notice right away, though, is the improved UI
> organization. Apple has reworked the organization of GB's user interface to
> better take advantage of groups. After the time that I've spent with Pro
> Tools, it is easy to imagine that Apple took a lead from the decisions that
> Avid made when designing its interface. It would take a lot of time to
> explain what is easily understood through use, but, it is enough to say that
> the main GB window is much more hierarchically organized than before. Areas
> of the window, such as the loop browser and track editor, show up as their
> own group. Interacting with those groups reveals a group of controls, often
> containing other groups of related controls. It does seem that, for some
> tasks, I spend a lot of time moving up and down through layers of
> interaction. That takes a bit of time, but, at least the layers, and controls
> in those layers, are well organized now. When you look at the new GB
> interface, you'll find that concepts haven't changed, but the organization,
> at least from VoiceOver's perspective, has changed.
>
> Now, on to what is newly possible.
>
> The arrangement group now contains many controls. In particular, these
> controls now include layout controls that represent the regions of audio or
> MIDI data that have been recorded to a track. It is therefore possible to
> select a region (such as an existing loop on a track, or a recorded MIDI
> region), and copy/paste it to other locations on the time line. Since you can
> select individual regions, it is also possible to do things like enable
> looping for them,, or to delete them from the track. Selection, in my mind,
> is the most important advancement in the new GB. Since we can actually select
> something, we have the option of deleting or editing it. Previously, GB was
> not too much more than a glorified multitrack tape recorder with included
> softsynth. Now, editing is possible, and, without using the mouse.
>
> Next, the track strip interface has been completely reworked. Track strips
> are accessed as a group of the arrangement group. The new strips make it
> possible to edit all track strip parameters, including the pan control,
> directly from the keyboard. Now, thankfully, a control surface is no longer
> required to make this change.
>
> I'm not sure yet if it is through direct integration with VoiceOver or not,
> but the new GB seems to speak many things automatically. One of them that
> you'll immediately notice is navigation by time. When using the left and
> right arrows to move the play head in the song, VoiceOver will speak the new
> position. Since we can select regions now, and can copy regions to the
> clipboard with Command+C, it is handy to navigate with either arrows or
> Option+arrows, listening for VO to speak the correct time, and then drop in
> the copied region with Command+v.
>
> The old method of moving loops on to the time line is no longer required.
> Besides the new loop browser's full redesign, which works great with VO,
> selected loops in the browser can now be copied with Command+C, and then
> pasted on to the time line with Command+V. There is no longer a need to mess
> with manually positioning the mouse. I made a new song tonight, entirely out
> of loops, without having to depend on the old methods.
>
> Generally, GB has received lots of VO attention. Most every control now has a
> help message. In many cases, the help messages not only explain the purpose
> of the control, but provide specific values. For example, when editing a
> synth generator's parameters, the help tag will now speak the real world
> values that are indicated through modifying a slider. Changing a volume, for
> example, might say 80% through VoiceOver as the position of a slider, but the
> help message will helpfully tell you that the real world value is -6 DB. This
> has happened literally all over GarageBand.
>
> In summary, this is the largest improvement to GB the I can ever remember, as
> applies to accessibility. If you use GB, I suggest the upgrade, hands down!
> It is absolutely worth the $49!.
>
> GB still has several limitations that prevent it from being anything like
> Sonar or Pro Tools. Of course, GB is a taste tester for Logic, which matches
> Sonar and Pro Tools in features. However, I mean that GB still lacks
> accessibility features that prevent it from being as useful to blind users as
> Sonar or PT. Even still, Apple has really done a great job with the
> improvements in the new GB. I hope with sincerity that they take the same
> approach with Logic. In Logic, a big problem is the same problem that has
> existed with GB, being the lack of the ability to select anything The same
> approach in Logic, with exposing regions in the arrangement view, would
> remove most of those limitations.
>
> I expect that many of the home-based users with few requirements in a digital
> audio workstation package will be very excited about the new GarageBand. I
> wholeheartedly suggest the upgrade, and hope that Apple continues to carry
> these great ideas over in to their professional packages like Logic. Bravo to
> everyone at Apple that worked to improve GB accessibility in iLife 11. I
> stand eagerly waiting, credit card in hand, to support similar efforts in
> Logic.
>
> Bryan
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