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Tutorial
Lesson 3: Working with Software
Instruments
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GarageBand includes an extensive set of Software Instruments, including drums, guitars, pianos,
organs, and synthesizers. You can play and record Software Instruments using the onscreen music keyboard in GarageBand, or by connecting a MIDI-compatible music keyboard to your computer. You can add effects to a Software Instrument, and edit Software Instrument regions in the track editor.
What You'll Need
To work with Software Instruments, you can use the following:
" The GarageBand onscreen music keyboard
" A MIDI-compatible music keyboard (either a USB keyboard or a standard MIDI keyboard)
" A USB cable (to connect a USB music keyboard) or pair of cables and a MIDI interface (to
connect a standard MIDI keyboard)
Before You Begin
To make it easier to follow the lesson as you work, print the lesson before you start.
In many of the tasks shown in this lesson you need to choose menu commands. In the lessons,
and in the GarageBand Help, menu commands appear like this:
Choose Edit > Join Selected.
The first term after Choose is the name of the menu in the GarageBand menu bar. The term (or terms) following the angle bracket are the items you choose from that menu.
Using the GarageBand Onscreen Music Keyboard
You can use the GarageBand onscreen music keyboard to play and record Software Instruments.
When you show the onscreen music keyboard, by default it displays a four-octave range of keys.
You can resize the keyboard to display up to 10 octaves.
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To show the onscreen music keyboard:
Choose Window > Keyboard.
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To play the onscreen music keyboard:
Click the notes on the keyboard. You can click when the song is playing, when it is stopped, or when recording.
Clicking a note lower on the key plays the note with a higher velocity (equivalent to pressing the key harder), and clicking a note higher on the key plays the note with a lower velocity
