« Ubiquitous, yet surprisingly useful program »

This program comes standard on Macintosh computers. I never particularly cared for it very much, having been familiar with Pro Tools (and to a lesser extent, Logic) already before I purchased a MacBook Pro. The program is easier than Pro Tools to get started using, in fact, in hindsight it'd have been better to learn initially in this program. The setup is pretty basic, though it took me a little bit to figure some things out (for instance, to use the mic you have to set up a real audio track instead of an instrument track, etc.). The functions, which are somewhat limited, are easy to access.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

The software usually works fine for the most part. The configuration of the software with my MacBook pro is usually fine, however, sometimes I actually do a LOT of recording (like jamming and leaving it recording for the duration). When this happens, there have been times where it can't handle the workload. This can be prevented by keeping the number of tracks to a minimum. The performance is usually pretty fast, I think that maybe using it too frequently in a short amount of time would make it perform slowly, and occasionally stop recording in the middle of a take.

OVERALL OPINION

I like the ease of use that Garageband offers. I really think that it's the best thing to use if you need to make a rough demo of something, a project you have no intention of releasing. I've actually been able to record a full kit and bass guitar with the Apple mic, and have managed to get really good sounds just by EQing and compressing. As far as mixing goes, there's enough features to make your projects at least listenable. The virtual instruments certainly don't hold a candle to Logic, though, so don't expect to make great music with those. Overall, it's a good program to have.