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Is there a PC equivalent of GarageBand for Mac?

14K views 31 replies 18 participants last post by  cliveyx 
#1 ·
I'm looking for a software that basically has the same features as GarageBand for Mac, except that its for PC. Are there any such softwares?
 
#3 ·
I also use Reaper and recommend it. In face you can make Reaper look very Garageband-like using one of the user-made themes available.

The guys who wrote Garageband wrote ACID many years ago and you can still buy it from Sony. If you download the demo or look at it's product page you'll see the similarities.
 
#5 ·
It's much more sophisticated for serious musicians but not as easy to use (actually not very hard but less of a toy interface meaning you can get as sophisticated as you want with it.

You can download a demo version of it and try it out yourself.

http://www.pgmusic.com

Here is a sample:

http://www.kara-moon.com/index.php?play_song_id=4766

Sample done with Band-in-a-Box using a Ketron SD2 synthesizer for the solo instrument. The accompaniment is done by what BnBox calls Real Tracks -audio snippets of musicians playing combined in a clever way to create piano, acoustic bass, guitar etc. Very similar to what Garage Band does I think.

Dan
 
#6 ·
Band in a Box and Garage Band are two completely different programs that do completely different things. GB is a basic digital recording studio, while BIAB generates accompaniment parts for any chord sequence. While it is true that they have some overlapping features, i would not consider them equal in scope.
 
#8 ·
Garage Band is not P.C. In any way. :bluewink:

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
After a few cheapie/free options (Audacity, MixPad, Sony Acid, Studio One) I've settled on Reaper. http://www.reaper.fm/
Works on PC, Linux and Mac plus it can be made portable: install on a USB and use it anywhere! (depending on your plugin requirements of course...)
Easy to learn, isn't bloat-ware, and you can evaluate it without any restriction for 60 days (then you're supposed to buy it...)

V
 
#26 ·
I've got to try learning Pro Tools now that my Macbook is dead.

I'm not complaining though. The new laptop is exactly 4 times better for $50 less than the cheapest MacBook I could find. I'll just say that having a more powerful machine has made my recording possibilities much higher. Something that is financially impossible if I were to have bought another Mac. Apple is all hype. And they've cornered the market as far as trendy is concerned.

I think the biggest shot to apple is the fact that their computers are completely non upgradeable. With a PC style computer you can always upgrade your system until you max it out or just when you're operating system becomes outdated. And even then the limits seem endless (especially on desktops). I've got friends who do a lot of gaming running crazy machines with specs that blow any mac clear out of the water. All for less than $500.

With Macs, what you buy is all you get. When you're operating system becomes outdated you can't update it unless the specs of you're computer meet the requirements of the new operating system.

From what I can see Pro Tools has way more loops preloaded than GB but has a much more sophisticated (higher learning curve) way of presenting things.

GB is super easy to use. But that's basically it's best selling point. My $300 Macbook could not do multitrack recording in GB. It could not properly record keyboards or guitar without getting fussy. And if I tried to use more than just Garageband it would get the death Screen.

Not much point in having this great program if you can't even use the most important features it offers because it's too much for your computer to handle.

Yeah, I'm really crying about the switch to Windows.........:twisted:
 
#27 ·
If I had a BIOS based computer (non apple), I'd dual boot windows with some flavor of linux, like ubuntu studio and learn to use ardour. However, I really like logic pro X. Pro tools just seems to take over your computer. Avid products just suck, but the pros are stuck with them.

My 2008 mac pro's power supply just died after a power outage during a tropical storm. I'm going to miss it, even though it was a PITA because it was the computer equivalent of a sports car.The new quad core i7 finally caught up with the 6 year old dual Xeon processors in the mac pro. So, I've taken the three terabyte drives out of the pro and put them in a four drive external with a thunderbolt interface, and using them with my 2012 macbook pro. I'm waiting until the mac mini is refreshed in November to get one to replace the mac pro.(I hope they don't take out the firewire interface, because I use a focusrite saffire pro forty for my interface). Then I'll be able to use my dual monitor setup again.

The new Mac pro is just crazy expensive for what it is.
 
#29 ·
If I had a BIOS based computer (non apple), I'd dual boot windows with some flavor of linux, like ubuntu studio and learn to use ardour. However, I really like logic pro X. Pro tools just seems to take over your computer. Avid products just suck, but the pros are stuck with them.

The new Mac pro is just crazy expensive for what it is.
Many of you guys may also like to know that theres nothing stopping you duel booting Windoze and MAC OS. I do and have been for almost 3 years. best of both worlds indeed . Heres a link to the official Tonymacx86 site and how to do it. Also nothing to stop you having an extra boot partition specially for Linux if you really feel the need.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/basics/104542-im-new-everything-where-do-i-start.html

+ this too

http://www.tonymacx86.com/43-simplest-mac-os-x-installation-guide.html

Warning this can become an addictive hobby
 
#30 ·
I run Win7, Ubuntu Linux, Chrome, and Android 4 in emulation using parallels. I wouldn't need Windoze except that I'm tech coordinator at a public school these days. I'd probably use win7 more if I were a gamer.

I also have Unbuntu Studio, but unfortunately I have little time to do the things you have to do to make linux work with peripherals.
 
#32 ·
That`s why I stick to windows7 and Mac OS 10 both running native on Intel on my pretty old but well souped up Dell LOL. There are HW drivers and software for anything you could ever possibly require. I also play with various emulations such as Amiga OS and various game platforms.
 
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