We discussed Garageband in class. I found it funny that Garageband was thought to potentially hamper creativity because of how easy it is to put together a piece of music using loops. You can only do so much with loops by themselves. They can be used to base a song around or add to a song, but anything past that is limiting. You can also use manually enter notes for midi instruments. That takes and understanding of music theory (either formally or instinctively) and is basically playing an instrument or at least arranging one. I would compare it to writing a piece of music but not necessarily being able to play the instruments. If you understand music theory you can in theory write down the notes that should be played for each instrument and it should work when all played together.

Loops and midi can’t compare to the real thing yet. I’m sure in the future the customizations and options will expand to the point where it authentic and is impossible to differentiate from the real thing. I know Nord keyboards can simulate the harmonics caused by tapping the keys on a real piano, and it can simulate the sound of pretty much any piano.

I’m not very happy with direct input and using Garageband or LogicPro amp simulators and pedals. I can’t dial in a sound comparable to my amp settings at all. Although midi and loops will eventually be able to simulate my amp, I think it’ll take too much work. It’s much easier to just place a mic in front of my amp, instead of spending hours trying to immitate the sound with a multitude of settings.

A lot of people have turned to programming drums in the industry and in the home. It’s cleaner, and easier than recording a full kit. I think drums are the hardest instrument to record properly. I’ve recorded in a studio where the engineer couldn’t give us a sound we liked (more that he didn’t know exactly what he was doing).

So as far as loops/midi vs real instruments, there are practical applications for both. But when it comes to guitar, you can program your amp settings if you want that standard gross tone.

The other thing I found very interesting in class were the origins of the loops. We don’t know who wrote and played the loops found in Garageband, but now anyone can take them, make a song, and take home all the profits from it.

This doesn’t bother me too much because like I said above, a loop isn’t going to make up the entirety of a song. A few seconds of loop might inspire a new song, or be a finishing touch to one, but anything made entirely of Garageband loops isn’t going to playing on your radio station anytime soon. If it does, than that person is a genius.

What did concern me about loops were their names. Apple decided to use racially rooted names for the loops. Sadly I am able to identify what the loop is going to sound like because of the name. Is that a problem continued/caused by Apple? The music industry? Society at large?

Should “World beat” be a term? Does that instill a sense of racism? Should it instead be “African folk beat”? Even then is that too general? Should it be specific to a country/tribe? Is the questioning of the term “World beat” just an overreaction due to the social outcries of 2015? Has the meaning of racist connotations of yesterday been transformed because of the context of today? Nobody seems to be upset that VW is a car designed specifically for the Aryan race. I would say nobody is really upset over the term “World beat”. Even if it does strike me as racist, I’m not going to lose sleep over the name of loop in Garageband.