Monday, June 30, 2008

How to Use GarageBand


Creating a Track

Step1
Open Garage Band and choose to create a new music project. Save it to your computer immediately. The project will open with one Software Instrument track set to a Grand Piano.
Step2
Add a musical track by selecting "New Track" in the Track menu. Select "Delete Track" if you want to remove a track, like the one that was there at the beginning.
Step3
Choose whether you want the track to be for software instruments or real instruments. Software instruments include those within Garage Band or directly connected to the computer. Real instruments are those recorded through a microphone.
Step4
Connect a microphone to the computer if you are using a real instrument track. Your computer may have a built-in microphone. If you do, the sound levels on the track's mixer will move when you speak.
Step5
Connect your instrument(s) to the computer or select Garage Band instruments if you are using a software instrument track. The list of instruments is on the Track Info window to the right of the screen.

Recording

Step1
Prepare a track for recording by clicking the circular button on the track's button panel. The horn button mutes the track, the headphones mute the other tracks, the padlock prevents editing and the arrow opens the track automation.
Step2
Click the circular button at the bottom of the Garage Band window to begin recording. The playback button will come on at the same time. Click the playback button to stop recording.
Step3
Use the playback button (the single forward arrow) to hear your recorded track. The double forward arrow moves the cursor up one measure, the double backwards arrow moves it back, and the backwards arrow with a line takes it to the beginning.
Step4
Open the Track Editor by clicking the scissors button. Drag the cursor when it looks like a cross to highlight the part of the track you want to edit.
Step5
Go to the Edit list to select the editing options you want, whether it's cutting, copying or splitting that track section. You can move the track across the measures when the cursor is two arrows and paste a copied track to an open space.
Step6
Copy your project to your iTunes program by going to "Send Project to iTunes" in the Share list. You will be given a choice of making it an MP3 file or an AAC file as well as choosing the quality.

Viewing Web Video & Digital Photos



PicLens allows you to turn your browser into a full-screen 3D viewing experience for online photos and videos. It works with Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari… and can be used on both OS X and Windows.

Using PicLens, you can easily browse through any number of videos or pictures. When you’re done looking at one, you can resume browsing until you find the next thing you’re interested in. You can also search for specific things, instead of by user accounts. You can, for instance, search for every photo with the tag of Dog that is found on Flickr.

You can also do Web searches! You can search for things on Amazon and even Google using PicLens. Clicking on the “Discover” tab lets you discover many new things. You can choose to read the latest news, watch movie trailers, and even learn about something new.

Unique "Free" Software


You’ve likely seen hundreds, if not thousands, of “top 10″ lists of Mac OS X freeware floating around. Everybody seems recommend the same titles, which doesn’t make it easier for you to discover equally free, unique software. Popular titles are usually popular for a reason: they’re good. But obscure binaries can be just as nice to use.

  1. MacOSaiX: From a source image, create mosaics easily with image searches from Google, Flickr, etc.
  2. CosmicPainter: Spin art for your desktop (without the clean-up). Export still images and movie compositions, too!
  3. QT Sync: Correct audio / video sync, ratio issues on-the-fly.
  4. Sloth: There’s no easier way of discovering which files are open on your system at any given time (like, to the geekieth degree).
  5. Tunatic: Identify a song simply by playing a sample of it into your microphone. Also available for Windows!
  6. Bricksmith: Virtual Lego modeling. Try it, if only for the minifigure generator!
  7. Mario Paint Composer: Eat your heart out, GarageBand. Also available for Windows!
  8. RGB MusicLab: What does an image sound like? Find out by importing pixels and exporting sound bytes with the least amount of fuss and maximum amount of customization. Also available for Windows!

Not quite a list of 10 unique apps, but I’ve struggled to find items that aren’t listed “everywhere” else. Do you have any suggestions for me? Like, truly suggesting programs that “nobody” has heard about before?