Garage Band ’09 has world’s largest tuning fork

guitar-lesson

Hello Mac user. Have you upgraded to iLife ’09 yet?

Amidst the great reception of iPhoto ’09 and the woes for iWeb ’09 I must say that the biggest improvements to the suite are really with Garage Band ’09. If you play guitar for instance, the new version comes with a built in tuning fork! What it does: it uses your Mac’s internal mic as a tuning fork. I’m not exactly tone deaf but I have been training myself to find the perfect middle key of C to make tuning easier (actually it’s more like “E” since that’s the guitar’s 6th string). While you pluck each string, the computer detects if your key is in perfect pitch. You need to have a lot of relative quiet while doing this. In a noisy room – or depending how sensitive your mic is, you’re going to get wonk readings. But nonetheless, way cool!

The second feature I was excited to play around with was the artist tutorials. There’s nothing better than the Jonas Brothers teaching me how to play “We Got the Party.” There’s nothing better than having Sting teach me how to play Fragile for a mere six bucks.

When I launched it however, I was saddened to the nth degree:

artist-lessons-garage-band

Oh well, nothing for the Philippines yet. Nonetheless, Garage Band ’09 brings in a new dimension to creating music because it doesn’t just give you the tools to mix and create recordings, it teaches you how to do it Garage Band is moving from mere composition software to online music resource!

By Jayvee Fernandez

Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast, EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.

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