Is Garageband A Good Program?

[Robotronic94]

I've been arguing about this for a little while with my younger brother.

He claims that Garageband is just as good as any other music program, yet he has only ever used Garageband.

I disagree and say that Garageband isn't really a substitute for real music programs, such as FL Studio, which I have used, as well as having used Garageband. I believe there really is no comparison between the two, FL Studio is just far superior.

Is there any truth to my brother's argument? If not, how can I get him to see my point of view?

[theGodspeed]

There's a big difference between what he LIKES better and actually having a better program. I personally use Pro Tools, which is the industry standard. if doesn't agree with majority of the music producers in the world... then I don't know what to tell you.

[loansindi]

At 4/15/12 08:49 PM, Robotronic94 wrote: Is there any truth to my brother's argument?

I'm not really familiar with garage band, but it looks to be relatively full-featured, and I bet someone with decent abilities could easily produce a professional track with it.

If not, how can I get him to see my point of view?

Who cares? There's a decent chance your brother couldn't make better music with FL studio or Pro Tools, so what's the point of arguing with him?

[ma-d]

Isnt Garageband just the shite free version of Logic? :P

Answering his question directly. Garageband is not as good as alot of other software out there, but i guess its upside is that its free... Also, if he is never going to push the limits of garageband, he wont notice any difference, and probably wont get past a certain level of creating music.

Having said that, Burial uses Soundforge (which as far as im aware isnt the most cutting edge software for creating music), and he is probably one of the best artists around currently...

[Rampant]

At 4/15/12 09:00 PM, theGodspeed wrote: There's a big difference between what he LIKES better and actually having a better program. I personally use Pro Tools, which is the industry standard. if doesn't agree with majority of the music producers in the world... then I don't know what to tell you.

Depends on what you mean by 'industry standard' ;) For recording? Pro Tools is definitely the standard; you'll find it in 99% of all studios. But for orchestration, it's definitely not a standard: Logic Pro and Digital Performer 7 are both quite popular with working composers.

Besides, I would argue that there is no "better program." If you're a shit composer, having Logic Pro won't make you any less shit than using GarageBand.

Case-in-point:
This was written with Logic Pro (opening) and Finale.
This was written solely in Finale.
This was written solely in GarageBand.

If I hadn't told you that, would you even have guessed they were composed in different programs?

So, my point, OP, is that you know how to utilize one piece of software, and you can work efficiently with it, there's no reason why you shouldn't use it. People like to be elitist: their software is obviously the best, just like their iPhone is better than any other phone, and their computer is the industry standard.

Although, the iPhone is better than any other phone. Just sayin'. :P