ICloud GarageBand everywhere. Tweak your tracks. On any device. ICloud allows you to keep your GarageBand sessions up to date across all your iOS devices. Using iCloud Drive, you can import song sketches to your Mac and take them even further, then share your finished piece on any of your devices.
To get started using Beat Sequencer, either create a new song or open an existing one. If you've created a new song, the Sound browser opens automatically. If you want to add Beat Sequencer to an existing song, tap to open the Sound browser.
In the sound browser, swipe until you see Drums, then tap Beat Sequencer.
Quickly add a beat to your song
In Beat Sequencer, tap , then choose the pre-designed pattern that best describes the style you want. The pattern plays back at the tempo you’ve set for your song, and loops depending on the length of the pattern. Each pre-designed pattern has unique settings, including the pattern length, which you can change.
To stop and start to the pattern, tap . If you want to add the pattern to your song, record the pattern.
You can change the pattern by turning steps on or off. Each row corresponds to an individual instrument in the drum kit, which is shown along the left of the grid. To turn off a step in the pattern, tap a lit step in the grid. To turn a step on, tap an unlit step.
You can also change the sounds in the pattern. To change the entire kit, tap button at the bottom of the screen that shows the currently selected kit (such as Trap Door or Hacienda). In the Drums window, select the style of sounds from the left column and the individual kit from the right column. To download additional sounds, tap 'Get more drum kits,' then select the sounds you’re interested in from the Sound Library. When you’ve found the kit you want, tap Done.
Build your own beat
If you want to build your own beat from scratch, tap the , then choose New Pattern. Tap Step/On Off to add and remove steps. You can add and remove steps while Beat Sequencer is playing back or idle.
After you’ve added steps, you can edit each individual step:
- To change the volume of a step, tap Velocity. Slide your finger down on the step to decrease the volume, and slide up to increase the volume.
- To slice an individual step into multiple steps, tap Note Repeat. Slide your finger upwards to increase the number of slices, and down to decrease the number of slices.
- To add human-like variation to a step, tap Chance. Then, slide your finger down to increase the variation of the step.
If you want to edit an entire row’s settings, tap an instrument along the left side of the grid.
- To change an individual kit piece, tap Kit Piece in the Row Settings window, then tap the piece you want assigned to that row. That row now plays back the newly assigned kit piece.
- To change the length of each step in the row, tap Step Length, then select a length.
- To change the direction Beat Sequencer plays back that instrument in the pattern, tap Playback Mode, then choose an option.
When you've created your beat, you can save it as a pattern. Tap , then tap Save. Enter a name for the pattern, then tap Done. You can recall that pattern and add it to different songs.
When you're ready to add the pattern to a song, record the pattern.
Record the pattern
How To Add Drum Kits To Garageband Machine
To record the pattern to your song, tap in the control bar. Beat Sequencer starts automatically. The pattern plays back in a loop until you stop recording. When you’re finished recording the pattern, tap Tracks view button to view the recorded track. Tap in the control bar to hear the pattern in the context of your other tracks.
After you’ve recorded the pattern, you can edit and adjust the track as you would any other instrument track.
Drum Kits Download
View and Change Pattern Settings
Beat Sequencer uses steps to determine the length of a particular pattern. If your song is in 4/4 time, you can set the pattern length between 16 and 64 steps. If your song’s in 3/4 or 6/8 time, you can set the pattern length between 12 and 48 steps. You can also manually change the loop length of each individual kit piece by tapping the Loop Start/End button, then dragging the handle each row.
To view information and change settings for the current pattern, tap.
- Set length of pattern (16, 32, 48 or 64 steps in 4/4 time, and 12, 24, and 48 steps in 3/4 and 6/8 time)
- Set the step length (1/8, 1/8t, 1/16, 1/6t, 1/32)
- Set the Playback Mode (Forward, Reverse, Ping Pong, Random)
- Set the amount of swing in the pattern
- Reset the pattern. If you started with a blank pattern, tapping Reset clears the grid.
You can connect real instruments, such as electric keyboards and guitars to your Mac for use in GarageBand. Using real instruments with GarageBand produces not only better sound, but realistic practice, as you finger the actual instrument and not an on-screen keyboard/string set.
You can connect a real MIDI keyboard through a USB cable (on most newer gear) or a MIDI adapter (on older equipment). You can connect other MIDI instruments, including guitars, woodwinds, and drums, and record onto a real instrument track in GarageBand. Click the red Record button when you’re ready to rock. Move the playhead to just before where you want to start jamming.
MIDI is geek shorthand for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a standard that has been around for years.
If the high-quality instrument you have in mind is your own singing voice, connect a microphone (in lieu of the Mac’s built-in microphone) to an audio input port on the computer.
Open System Preferences, click Sound, click Input, and then select Line In. Drag the Input volume slider to an appropriate level. Choose Vocals and the instrument that most closely matches your singing style, such as Epic Diva, Helium Breath, or Megaphone. Garage Band will tailor the effects to your voice.
Don’t worry if you don’t know how to characterize your singing voice; one of your other options is No Effects.
Good microphones are also useful when you’re recording podcasts. If you choose to use a microphone not for singing but for recording your speaking voice, set the option to No Effects (unless you’re going for a comedic effect).
To add the instrument to a recording, click the Create a New Track (+) button, choose Track→New Track, then select Real Instrument and click Create.
How To Add Drum Kits To Garageband
Choose an input source (stereo or mono), depending on how the instrument is connected to the Mac. Select Monitor from the pop-up menu to be able to hear the instrument as you play it, with or without feedback.