Why Doesn't Midi Instrument Hit on the Beat?

Let's say you've quantized your MIDI instrument such as violin synth or bass synth.
That is, you've selected notes, gone into the GarageBand SCORE region, and selected
Auto Align to
for all the quarter and eight notes.... but the instrument sometimes still is not "hitting" on Count 1 of the measure. Why not? How do you fix this?
There's a huge chance that your MIDI notes are too long.
1. Go into the Piano Roll view of the notation section.
2. Look at MIDI notes near the end of each measure. Are some of them so long that they cross into the next measure?
3. If so, it's an easy fix: Just shorten the long notes so they don't cross the measure bar.
NOTE: This doesn't matter so much for other counts. The ear doesn't really notice those so much.
REASON for the problem: The last MIDI note of a measure will usually continue to be heard if it extends into the next measure... and the note which you had quantized for count 1 of the next measure often can't be heard in time.
Much peace to you in the regular beats....
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Updated version published 20 April 2018

Easy Flute and Sax Synth Hints

Synth flute and sax played on a keyboard (controller) obviously will not sound "real" to flute and sax players... but these easy hints help you get closer.
1. Remember that wind instrument players have to breathe!
Deliberately add breaks, even if they're short. Think of where *you* would have to breathe if you were actually playing the instrument. Logical places for songs with words are at the ends of sentences or phrases.
2. Don't accidentally create di-tones or chords.
That is, go into the "Piano Roll" (notation) section and ensure that the MIDI notes barely touch into each other. You don't want 2 or 3 MIDI notes in the same space for wind synth instruments. In fact, staccato (very short MIDI notes) such as for flute especially gives a playful or joyful sound. (Actual violins are played with one note blending more into the other, so the MIDI notes can overlap a little... not too much.)
If you look at the MIDI notes and see overlap,
you can often do a better edit shortening those notes if your first go to CONTROL (in GarageBand) and turn OFF "Snap to Grid". That enables you to have quarter notes that smoothly extend a bit into the next quarter notes but without the di-tone of 2 full notes being played simultaneously.
3. If there's a "muddy" sound or the meter is running 'hot,'
even after you shortened the note lengths, check (in GB) the "brighteness" of the green MIDI note to see if you accidentally played some notes louder than others. If so, select those notes, go to Velocity, and lower the volume number.
4. "Quantize" notes easily (so they hit on the metronome count):
a. In the SCORE section, highlight one note, go to Edit > Select All.
b. Go to Align To (under the Piano Roll button) and select 1/8 Note.
That gives a quick quantizing.
c. Then in the SCORE section, highlight all actual 1/4 notes PLUS the first note of a pair of 1/8th notes. Go to Align To and select 1/4 note.
d. Check the MIDI section... for faster music, some of the notes will be one above the other after quantizing. Turn ON "Snap To Grid" and then slide the 2nd note over to be in its place.
Much Joy to you experimenting with "playing" wind instruments more realistically!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

An updated version published 17 April 2018.

Out-of-Phase Drum Loops in GarageBand

Here's a fun experiment to create a "thick" grungy sound for different drum mood:
1. Create a standard MIDI drum loop, anything you like. Not TOO busy is best while experimenting. The "out of phase" will add a lot of double-hits.
2. Copy as many loops as you like; then ensure the first region begins at the very first count. (Just drag the front to count 1, adding empty space in the region, if needed.)
3. Go to Track >Duplicate Track and create another drum track.
4. By now you've probably noticed that the "Duplicate Track" command in GarageBand doesn't do what the command does in some other programs... you get an empty track! So copy your populated drum regions onto the track.
5. Hit "home" to place the marker on the very first count.
6. Paste the copy of the drum track on the new 2nd track.
Here's where the fun comes!
7. IMPORTANT: Turn OFF Snap To Grid (under Control).
8. Open the region editor of the 2nd, duplicated drum track.
9. Grab the 2nd track and very slightly drag it about 1/16th or at most 1/8th of a count into the first measure.
The result? You get an "off kilter" or "out of phase" sound
when you play the drum tracks together. Add a grungy guitar and heavy bass to begin a power packed new song.
Much joy in Experimenting with Music!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

An updated version published 13 April 2018

SPLITTING GARAGEBAND PROBLEMS, Fix 2-3-4--

"Why won't that stupid track split right?" was my Aug 10 blog hint... this is "part 2." Let's say you've auto-aligned ("quantized") every note around where you want to split the track. (See August for hints there, too). Yet every time you try to split the track, you get a 1/32nd note or worse on one side of the split. It feels like the thing is bragging "eewww, you were SO close, tough luck!"
Here's how to "win" when GarageBand is stubborn.
1. Be sure you've selected Control > Snap to Grid. Then try again.
If that doesn't work?
2. Put the red place marker right on top of the note flag of the "after" measure. Somehow GB thinks the tiny bit of space in front means you want that space in the earlier region when you do the split.
If that doesn't work? Hey, I've tried a lot... usually something does!
3. If this is a PIANO track where you used the sustain pedal, then this is probably "The" hint for you:
When you quantize, you **must include the Ped. marks below the bottom staff.** Except perhaps to some music-purist, that really doesn't change the sound. But it (1) makes your printed score look more professional, and (2) cures a lot of track-splitting problems.
Finally -- and this is where you really "win" the battle:

If nothing else works,
go to the first chord in the measure that you want to be Measure 1 of the 2nd region after your split is done.
1. Again quantize all of that chord "just to be sure" -- including the Ped. mark if there.
2. Go to Control > Snap to Grid and be sure it is OFF.
3. Select all the notes in the chord. Be sure to catch all -- some piano notes are widespread in chords.
4. Go to Piano Roll in the Notation View. The selected notes are a different color.
5. Move the entire set of notes slightly to the right.
6. Do the split again, and check the Score view of the notation. There shouldn't be any 1/32nd notes ending Region 1 this time.
7. Re-select that chord. Auto-align to 1/4 notes (no matter what kind of notes they are or what your signature type is).
You should now have two neatly split tracks, despite GarageBand's challenges.
Much joy to you in winning the little battles of life and music! ©2018, 20111 DianaDee Osborne

FAST Synth Bass in GarageBand

If you've already recorded a piano track for your song in GarageBand -- and other programs -- here's a quick way to get a synth bass to fill in your sound until a bass player adds live bass. REMINDER: If you don't quantize the piano before these steps, you'll have double the work quantizing two tracks.
A. PREPARATION
1. Create a new track for bass.
2. Record one note, any note, to "populate" your track.
3. Extend the track to match the length of your piano track.
4. Delete your temporary note.
5. SKIP TO STEP 6 if your piano track contains only one region, since the next steps are easier if the piano is all in one track.Do Step 5 here if you have separate regions and want to keep them separate,
__5a. Select and join all piano regions.
__5b. Hit the home key to put the marker on Measure 1 Count 1.
__5c. Do steps 6 and 7 below. Do NOT do step 8 yet.
__5d. Choose Edit > Undo. Your copied notes are still on the clipboard.
__5e. SKIP TO STEP 8 (you've done 6 and 7)
6. Open the Notation view for the piano track, and select the bottom-most notes of the piano. Hit the home key to put the marker on Measure 1, Count 1.
7. Choose Edit > Copy.
8. Go into the Notation view for the new bass track. Hit your home key to put the marker on Measure 1, Count 1.
9. Choose Edit > Paste.
B. CREATING THE BASS.
Here's where the work comes in -- but it's quick and fun:
1. In some places, you will have picked up a double-note bass for a count. Go to these and delete one note, usually the higher note.
2. Piano has a wider range than bass. Ensure that no notes go below a low low B (13 steps below middle C) that can be played by 5- or 6-string basses. And, since it's bass, you probably don't want notes going too high into the sonic range of other instruments including guitars and flutes.
3. Turn the piano volume down some and the bass volume up. Then play the 2 tracks.
4. Adjust notes here and there to the sound you like.
HINT FOR FINDING PIANO CHORD'S ROOT (BASS) NOTE:
*If you're "stumped" and can't figure out what the bass note should be, it's easy to put the marker on the measure in question, then go into the piano track to look at the chord for that measure. If there are 3 or more half-steps between the two bottom piano notes, this is the guitar equivalent of a slash chord. The root is the bottom one with no space above, usually.
C. POLISHING THE BASS SOUND
Piano tends to be "busier" than bass. You can optionally go into the bass track to polish the final sound:
1. For measures that copied in multiple notes from the piano track, delete bass notes after count #1 and extend the remaining bass note to extend through the measure.
2. Bass doesn't *have* to be the root note... it's your song. Use harmony notes if you like!
3. In some places the piano held a chord where a nice bass walkdown etc. would fill in....
Much FUN to you in adding depth to your life and music!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Updated version published 30 March 2011

Aligning Imported MP3's Easily in GarageBand

Have you ever dragged an MP3 file into your GB project to create a new track? That's a great way to add flute or "atmosphere" or other enhancements to an older version of one of your songs if you don't have a BAND file for it.

What often happens, though, is a struggle to make it align with your GB click track. Here are a couple of easy hints to try before you fret too much over the attempt:

1. First, you'll probably need some space in front of the MP3 track. So slide the track to the right to add at least one measure of room.
2. Turn OFF the Snap to Grid feature (under Control menu item).
3. Now play the metronome with the track and keep sliding the imported MP3 region until it's as close as possible to the first count of the music hitting the first count of GB's metronome (also under Control).

4. If it still is not quite "on" but you're having trouble hearing where count one comes in to match the MP3 and metronome, here's a cool hint:
--a-- Open the Notation View (the "snowflake" at the bottom left).
--b-- Click on the new MP3 track's NAME to select it. The WAV files of the MP3 will now be showing in the Notation view.
--c-- WithOUT the metronome on, play the MP3 track solo, and watch the peaks. After a bit of time, you should be able to hear the timing of the music's first counts and slide the track until the peak in the WAV file matches count 1,

This doesn't always work, but it usually does or gets you much closer before trying something else.

STEP 5 finally: You have to get rid of that space in front of the audio track if you want to clean up your project. There are two main ways:

(1) split the region on a count 1 just before the music starts, delete the unnecessary front region, and slide the 2nd region to the front of the track. Ensure that Count 1 of the track lands with Count 1 of the metronome... usually a bigger WAV peak there.

(2) Solo the audio track and send it to iTunes, bounce it, or whatever. Then bring back the now-filled-in full track with the extra front space into your project. Delete the old audio after you ensure everything is working right.
Much joy in expanding your music realms!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Updated Version published 23 March 2018.

Easy Counter-Melodies in GarageBand

One of the annoying features of GarageBand and some other software recording programs is that you can see the Notation View (the music notes on the staff) of only one track at a time. So if you want to add a synth bassline or a simple counter-melody in flute or sax, for example, you must either hope you've memorized the chord progression, or you must waste paper printing a multi-page music score you need for only a few minutes.

Easy fix:
1. Select by highlighting the track name of the track that is your main instrument (already recorded); for me it is usually grand Piano. In this case, if you select just a note within the notation view, this hint also works.
2. Select File > Print.... but don't print.
3. Click on Preview and then slide the preview window over to the side where you can see both it and the GarageBand main window.
4. Click on the new track where you want to record the counter-melody or bass (etc.) track, and begin recording, using the Preview window as your guide.

This is obviously a simple hint... but I printed out a fair number of sheets that I then discarded before I realized I could easily play from the Preview window.
Much joy in finding 'shortcuts' in music!
©2018, 2011 DianaDee Osborne

Updated version published  16 March 2018