| Many of GarageBand's built-in sounds are samples ”brief recordings of actual instruments. That's why the grand piano sounds so realistic: because it is a grand piano (a $50,000 Yamaha, to be exact). But behind the scenes, GarageBand's sounds have been programmed to respond to various impulses beyond just pressing the keys. They can change their sounds depending on what other MIDI information GarageBand receives from your keyboard. For example: -
Sustain pedal . If you have a sustain or damper pedal, you can ride it with your foot just as you would on a piano. (It's designed to hold a note or a chord even after your hands have released the keys.) Almost any MIDI keyboard ”including the $100 M-Audio Keystation ”has a jack on the back for a sustain pedal, which costs about $15 from online music stores like www.samash.com. -
Key velocity . As noted earlier in this chapter, a number of GarageBand sounds respond to key velocity (that is, how hard you strike the keys). Most of the instrument sounds just play louder as you hit the keys harder, but some actually change in character. Acoustic guitars feature a little fingerboard slide; clavichords get more of a "wah" sound; Wah Horns also "wah" more; and many of the synthesizer keyboard sounds sound "rounder" as you hit the keys harder.  | Figure 4-9. On the M-Audio MIDI controller keyboards that Apple sells, two control wheels liven up the MIDI proceedings . The pitch-bend wheel actually bends the note's pitch. Just turn the wheel either before or after striking the note, depending on the effect you want. The modulation wheel, meanwhile, either produces sound-changing effects or does nothing, depending on the GarageBand sound you've selected. | |
Using the correct technical language, you would say that these instruments are velocity-sensitive. -
Pitch and mod wheels . Some keyboards, including that $100 M-Audio controller that Apple sells, have one or two control wheels that also affect GarageBand's sounds (Figure 4-9). For example, a pitch-bend wheel makes a note's pitch slide up or down while you're still pressing the key. It's an essential tool for anyone who wants to make brass or wind instruments sound more realistic, since those instruments are capable of sliding seamlessly from pitch to pitch ”something a keyboard, with its series of fixed-pitch keys, can't ordinarily do. You can use the pitch-bend wheel in either of two ways. First, turn the wheel downward, for example, and hold it (it's spring-loaded). Then, play the key you want ”and simultaneously release the key. What you hear is a slide up to the desired note. Second, you can strike the key first and then turn the wheel, or even wiggle the wheel up and down. The sound winds up wiggling or bending away from the original note, which is a common technique when you're trying to simulate, for example, the bending notes of a blues harmonica.
Tip: You can hear these effects in the sample file called 04-Control Wheels. It's on the GarageBand Examples CD described on Section 1.5.
The pitch-bend wheel affects all GarageBand sounds. -
Your keyboard may also have a mod wheel , short for modulation wheel. It's an all-purpose control wheel that produces different effects in different sounds. Here are some of the effects it has on GarageBand's built-in sounds: Table 4-1. | Instrument Name | Mod-Wheel Effect | | Bass instruments | Brightens the sound | | Choir sounds | Vibrato | | Drum kits | No effect | | Guitars | Vibrato | | Most horns | Vibrato | | Funk horns | "Fall-off" (slide down) at end of note | | Mallets | Vibrato | | Most organs | No effect | | Vocoder Synth Organ | Searing distortion | | Most pianos | No effect | | Strings | Vibrato | | Most Synth Basics | Vibrato | | Star Sweeper | "Sweeps" the sound's phase | | Synth Leads | Vibrato | | Most Synth Pads | No effect or vibrato | | Angelic Organ | "Clicks" through the sound | | Aquatic Sunbeam | "Sweeps" the sound's phase | | Electric Slumber | "Sweeps" the sound's phase | | Liquid Oxygen | "Clicks" through the sound | | Tranquil Horizon | "Sweeps" the sound's phase | | Woodwinds | Vibrato |
Note: Vibrato is the gentle wavering of pitch that's characteristic of most professional instrumental soloists and singers. (Real-world pianos and drum sets can't produce vibrato, which is why GarageBand's corresponding sounds don't react to the mod wheel.)
If you've bought the Symphony Orchestra Jam Pack, you'll find an even more amazing range of effects lurking in the mod wheel. The violins and other stringed instruments, for example, play normally (legato) when the wheel is at rest. But as you turn the wheel more and more, the articulation (playing style) changes from staccato (short notes), to tremolo (rapid, back-and-forth bow strokes), to rapid half-step trills, then whole-step trills, and finally ”at the top of the mod wheel's rotation ” pizzicato (plucked strings). Woodwinds, brass, and timpani playing styles are similarly affected ”for example, turning the mod wheel halfway makes the oboe play with vibrato, the horns swell into a crescendo, and the timpani (kettledrums) play with a thunderous roll. Learning to use your mod wheel can add a great deal of beauty, realism , and grace to your GarageBand recordings. Remember that you don't have to turn it all the way up; you can turn the wheel only part way for a more subtle effect. Remember, too, that the mod wheel is usually most effective when you turn it after the note has begun sounding. It's the contrast of the mod wheel (versus the unaffected note) that produces the best effect. |
