GarageBand offers a selection of virtual guitar, bass, keyboards and drums that you play by tapping on the iPad’s screen. To make music that sounds any good, you’ll need to know how to play the real versions of these instruments.
Of all the touch instruments on offer, it’s perhaps the virtual keyboards that are the most practical. While the guitars and bass sound great, you still have to play them in a manner that’s not very realistic – it’s very much like tapping on a guitar neck that’s lying face up in your lap. However, with the keyboards you’re playing just as you’d play the real thing. The biggest limitation here is the number of keys that can fit on the screen, but there are controls to change octave that accommodate this. The virtual drum kits are also pretty similar to a real drum kit, so if you’re a drummer then you’ll have fun with them.
One nice feature that Apple has built in is pressure sensitivity; GarageBand cleverly uses the iPad’s accelerometer to guess at how hard you’re tapping the screen, and this affects the volume of the notes played on the piano, or the sound of a drum.
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