Garage Band Instruments

What kind of instruments are you talking about? You shouldn't have to copy anything ...

I have had the Boldt instruments for a while, and I don't think I had to copy them when upgrading from GB 4 to GB 5. The instruments are in the same folder anyway. So what did you copy where??

So you have to specify what you did when you "copied them". Software instruments are a bit tricky, they sit in three places: the audio samples themselves, the sampler file, and the track settings that GB reads. If any of them is missing, the instrument won't work.

I think re-installing the instruments is a lot easier than sorting out all these files.

Glad I could help!

Christoph Drösser wrote:
So you have to specify what you did when you "copied them". Software instruments are a bit tricky, they sit in three places: the audio samples themselves, the sampler file, and the track settings that GB reads. If any of them is missing, the instrument won't work.

I think re-installing the instruments is a lot easier than sorting out all these files.

Christoph, I have pretty much the same issue. I've downloaded & thought I installed a good number of software instruments, yet not all show up in GB, & I'm very confused as to where they should actually be. When you said to "re-install the instruments", how exactly is that done?
It's been very frustrating having so limited a selection of instruments, especially since I know I have a lot of them on my computer, thanks

When you said to "re-install the instruments", how exactly is that done?

Depends - if they're free or shareware and you don't have the original installers any more, just download them again. For commercial instruments, it depends on the deal you have with the vendor.

As I said earlier, the different files that you need are scattered around the Instrument Library (in Application Support/GarageBand). You might want to check whether you see the pattern when you look for other instruments that are installed - otherwise you probably better keep your hands off that library, it's not really meant to be messed with manually!

Christoph Drösser wrote:

When you said to "re-install the instruments", how exactly is that done?

As I said earlier, the different files that you need are scattered around the Instrument Library (in Application Support/GarageBand). You might want to check whether you see the pattern when you look for other instruments that are installed - otherwise you probably better keep your hands off that library, it's not really meant to be messed with manually!

OK, In App. Support/Garageband in the "main" (not user) Library, under Instrument Library, under Plug-In Settings, there are various instrument & efx folders with .pst files in them. Then in Sampler Files are more instruments, as .wav or .aiff files, & in Sampler Instruments are more instruments as .exs files. That's all good, but in the Apple Loops folder, there's nothing at all, nada, not one.

Then in the User Library, in App. Support/Garageband there is nothing under Instrument Library except a couple efx settings I had saved, in editing a couple instruments. Why are these folders here, if there's nothing in them? And where are all my Apple Loops? I'll check.
OK, I found them under Library/Audio/Apple Loops, while in my User/Library/Audio/Apple Loops are nothing but empty folders.

Why the double listings, even though the user files are all empty? Why does it still seem like only a fraction of the many instruments I have, as shown in the folders, in Garageband, when I open it? Needless to say, I'm quite confused about this..

Yeah, it actually sounds confusing - or confused. Are you talking about loops or instruments - two completely different things! And the reason there are corresponding folders in the general Library and the user Library is that GB allows it to have loops and instruments that either everybody can use or that are restricted to one user (e.g., by default your individual instrument settings will be saved there).

So before you mess with any of these folders, make sure you know what you are dealing with!

Christoph Drösser wrote:
Yeah, it actually sounds confusing - or confused. Are you talking about loops or instruments - two completely different things! And the reason there are corresponding folders in the general Library and the user Library is that GB allows it to have loops and instruments that either everybody can use or that are restricted to one user (e.g., by default your individual instrument settings will be saved there).

So before you mess with any of these folders, make sure you know what you are dealing with!

I never took things out of one folder & into another, cause I don't know what I'm dealing with. I just know there are many more instruments in the folders, than what show up when Garageband is open, and I'd like to find out why this is, & more importantly, how can I get them into play.