I'm Just wondering how to make drum beats in garage band using the sounds it comes with? Also how can i use garage band like a drum machine which i can program an entire song part by part????

I just wanted to see if there was a way for me to use the drum sounds provided in garageband to create my own original drum tracks and work with it like a drum machine that i can program an entire song into

Creating your own drum tracks & loops will be a lot easier if you purchase an external midi controller. You can get either a keyboard controller, which is a special kind of electric piano that connects to your computer, or a drum pad (also called percussion controller), which is made especially for triggering drum sounds. In most cases, both types of controllers will connect to your computer via USB or Firewire, and Garageband should automatically detect them when they are connected and turned on.

Here's a quick guide to keyboard controllers: http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/keyboards/keyboard-controllers/buying-guide.php and here's a list of different keyboard controllers::
http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/keyboards/keyboard-controllers/ and here's a list of percussion controllers: http://www.sweetwater.com/c645--Percussion_Controllers

Also check your local audio store (Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc) and try out some different controllers in person to get a feel for which one is best for you.

I personally own an MAudio Oxygen 8 and 61es. Both have worked seamlessly with Garageband versions 5 and 6.

Ah ok, I have a better idea of what you want to do now.

Unfortunately there isn't anything inside GB that can come anywhere close to Acoustica Beatcraft, but there are two tools inside Garageband that can help you do something similar.

First are the built-in keyboards, which will enable you to trigger drum samples with your computer keyboard or mouse. Go to Window -> Keyboard or Window -> Musical Typing. Click with your mouse on the Keyboard or press keys on your computer keyboard with Musical Typing, and you will trigger different drum samples for whatever kit you've chosen for that software track.

Next is the Track Editor: in Piano Roll mode, you can create and see midi notes somewhat similar to the view in this screenshot from AB. On the left side of the Editor, you will see a sideways piano keyboard. When you assign a drum kit to a software track, each of the piano keys corresponds to a different instrument: hi hat, snare, bass drum, etc---you'll have to play them using the on-screen keyboard or musical typing to see what they correspond to. In order to add a MIDI note you hold the CMD button and click with the mouse.

So, if you wanted to add a closed hi-hat hit, you would CMD-click on the Track Editor row corresponding to the closed hi-hat piano key, and then you can drag the MIDI note left & right to change the beat it plays on, or resize the note, which will change its duration.

Or, as you've already observed, you can use Musical Typing to play out a pattern on your computer keyboard while recording, and you will see the midi notes appear in real time in the Track Editor.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions.

StartingLast wrote:

Is that the only way?? I'm used to using a drum machine program which you set the tempt and the measures and basically click the drum sounds on and off on each beat. The program I'm used to using is only for PC though it's called Acoustica Beatcraft. I'm realt just looking for something similar to this or how garage band can be used to make drum patterns in this type of way rather than playing the drums off of a midi pad or keyboard.

Outside of creating beats with loops (which Garageband is very good at, and you can get the Rhythm Section JamPack from Apple for extra sounds and loops or get loops from other sources), Garageband isn't that great for creating beats from scratch. You can do it, for example by triggering drum sounds with a MIDI controller, quantizing and looping them or adding them note by note using the following instructions:

http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/FAQPages/CreateMIDIRegion.html

However, that doesn't really sound what you're looking for. To do what you want to do, you'd probably want to get some sort of 3rd party virtual drum machine.

For examples..

iDrum is one of the cheapest and a number of Garageband users seem to use it. Personally I'm not a big fan of iDrum, but perhaps you might like it.

EZdrummer is another one, worlds better, but also more expensive.

Glad it's helpful.

To the list of 3rd party drum software, I'd add another to consider: Addictive Drums.

As far as the Yamaha goes as a controller, I'm guessing it should work. With a lot of this stuff, you often have to just plug it in and see how it works.

If there's some issues, two things that come to mind to fix them would be:

1) sometimes drum kits default to MIDI channel 10. If this is the case with the Yamaha, try changing it to MIDI channel 1, which is what GB prefers to see; and

2) If you're still having weirdness in terms of drum pads triggering the wrong sounds, you could try using MIDI mapping software like MidiPipe to remap the notes:

http://web.mac.com/nicowald/SubtleSoft/MidiPipe.html

Good luck!