Tips

Software and Real Instrument loops

Real Instrument loops use real, recorded audio and appear in blue. Software Instrument loops appear in green and use a technology called Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). MIDI contains information about which notes are played and the instrument used to play them—a MIDI file is kind of a like a player piano roll. You can change the pitch and tempo of both kinds of loops, but you can make even more modifications to Software Instrument loops. For example, you can change the instrument on a Software Instrument loop from a piano to a guitar, and even add or delete notes.

Search for specific loops

You can use the search field at the bottom of the loop browser to search for specific loops. For example, if you enter "80" in the search field, you’ll find the 80s loops in all categories.

Resize the loop browser to see more categories

In button view, you can drag the border area above the loop browser upward to show more category buttons.

View only loops that fit with your song

You can set the loop browser to display only loops that match the scale of your song. For example, from the Scale pop-up menu at the bottom of the loops browser you can choose to display only loops that work with minor keys.

Set the loops you use most as Favorites

Once you get into using the GarageBand loops you’ll find you like some more than others. You can set these as Favorites so they are easy to find. Just select a loop you like in the loop browser, and then click its Fav checkbox at the far right of the loop browser. You can set as many loops as you’d like to be your favorites. You’ll find them all by clicking the Favorites button in the upper-left of the loop browser in button view. If you’re in column view, the Favorites category will appear in your list of loops.

Reorganize loops in button view

You can change the order of how the categories of loops appear in the loop browser. In button view, simply drag a button to another location and it will swap positions with the button you drag it to. This way you can place the buttons for the loops you like the most next to each other. If you want to reset the position of the buttons, just go to the GarageBand menu and choose Preferences. In the Loops tab, click the Reset button in the Keyword Layout section.

Arrange loops by Tempo, Key or Beats

If you want to view loops in ascending order of tempo, click the Tempo column heading in the right section of the loop browser to arrange them in order by tempo. You can organize by Key or Beats by clicking their headings.

Change loop settings

If you hold down the Control key while you click a loop button you can change its Genre, the Instruments that are included with it, or even its Descriptor, which appears as the button’s name.

Steps

Add a drum track to your first mix

1. In GarageBand, click the Loop Browser button to open the Loop Browser.
2. Click the All Drums category to show the available drum loops.
3. Click a drum loop to audition it.
4. When you find a loop you want to use, drag the loop to the timeline under the Grand Piano track. Notice that a new track is created with this loop.
5. Click the Play button in the track controls to play your loop.