Garageband is a digital audio Workstation created by Apple and is available on Mac OSX.
It is the simpler version of Logic Pro.
Garageband supports the plugin format AU, VST, VST 2 and VST 3.
VST stands for Virtual Studio technology and is a common format utilized by a variety of Digital Audio Workstations like FL Studio.
AU stands for Audio Units and is developed by Avid to run only on MAC OSX systems.
It has similar functionality to VST but is only exclusive to software developed
to run on Apple platforms.
Both these formats discussed here are good and can be utilized according to
the operating system you have.
VST to VST 3
VST 3 is the latest version of the VST format and has been suitably built to
improve the overall functionality of the format.
some improvements are:
1. One of the best improvements is that VST 3 only applies processing when
there is an audio signal present which is great because it reduces the weight
on the computers CPU, which allows for improved performance.
2. VST 3 allows you to route audio signals through your instruments and not just midi signals.
This purpose gives you endless human voice possibilities and even more
endless possibilities because you can actually run audio through your instruments.
3. VST 3 plugins are surround capable, this may be helpful those that switch
between 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround sound.
4. VST 3 allows for multiple midi inputs.
5. VST3 has a much higher capability for event handling.
Which is better AU or VST3?
VST is better because it is a much flexible plugin format compatibility-wise.
therefore if you’re using a DAW that supports both AU and VST,
using VST can be more efficient because you can easily migrate to Windows.
Furthermore, collaboration would be easier with someone using a Windows system.
What plugins come with Garageband?
Instruments
Garageband comes with a variety of plugins which are in 15 categories.
This instruments include, bass, orchestral, electronic drum kit, vintage b3
organ, vintage mellotron, world, arpeggiator, guitar, mallet, drumkit, vintage
piano, vintage clav and synthesizer.
each category has a variety of instruments within it.
Plugins
There exist 12 categories of effects plugins with a variety of sub categories.
Amps and pedals, Distortion, Delay, EQ, Dynamics, Filted, Imaging,
Modulation, Pitch, Reverb, Utility and Specialised are the main categories.
Amps and Pedals – Amp designer, bass amp designer and pedal board.
The amp designer consists of 26 models, 26 amps and 26 cabinets.
The amp designer is quite solid.
4 different modes exist for the bass amp designer.
The pedal board comes with 36 varied effects and it is pretty much stocked
with everything that one would need to play guitar including wah, overdrive,
a whammy pedal, delay, chorus etc..
It basically has every physical amp that you would go into a store to look for and purchase.
The downside is that the effects in pedal board are not high quality and
would not be a good replacement for actual pedals that you would buy.
But these amps are sufficient when used the right way.
Delay
Consists of Delay Designer, Echo, sample delay, stereo delay and tape delay.
Distortion
Consists of Clip distortion, distortion, bitcrusher, distortion II, over drive and phase distortion.
Dynamics
Consists of compressor, de esser, envelope, limiter, noise gate and the multi pressor.
EQ
Consists of Channel EQ and Single Band EQ.
Filter
Consists of AutoFilter, Filterbank, Fuzz-Wah, and the Spectral Gate.
Imaging
Consists of Direction Mixer, and the Stereo Spread.
Modulation
Chorus, Ensemble, Flanger, Microphaser, Modulation Delay, Phaser,
Ringshifter, Rotor Cabinet, Scanner Vibrato, Spreader, Tremolo.
Pitcher
Consists of Pitch Shifter, Vocal Transformer
Reverb
Consists of EnVerb, PlatinumVerb, SilverVerb, Space Designer
Specialized
Consists of Exciter and Sub-Bass
Utility
Gain.
Audio Units
This includes a variety of dynamics tools, including AUBandpass, AUDelay,
AUDistortion, AUDynamicsProcessor, AUFilter, AUGraphicEQ,
AUHighShelfFilter, AUHighpass, AULowpass, AULowShelfFilter,
AUMatrixReverb, AUMultibandCompressor, AUNBandEQ,
AUMultibandCompressor, AUNBandEQ, AUNetSend, AUNewPitch,
AUParametricEQ, AUPeakLimiter, AUPitch, AUReverb2, AURogerBeep,
AURoundTripAAC, AUSampleDelay.
Related Articles
Does GarageBand Use AU Or VST? – MusConv
Use Audio Units plug-ins with GarageBand on Mac – Apple Support
Is GarageBand Good For Making Music?
