Garageband and my magnetic wall

When we moved, Jeff and I had to give away our baby grand piano because there wasn't room for it in our new house. Someday we may buy an upright piano, but for now I've been doodling on my Roland JV-80 whenever I get the urge to tickle some ivories. It's not quite the same, but better than having no keyboard at all.

While playing around with Garageband last night, however, I discovered that there are two ways to play a virtual keyboard. One is via clicking with a mouse (not great for my tendons :-( )) but the other is by typing on the keyboard:



Although I may not be able to play complex pieces, this entry method will be handy for entering melodic lines on different tracks.

So far, I'm finding Garageband remarkably intuitive in terms of user interface. I've already typed in part of my new multi-voice chocolate song. In the old Urban Tapestry days, I'd have to record myself performing scratch tracks on Jeff's old four-track recorder in order to properly test whether multi-part compositions truly worked. I've found that something that may follow all the proper harmony/counterpoint rules still may not sound all that great in real life, nor may it suit everyone's voices.

Composing via Garageband should be much easier, I think. It also looks like it SHOULD be fairly straightforward to record, with the proper recording equipment. I am still missing some cords to hook everything up to my laptop and eventually need another microphone. Seanan's going to mail me the track from her recording project for which she'd like flute added, so I can start experimenting.

More comments re: composing and recording with Garageband in a future Blathering.

Today we're getting a new air conditioner. It looks like they may have to put several holes in my basement office wall to install it, including (possibly) the wall with the magnetic wall beside the door. You can see an early picture of the wall in right-hand side of the photo below, MUCH emptier than it is now:




If they do have to put a hole in the wall, I'll paint another one, of course, but I'm still hoping I won't have to.

Anyway, I'm fleeing my office while they're here and taking my laptop and Wacom artpad elsewhere, so may be offline much of the day. I love the fact that I can take my office with me, working on my writing and illustrating pretty normally. Heck, I could even compose a mini-symphony with just my laptop, if I felt like it, complete with different instruments and multi-tracking, while sitting in a coffeeshop! I'd better take headphones.

I love technology.

I'm not yet familiar with what local restaurants and coffeeshops have reliable power outlets yet (and ideally, Internet access)...I guess now's a good a time to find out as any.

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