Aug 14, 2014 Love that on my iPad, I can easily play chords on the Smart Keyboard of GarageBand (since I don't know how to play chords otherwise), but I don't know how to get the Smart Keyboard on my Macbook Air - specifically, can someone tell me how to get the smart piano keyboard on my Air? One of GarageBand's finest features is its ability to act as a great mimic of real instruments. With a Mac and musical keyboard you've got an orchestra at your fingertips. Mar 25, 2020 GarageBand is Apple's application for creating, editing, and just plain having fun with music on your Mac. This free download from the Mac App Store works well with MIDI instruments, but if you don't have a MIDI keyboard, you can turn your Mac keyboard into a virtual musical instrument. Apr 24, 2011 Using Garageband: You could get a keyboard controller and plug it into the computer, and use GB's piano sounds. M-Audio makes decent keyboard controllers for the money. As someone with a piano background, you'd probably want to get one with a weighted keyboard. Or, you could just get a digital piano with built in speakers, an all-in-one,. The most useful style will always be a keyboard. There are quite a lot of different styles on the market however, making it a bit difficult to know which one is worth your time. Never fear, in the following, you’ll be provided with a basic breakdown that will help you pick the best midi keyboard for garageband for your personal needs.
By Malcolm Owen
Thursday, August 09, 2018, 07:18 am PT (10:18 am ET)
Want to add elements to a GarageBand composition by playing a piano, but don't have access to a MIDI keyboard? Save money on buying a new instrument by taking advantage of the built-in Musical Typing feature to turn your Mac's keyboard into an alternative keyboard. Thursday, August 09, 2018, 07:18 am PT (10:18 am ET)
For those getting started in music creation, GarageBand is a great tool to produce tracks, with a plethora of samples and ways to mould a composition to what you want. It is also quite flexible, capable of recording audio from microphones and plugged-in instruments, and accepting MIDI input from keyboards that can be used with the software's musical instruments.
While it is possible to select when notes should be played in a track with a mouse, some people prefer performing the musical element on a MIDI keyboard, with the notes recorded for later fine tuning. This is desirable, but since it requires a separate keyboard, this could be impractical for some users, such as those who cannot afford the extra equipment, or simply do not have the room for another peripheral.
As a solution, Apple included Musical Typing, which allows users to use their Mac's keyboard as a makeshift musical keyboard, assigning different keys to notes. This guide will explain how to get started with the feature.
Getting Started
Open GarageBand on your Mac. Either open an existing project or create a new project, which can be done by selecting New Project in the top left of the Choose a Project window, then Empty Project, then Choose.
If it is not already displayed, open up the Choose a Track Type window by clicking the small plus symbol above the track list. Select Software Instrument then Create.
This will create a new blank track in your project.
Once the track is created, select Window in the menu bar, then Show Musical Typing
![Mac garageband piano keyboard free Mac garageband piano keyboard free](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126887473/914132638.jpg)
At this point, you may also wish to change the instrument the keyboard will play. This can be done by selecting the instrument from the library on the left-hand side of GarageBand.
Using Musical Typing
The Musical Typing window shows a simplified and compact keyboard, with letters assigned to notes on a keyboard. The middle row of the keyboard (starting ASDF) corresponds to white keys, while the top letter row (starting QWERTY) relates to sharp and flat black keys.
![Piano Piano](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126887473/520909739.jpg)
Pressing a key will play the note for the duration the key is held down for, ending once the key is released. Pressing Tab will sustain the note, holding it while Tab is pressed, even if the relevant key for that note is released.
Other keys on the keyboard perform other actions and effects. For a start, pressing 1 or 2 while holding a note will alter the pitch up and down. Numbers 3 through to 8 alter the modulation of the note.
The C and V keys will alter the velocity of typed notes, namely how hard each note of the virtual instrument is being played. The higher the velocity, the louder and stronger the note.
The X and Z keys change the octave of the keyboard, making the available notes higher or lower. The on-screen keyboard shows which region of the full-size keyboard is being used, with users also able to change where they are playing by dragging the highlighted area left and right.
Any notes played while GarageBand is recording is saved to the project, and can be tweaked later, just like a MIDI keyboard's input.
Another Option
There is a second software keyboard available to use in GarageBand. In the Musical Typing window, select the piano icon in the top-left corner to switch to a representation of a piano keyboard. You can select the icon to the right to switch back to Musical Typing.
This second keyboard can be used to play with the mouse, by clicking individual notes. This may be useful for musicians who need to visualize a note's position on a piano keyboard, or to have a wider array of notes available to use.
There is a tradeoff with this mode, in that it doesn't actually use the Mac's keyboard to play notes, instead relying on single note clicking. By contrast, the Musical Typing allows for multiple notes to be played simultaneously, making it better for those used to playing chords.
Further Notes
While Musical Typing does disable many of the single-press keyboard shortcuts in GarageBand (such as selecting tracks and automation visibility), the R key is still usable. The R key can be used to start and stop recording, making it useful if you want to play notes right away.
Mac Garageband Piano Keyboard Tutorial
Assuming you don't have a piano..
Using Garageband:
You could get a keyboard controller and plug it into the computer, and use GB's piano sounds. M-Audio makes decent keyboard controllers for the money. As someone with a piano background, you'd probably want to get one with a weighted keyboard.
Or, you could just get a digital piano with built in speakers, an all-in-one, and spend time with that. For digital pianos, I'd check out Yamaha and Roland. Incidentally, a digital piano could also be used to trigger virtual instruments in GB via MIDI.
Depends on how much you want to spend, really, how good a physical keyboard you want, and whether you want it to be self-contained, or trigger virtual instruments in the computer, and have the sound come out of speakers rather than the keyboard itself.
Then, I'd chose a song you like and try to learn it. It's always easier to learn something you like (and know). You might want to start with someone you played before, and re-learn it.
GB is fun because you can add extra parts and play around with a variety of sounds / virtual instruments. You could also use loops in GB to make instant accompaniments to play along with or improvise over.
You could also record yourself in GB and track your progress.
Finally, there are piano lessons you can download into GB (other instrument lessons as well). You might find them helpful.
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