VST plug-ins are probably one of the greatest things about using a digital audio workstation, in addition to the fact you can go back to your work at any time and fix whatever you have to make your song sound good.

• Garageband Guitar Input
• Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband Pro
• Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband To Computer
• Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband 10
• Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband 1
• Recording Guitar Into Garageband

GarageBand, like many other DAWS, comes with the ability to install plug-ins and they’re fun to use.

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2. So You Want To Record Authentic-Sounding Guitar In Your DAW. In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to plug your guitar into GarageBand. The way that I find works best is the most convenient and sounds pretty good as well while minimizing latency and other problems.
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In this tutorial, I’m going to lay out a step-by-step process for installing plug-ins into GarageBand. At first, I struggled to make this work, but it became like second nature after a few tries. it’s really quite simple.

Where Do I Find Plug-Ins?

First things first: If you want to get your hands on some solid VST’s, check out VSTforFree.com. It’s a great place for all kinds of plug-ins. Many of them aren’t compatible with Mac, however, there are still some great ones on there.

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In this article, I’ll show you some of the more popular plug-ins to use in Garageband so more on that later.

One of the great thing about VST’s is that you can find them all over online. Many YouTubers show you what plug-ins they use, and where to find them, so finding a great plug-in is as simple as just going on YouTube or Google to find them.

Without further ado, this is how to download VST’s for Mac in GarageBand.

How To Install Plug-ins In Garageband

For this tutorial, I’m going to be using the DSK Dynamic Guitars Plugin which you find here at VST4Free.

On this page, you can see the different options for downloading the plugin. We want to use the Mac AU version.

1) Click on the Mac AU file and download the Zip File. I prefer to put it all on the desktop, that way it’s easy to find later when I want to drop it into the library.

It shouldn’t take longer than a couple of minutes for it to download.

2) After it’s finished downloading, you can open up the Zip File, and it’s going to show you the components for the plug-in. It looks like a little white lego block.

3) Now, go to your computer’s home-screen, then into the settings on the top left-hand side and click on where it says “Go.”

4) During this part, you have to hold the “Options” button on your keyboard so that it brings up “Library” in the drop-down menu. You have to hold the “Options” button, otherwise, it’ll disappear.

5) Go into your “Library,” and find the folder that says “Audio.”

6) Typically, it’ll bring up four different folders, “MIDI Drivers,” “Plug-Ins,” “Presets,” and “Sounds.”

7) Open up “Plug-ins.”

8) Open the file, “Components.”

9) If you’ve followed the instructions I’ve laid out, you’ll have the Dynamic Guitars Component sitting on your home screen, that way you can simply drag and drop the component into the “Components” file.

10) In most cases, getting access to this plug-in simply requires you to open up GarageBand and you’ll find your new plug-in in your Smart Control’s plug-in settings.

However, some people struggle with this part, because, for whatever reason, they have to turn their computer on and off in order for the plug-in to show up.

11) So turn your computer on and off just to be safe.

12) Now open up GarageBand.

13) Go into your Smart Controls and find the plug-ins in your options.

14) Open up the Available plug-ins.

15) It should say, “Dynamic Guitars,” and you just click on the “Stereo” option that it brings up afterward, and now you’ve successfully uploaded your new plug-in and it’s ready to use.

16) In some instances, you might have to adjust the octave, otherwise, the plug-in won’t work correctly depending on the VST.

However, with this particular plug-in, you won’t have that problem because it’s a guitar, and the designer of the VST made it so that you can play the guitar at many different octaves.

With my DrumPro plug-in that I always use, that isn’t the case, and it has to be at Octave 3, or “C3,” as GarageBand refers to it.

Why aren’t my Plug-ins showing up in GarageBand?

Like, I mentioned above, most people can’t find their plug-in in GarageBand because they haven’t turned their computer on and off. I’ve noticed that other tutorials forget to mention this.

How To Install Lepou Plugins in GarageBand?

If you want to get your hands on LePou Amplifier Plug-ins, just click on this link here.

On the right-hand side of the page, you can scroll down and see where it says, “Amp Sim Pack,” and underneath that, “Mac AU (Universal Binary).”

You want to click on that, and then download the 5 different components listed in Google Drive. There’s a download button on the right-hand side of this page where you can download all of it.

After that, just follow the steps that I laid out above. Just as a quick refresher, you’ll have to unpack the downloaded ZIP file and then open up the file and drag and drop the individual “component” files into your library.

When I was having trouble, I turned my computer on and off, and then I had to reboot GarageBand in order for the LePou plug-ins to show up in the “Audio Units” file.

These are quite possibly some of the best Amplifier plug-ins that you can use in Garageband in my opinion. The Clean setting in the LePou plug-in is pretty great.

What Are The Best Plug-Ins for GarageBand?

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the article, there are a ton of free plug-ins on the internet that are a lot of fun to use. I’ve scoured the internet looking for the best VSTs, and I came up with this list.

As a side note, even though they’re paid plug-ins, I included Superior Drummer and Amplitube 4 because they have such a good reputation.

Superior Drummer, especially, is a great program for people interested in making rock and metal songs. However, I’m sure that hip-hop producers can put it to good use as well.

Additionally, for this list, I polled users online and asked them what some of their favorite VSTs are to use, so I can’t vouch for all of them personally.

Without going too far off topic, here’s the list (I provided links to where you can find each one):

This is a synth plug-in made by U-he and based off of the Roland Juno-60 which came out in 1982. It’s a classic. This plug-in has quite a bit more functionality, however, and it’s powered by Amazona.de. U-he has a reputation for imitating analog models well.

This is a collection of 28 plug-ins that are extremely popular with not only GarageBand users but for other DAW users as well. You can pay for the license for added functionality and other features, but from what I understand, most people just take the free version and are happy with that.

This package includes reverb, mixing and mastering tools, modulators, filters, compressors, flangers, phasers, tremolos, tuners, vibratos, limiters, loudness analyzers, notepads, oscillators, and shapers.

This plug-in is known for its “classic” stereo reverb which is very simple to use but sounds great. It also has a bunch of different presets that you can use.

LePou guitar amplifier simulators are pretty awesome. However, I actually like the clean version of the amps they give you, rather than the distorted channel.

It comes with five amplifiers: the Hybrit, Le456, LeCto, LeGion, and LeXtac. Each one is great for its own reason. I would say that my favorite, thus far, is the LeGion and the LeXtac.

• Crystal Synth

This is an old-school synthesizer plug-in that has been around for a long time and comes with all kinds of effects. The effects, honestly, sound pretty authentic for a free VST. Some users claim there are better plug-ins and there probably are, but this is great for what it is.

Made by TAL, the purpose of this plug-in is for voice processing, but it can be used for a number of different functions. From what I understand, it’s not compatible for Mac’s that are 10.10 and higher, unfortunately. But I’m sure there is a way to make it work.

The Blue Cat audio plugin comes with a range of different modulation effects, including a 3-band equalizer, a gain-suite, a chorus, phaser, flanger, and a frequency analyzer.

This is an EQ plug-in that is now compatible with almost every DAW, depending on whether you get the professional version or not. It’s styled after the Pultec EQ.

• Amplitube 4(Costs Money)

Garageband Guitar Input

Amplitube 4 is a great plug-in for many users because they have an official Mesa Boogie Amplifier pack, including the dual rectifier, the triple rectifier, the Mark-III, and the transatlantic TA-30.

It has more features than that, including a cabinet section where you can choose microphone placement and a bunch of other settings. Moreover, Amplitube has worked with a bunch of other companies, including Orange Amplifiers.

You can actually get a free demo version of Amplitube though with the purchase of an iRig HD 2, which you should get anyways (if you’re a guitar/bass player).

You can read more about the iRig HD 2 and some of my other favorite products here.

• Superior Dummer 2.0(Also Costs Money)

Created by ToonTrack, Superior Drummer has a great reputation for being one of the greatest drumming software. It has over 50 GB of drum kits and samples that you can choose from, and like Amplitube, companies worked with them directly in the creation of the samples.

Also created by u-he in 2005, this is a fairly old plug-in, but is considered as a classic synthesizer that comes with a ton of different presets. It comes with a filter, an oscillator, an envelope, an arpeggiator, and a sequencer.

This is another legit synthesizer plug-in created by Archetype Instruments. It’s fairly simple to use, but can be used for a wide range of effects, including filters and distortion.

Another polyphonic synthesizer plug-in compatible for both PC and Mac. Modeled after an old Roland synth, the settings are adjustable with sliders rather than knobs, which some people prefer.

The SGA1566 is a virtual pre-amp that is used for boosting particular instruments and channels.

Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband Pro

EZ Drummer, like Superior Drummer, is also created by Toon Track, but it’s simpler, less expensive (about half as much), and doesn’t come with as many drum-kits and settings.

The Nova-67P is another equalizer plug-in paired with a compressor. With this, you can input a side-chain signal.

This is akin to the Digitech Whammy Pedal, which you can see in the image for this blog post. Nonetheless, you can use this to make pretty bizarre sounds.

Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband To Computer

Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine is known for using the stomp-box from which this VST takes its inspiration. Essentially, the Pitchproof plug-in is a pitch-shifter and harmonizer.

I actually own the Digitech Whammy Pedal, and obviously, the real analog model is far superior to any form of a plug-in that you can use. It’s a great little piece of equipment for guitar playing. You can probably check it out on Amazon and get it for a good price.

Multiply is a nice little chorus effect that I like to use for guitars, piano, and vocals, primarily. Garageband comes with a chorus effect, but it isn’t quite as good as this one.

The Voxengo Marvel GEQ is a 15-band equalizer that allows you to really take control of the EQ of your track. I actually own an MXR 10-Band EQ, and it’s very similar to this plug-in, albeit, superior.

You can also grab one of those off of Amazon if you’re interested in a legit piece of equipment.

This is, basically, a super powerful and useful compressor that allows you to do more than the compressor that comes with Garageband. It’s pretty cool and worth checking out.

This, like the M-Audio FX Bundle, comes with over 20 effects and processors, 24 to be exact. It’s a fairly old set of plug-ins, but I’m sure it can be quite useful.

I use this one quite a lot whenever I can’t get ahold of my real acoustic and nylon string guitar. It’s superior to the guitars offered in GarageBand, but still, not quite as good as the real thing, of course. For what it is, it works great.

I use this plug-in almost every day, especially the Trap Kit setting it comes with. It comes with over a dozen drum-kits, which makes it pretty handy for hip-hop producers.

What Plug-Ins come with GarageBand?

When you download stock plug-ins in Garageband, it comes with a plethora of useful VST’s, including all of the software instruments.

Software Instruments

Garageband comes with 15 different categories of software instruments: bass, drum kit, electronic drum kit, guitar, mallet, orchestral, percussion, piano, synthesizer, vintage B3 organ, vintage clav, vintage electric piano, vintage mellotron, world, arpeggiator.

Each category has a number of different software instruments within it, especially the arpeggiator, which must have close to 50-70 models.

Plug-ins

In the plug-in settings, there are 12 categories of plug-ins with a ton of different sub-categories:

Amps and Pedals, Delay, Distortion, Dynamics, EQ, Filter, Imaging, Modulation, Pitch, Reverb, Specialized, and Utility are the main categories.

Amps and Pedals – Amp Designer, Bass Amp Designer, Pedalboard.

• The Amp Designer has 26 different Models, 26 Amps, and 26 Cabinets. Garageband’s Amp Designer is actually pretty solid considering Garageband is a free program.
• The Bass Amp Designer has 4 different models, 3 amps, and 8 cabinets.

Pedalboard –The pedalboard comes with 36 different effects. It pretty much has everything you could need for playing guitar, including overdrive, wah, a whammy pedal, delay, chorus, overdrive, and so on and so forth.

Their quality isn’t quite as good as some of the plug-ins that you can download or buy, but they’re sufficient, nonetheless.

Delay – Delay Designer, Echo, Sample Delay, Stereo Delay, and Tape Delay

Distortion – Bitcrusher, Clip Distortion, Distortion, Distortion II, Overdrive, and Phase Distortion.

Dynamics – Compressor, DeEsser, Enveloper, Limiter, Multipressor, and the Noise Gate.

EQ– Channel EQ and Single Band EQ.

Filter – AutoFilter, Filterbank, Fuzz-Wah, and the Spectral Gate.

Imaging – Direction Mixer, and the Stereo Spread.

Modulation – Chorus, Ensemble, Flanger, Microphaser, Modulation Delay, Phaser, Ringshifter, Rotor Cabinet, Scanner Vibrato, Spreader, Tremolo.

Pitcher – Pitch Shifter, Vocal Transformer

Reverb – EnVerb, PlatinumVerb, SilverVerb, Space Designer

Specialized – Exciter and Sub-Bass

Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband 10

Utility – Gain.

Audio Units – This setting has a ton of different 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.

Where are the Plug-ins in GarageBand?

When you first open the program, Garageband shows you all of the 15 software instruments on the left-hand side, and as I mentioned above, there are a ton of instruments and pre-sets within each category.

The other plug-ins are located in the bottom within the Smart Controls area, including within the plug-ins option as well as within the Amp Designer, Bass Amp Designer, and the Pedalboard.

Whenever you download plug-ins through the way I showed earlier in the article, the plug-ins will often appear in the Audio Units tab.

The plug-ins are in several locations, but it also depends on how you define plug-ins. If we’re talking about the plug-ins that you’ve downloaded, then you’ll find these in the “Audio Units” tab within the Smart Controls plug-in settings.

YouTube Video Tutorial

That’s It!

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GarageBand User Guide for iPad

Using the Guitar, you can play notes, chords, and strumming patterns. You can choose from acoustic or electric guitar sounds, and turn on stompbox effects to customize the sound.

Choose the sound of the Guitar

• Tap the guitar icon in the upper-left corner, then tap the sound you want to play. You can also swipe left or right to change to the previous or next sound.

Play chords

1. Tap the Chords/Notes switch on the right to switch to Chords view.

2. Do any of the following:

   • Strum a chord: Swipe across the strings in one of the chord strips. You can also tap strings to play individual notes of a chord.

   • Play the full chord: Tap the top of a chord strip.

   • Mute the strings: Touch and hold the fretboard to the left or right of the chord strips as you play.

You can add your own custom chords to play.

Play a strumming pattern

1. Turn the Autoplay knob to one of the numbered positions.

2. Tap a chord strip. Tapping a different chord strip plays the same pattern with the notes of that chord, while tapping with two or three fingers plays variations of the pattern.

3. Tap the chord strip again to stop the pattern playing.

Plug Bass Guitar Into Mac Garageband 1

Play individual notes

1. Tap the Chords/Notes switch on the right to switch to Notes view.

2. Tap the strings on the fretboard to play notes. You can also bend strings vertically to bend the pitch of a note up.

3. To play notes of a particular scale, tap the Scale button, then tap the scale you want to play.

   The fretboard changes to show note bars. Tap the bars to play the notes of the scale.

Recording Guitar Into Garageband

Turn stompbox effects on or off

When you choose an electric guitar sound, stompbox effects appear above the Guitar fretboard. You can turn on the effects to change the sound.

• Tap the round On/Off button in the lower part of a stompbox. A red light indicates that the stompbox is on.

Play the Retro Wah guitar with Face Control

If your iPad supports facial recognition, you can move the wah pedal on the Retro Wah guitar by moving your mouth while you play. When you record, any pedal movements you make with Face Control are also recorded.

1. Tap the guitar icon in the upper-left corner, then tap Retro Wah.

2. Hold your iPad 10–20 inches (25–50 cm) away from your face, then tap the Face Control button .

   The first time you use Face Control, GarageBand asks for permission to access the camera on your iPad.

3. As you play, open and close your mouth to move the wah pedal up and down.

4. To turn Face Control off, tap the Face Control button again.

Note: GarageBand uses ARKit face tracking features to translate your facial expressions into instrument effect controls. Your face information is processed on device, and only music is captured during your performance.