Comparisons of Apple GarageBand to Finale Songwriter 2007
Apple GarageBand is multitrack recorder and introductory-level digital audio workstation based on Logic Pro for Mac OS X. Finale Songwriter 2007 is a bare-bones version of Finale's flagship music notation and lead-sheet creation software for Windows XP, Vista and 7 and Mac OS X. Although Apple GarageBand and Finale Songwriter fall in the growing category of budget-priced music creation software, the two titles offer very different features.
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Approach to Composition
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Designed for consumer-level musicians and aspiring producer-programmers, GarageBand has a reputation for user-friendliness. GarageBand is aimed primarily at musicians with little knowledge of music theory who have a desire to produce and record digital music. Recent versions have added the ability to view MIDI, or musical instruments digital interface, parts as traditional notation, but the main input interface emphasizes composition through recording and sequencing digital audio and MIDI data.
Finale Songwriter is designed for songwriters and music students with at least a basic understanding of lead sheets and music notation, and its main input interface deals entirely with inputting notes and musical symbols using traditional music notation. Additionally, Songwriter does not support digital audio recording. Finale Songwriter allows users to create lead sheets and musical scores with up to five staff lines and eight staves and print them for use in practice or recording sessions or distribute them in Final Reader format.
Music Notation Support
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Though Apple GarageBand displays and plays back traditionally notated scores that come with its piano lesson modules or recorded MIDI data, it has limited traditional notation. It allows users to view and edit MIDI tracks in piano-roll mode as notation, but audio tracks do not allow or support notation view. Finale Songwriter has extensive support for traditional music notation. It can create, open, edit, play back and save traditional scores and lead sheets in Finale Reader format and can export traditional music notation to PDF format.
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Virtual Instruments and MIDI Support
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GarageBand allows users to enter MIDI note information using a piano-roll interface or an external MIDI keyboard controller. GarageBand plays back MIDI using its built-in virtual instruments -- including acoustic and electric piano, electric bass and a variety of other emulations -- or via single-channel Audio Unit instrument plug-ins. Additionally, users can apply virtual guitar amplifiers and effects to each MIDI track.
Finale Songwriter allows users to enter notes using an external MIDI keyboard controller or a mouse using its graphical notation interface. Finale Songwriter plays back entire compositions or individual notes on a per-click basis using your sound card and General MIDI, or GM, instruments. First released in 1991, the General MIDI standard includes 128 patches including digital emulations of pianos, percussion, strings, woodwinds, brass, ethnic instruments, synthesizers and an assortment of sound effects. Alhough the GM standard is cross-platform and supported by any modern sound card, GM is over two decades old and can sound substandard to the contemporary listener.
Exporting
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GarageBand can render projects as audio files in AIFF, AAC, MP3 and iOS-compatible ringtone formats. Additionally, users can save GarageBand project files in a format readable by Logic Pro. Finale Songwriter can render lead sheets to audio with your sound card by assigning user-specified General MIDI instruments. Additionally, Finale Songwriter prints scores to PDF and can export versions in Finale Reader format. To open these files, you need the free Finale Reader application.
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References
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