&@%#^$ Garageband!

[Kat144]

Don't get me wrong. I love the things I've been able to do with just a microphone and this program. However!!!


I'll start out by saying that the computer it's on isn't owned by me. It's an older Mac Mini of my partner's dad's that I think he wasn't using, so he gave it to my partner to mess around with when my partner wanted to get a job at the Apple Store. So I'm really not going to spend the dough to update the program. It has Garageband '09 (version 5.1). That to me does not seem so old, but ugh it's so buggy, so maybe it's older in program years than I think.

It'll crash randomly, sometimes during recording. Or it'll suddenly stop while recording and say "the disk is too slow." Or it'll suddenly stop while recording and say there are too many Realinstrument tracks (no matter how many there actually are). Or the vocals and backing will play back at different tempos so it sounds like I have no idea how to keep a beat/sing with a accompaniment. Or it'll inexplicably cut off half the backing and suddenly my backing will stop halfway through the song. (These last two are fixed by closing and restarting, but when I have to stop a recording because the backing went away, that's not cool.)

The problems get worse if the program has been running for a while; sometimes 20 minutes is all it takes. I tend to save often, and if I'm doing a long recording session, I'll often save, close the program, and restart it. This is bloody ridiculous to have to do. (and tonight, I went to save as soon as I finished recording, and it froze and then crashed as soon as I hit "save." Yep, you guessed it, it crashed before it actually saved.)

Recording is frustrating enough, having to do 50 billion takes of a song to get a version I like-- my voice might crack here, my intonation might slip there, the cat might knock over something in the other room and the sound makes it onto the track, etc. When I'm halfway through one I actually think is going to be good and then the program crashes on me in some manner and I have to start over from the top... it makes me want to throw things through the wall.

Has anyone else noticed these sorts of bugs with Garageband, esp. older versions? Or is there just something funky with mine that I ought to look into?

[*Shira*]

I'll start out by saying that the computer it's on isn't owned by me. It's an older Mac Mini of my partner's dad's that I think he wasn't using, so he gave it to my partner to mess around with when my partner wanted to get a job at the Apple Store. So I'm really not going to spend the dough to update the program.

I could point out that you get what you pay for, and since you got it for free, well.... but I realize that wouldn't be helpful. So...

It'll crash randomly, sometimes during recording. Or it'll suddenly stop while recording and say "the disk is too slow." Or it'll suddenly stop while recording and say there are too many Realinstrument tracks (no matter how many there actually are). Or the vocals and backing will play back at different tempos so it sounds like I have no idea how to keep a beat/sing with a accompaniment. Or it'll inexplicably cut off half the backing and suddenly my backing will stop halfway through the song.

These all sound like symptoms of a "memory leak" problem. Ie, the program may have a defect in which some operation is failing to release memory once it's done using it. Then, the next time the operation occurs, it allocates more memory, again failing to release it. This cycle continues over and over, until the computer runs out of memory and the problems you described start happening.

I tend to save often, and if I'm doing a long recording session, I'll often save, close the program, and restart it. This is bloody ridiculous to have to do.

I agree that if the program were working properly, these things would not be necessary. And I agree that it's extremely exasperating, time-consuming, and tedious. It's about the best workaround I can think of for this situation, poor though it may be.

(continued in next message)

[*Shira*]

Here are some additional things I would look into. These won't fix the root cause, but may mitigate it somewhat by enabling you to go for longer periods between save/close/restart cycles:

1. Go to the company's web site to see if they have free software fixes for this old version that you can download and install. Maybe a fix is out there.
2. Delete all extraneous material from the hard disk, stuff that's no longer needed, such as web browser caches, old data that nobody wants any more including photos and video, old programs nobody intends to use any more, etc. Move stuff you want to keep to an external hard disk and delete it from the internal one.
3. Run a hard disk defragmentation program on the hard disk. (I don't know whether this helps with Macs, but it does help with Windows machines.)
4. Determine whether there are "overhead" programs running in your computer's memory that you don't use. Stuff that might automatically start when you turn on the machine, such as drivers for printers that you don't have and so on. Remove any such things from your system start. If you had a Windows machine, I could tell you how to do this, but I don't know how to do it on a Mac. Anyway, the more of these there are, the slower your machine will run, and the less memory will be available to GarageBand.

The reason #2 above may help is that most computer programs use hard disk space as an extension of main memory. This is called "virtual" memory. The less hard disk space you have, the less space there is for this virtual memory, and the more likely the computer is to develop the type of problem you're describing.

As for #3, the more fragmented your hard disk becomes, the slower operations that use it run.

[Kat144]

I could point out that you get what you pay for, and since you got it for free, well.... but I realize that wouldn't be helpful. So...

*shrug* A new computer is not in my budget any time soon. (Mine is an old, double-hand-me-down laptop running Linux that doesn't even have a microphone jack, nor does the sound on it work anymore anyway.) So it's either use this one, or have nothing.

[LIST=1][*]Go to the company's web site to see if they have free software fixes for this old version that you can download and install. Maybe a fix is out there.

It gets updates regularly, but I've also heard Apple stops supporting older versions of their programs after so long, so if it's not getting any updates, it may be because there are none available.

[*]Delete all extraneous material from the hard disk, stuff that's no longer needed, such as web browser caches, old data that nobody wants any more including photos and video, old programs nobody intends to use any more, etc. Move stuff you want to keep to an external hard disk and delete it from the internal one.

I can back up my stuff, but I can't delete my partner's stuff or anything his dad may have on there; I don't know if he's going to want this computer back some day or if it belongs to my partner now.

I don't think it needs defragging either-- this is the only program there are problems with. I'm just not sure if, again, it's this specific instance on this specific machine, or if it's a common issue. Figured I'd see if anyone else had encountered it before I tried to sift through Google.

[AnalaVA]

(by no means an expert, mind you)

Having tinkered with Garage band for a few years now, it is a memory hog. Like Shira said, clean up your hard drive, make sure you have as few programs running as possible, and always reboot before starting a new project. GB is like a lot of apple programs: excellent, but processor heavy. That means that they use a lot of processor power, and while they may work well on the operating system you are using, bumping the processor up may be well worth the $$. (I haven't done this surgery, but my dear hubby did, and it HELPED!)

Another thing is to check the settings for your mic. The few times I have used an external mic or external sound source (transferring cassette to soft copy sound file) have provided the most complications. Do check the apple forum and see if they have any advice for you.

And, while this is a bit redundant with the first paragraph, delete GB projects if you don't like them or if you have converted them over to itunes. GB runs better with fewer projects, I think.

Good luck, and let me know if this helps!

[steffib]

I know this is not what you are looking for, but have you considered using Audacity? It's free, does very similar things to Garageband, runs on the Mac, and you may be able to find a compatible version to your machine's OS/processor version.

When using Garageband, I would keep an eye on the Activity Monitor with the system memory tab to see what happens.

[*Shira*]

It gets updates regularly, but I've also heard Apple stops supporting older versions of their programs after so long, so if it's not getting any updates, it may be because there are none available.

Understood, but if the problems are making you crazy it's not a bad idea to take a few minutes to do a manual check for possible updates. With some computer software, sometimes automatic updates don't take you to the latest version. A manual check admittedly takes a few minutes, but if you find something that improves the situation, it can be worth the effort.

I can back up my stuff, but I can't delete my partner's stuff or anything his dad may have on there; I don't know if he's going to want this computer back some day or if it belongs to my partner now.

Have you asked whether there's anything on the computer they don't want any more?

I don't think it needs defragging either-- this is the only program there are problems with.

I could offer a lot of technical explanation on why GarageBand might need you to do the defragging whereas other programs seem to be running fine, but I'll just say that it's possible.