Apple Releases GarageBand for iPhone

Apple today announced the release of GarageBand for iPhone, an update for the existing iPad application that will allow iPhone and iPod touch users to play virtual instruments and create digital recordings on the devices’ multitouch displays. The 1.1 update, which is propagating in the App Store right now, is a free update for existing GarageBand customers, and a universal app that runs on iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation).

From the press release:

Apple today announced that GarageBand®, its breakthrough music creation app, is now available for iPhone® and iPod touch® users. Introduced earlier this year on iPad®, GarageBand uses Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ interface to make it easy for anyone to create and record their own songs, even if they’ve never played an instrument before.

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch”

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The innovative Multi-Touch interface combined with Smart Instruments makes it easy to create great sounding music, even if you’ve never studied music or played an instrument before.”

GarageBand features a collection of fun Touch Instruments that sound great and make it easy for beginners or experienced musicians to play and record keyboards, guitars, drums and basses in a wide variety of styles. Smart Instruments now allow you to choose from an extensive new library of custom chords so you can play and strum along with your favorite songs.

You can plug your electric guitar into iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to play and record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone. GarageBand allows you to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share your finished song with friends or send it to your Mac® to keep working on it in GarageBand or Logic® Pro.

The 1.1 update, available here, brings other improvements to the existing GarageBand for iOS such as custom chords for Smart Instruments, 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures, additional quantization options for recordings, adjustable velocity settings for Touch Instruments and many other enhancements that you can check out in the official iTunes changelog for the update. The app seems to retain the same interface and interaction methods of the original iPad app, which was released in March. The app was later updated with AirPlay support and copy & paste support, and this new 1.1 version appears to introduce major changes and new functionalities that should make the music production software even more powerful.

GarageBand 1.1 is available now on the App Store at $4.99.