The Verge Tests GarageBand 2.1 with T-Pain

Fun – and informative – look at GarageBand by The Verge, featuring T-Pain. I know what you’re thinking – T-Pain makes those horrible auto-tuned songs that somehow kids like. Music tastes aside, the guy knows what he’s talking about: he’s been making music on GarageBand for years, and he makes solid points about integrating the app with third-party tools and using it on the go.

T-Pain laughs off the criticism when I ask him about it. “That’s weird,” he says. “It’s totally legitimate.” GarageBand has become a lot more capable over time, he says, offering more granular control over sounds, the ability to manage more tracks, and — a new feature in this release — the use of third-party apps, like iMaschine, as additional instruments. It has nowhere near the power of Logic, but T-Pain says he sees Apple bringing more of Logic’s features down to GarageBand, rather than stripping things out of GarageBand for further ease of use. That makes Garageband a useful tool for putting together ideas when he’s outside the studio. “Usually when I open up GarageBand, I’m not in a place where I can start belting out lyrics and recording,” he says, mentioning that he often uses the app while traveling. “I’m trying to get a solid production piece out of it. And that usually happens.”

Also of note: T-Pain’s home studio and diamond-encrusted Apple Watch.