The World Music Apple GarageBand Jam Pack was announced at MWSF '06 alongside GarageBand 3
World of Music
The World Music Jam Pack contains over 3000 royalty-free, pre-recorded Apple Loops, which can be used with GarageBand, Logic Express, Logic Pro, Soundtrack Pro and any other software that reads AIFF files. It is certainly a heavyweight, packing in 12GB of data, although nearly 5GB is from the Demo Songs. These are useful though, if you really want to get the best from the pack.
Exotic and Ethnic
This pack contains some really beautiful samples and instruments. Like the gorgeous Tibet Singing Bowls which have some breath modulation on them to the Spanish Flamenco Guitar. I have been waiting at least 10 years for a pack like this. It is quite simply mind-blowing. One of the great surprises for me was the inclusion of some fabulous vocal samples. I started playing with the World Music Pack on GarageBand 3, and had a real ball. The track that resulted from this session; World Jam contains the following instruments/loops from the World Music Jam Pack:
African Kit, Asian Kit, Shetland Bass Drum loop (awesome), Shetland Snare loops, Shetland Shaker, African King Ensemble Loop, Tibetan singing bowls, Spanish flamenco guitar, Japanese Koto (muted in the current mix), Shetland fiddle, Latin Day voice, African Mist Voice, Brazilian Sun Voice, Cuban Timba voice, Jacaranda Singers 05, Jacaranda Singers 06, Eastern Storm Voice 03, you can discuss World Jam, if you wish and you'll find more World Music here.
World Music Software Instruments
Over 40 Software Instruments are included and have extensive layers and articulations to make them very realistic in the right hands. Here is the full list:
Bass: Latin Baby Bass, Mexican Guitarron, Russian Balalaika
Choir: South African Singers, South African Voice Effects
Mallets: African Kalimba, African Marimba, Indonesian Gamelan, Tibetan Singing Bowls
Pianos and Keyboards: Afro-Cuban Upright Piano, Polka Accordion, Tango Accordion
Strings: Celtic Hammered Dulcimer, Celtic Harp, Chinese Erhu Violin, Chinese Guzheng Zither, Indian Sitar, Irish Fiddle, Japanese Koto, Persian Santoor
Woodwinds: Celtic Tin Whistle, Chinese Di Zi Flute, Chinese Xiao Flute, Highland Bagpipes, Indian Bansuri Flute, Indian Shehnai Oboe, Japanese Shakuhachi Flute, Medieval Recorder, Native American Flute, Peruvian Panpipes
Drum Kits (with various sizes for many instruments, e.g., small, medium, large, and low, medium, and high):
African Kit: FronTonFrom, Djembe, Berkete, Sabar, Afro Conga, African Metal Shaker, Talking Drum, Y-Rattle, Oghene, African Wooden Shaker, Alo, Gankoqui, African Bongo, Afro Cajon, Sakara, Shekere, Ekpiri, African Small Shaker, Udu, African Bombshell, Log Drum
Asian Kit: Taiko Tom, Large Taiko, Shimi Daiko, Ensemble Claps, Chinese Cymbals Hi Hats, Chinese Wind Gong, Medium Gong, Chang Chang, Chinese Temple Block, Cymbals, Chinese Tam-Tams, Chinese Gong, KenDang, Indonesian Tuned Gong, Wood Frog, Indonesian Small Gong, Chinese Hard Gong, Ensemble Snaps
European Folk Kit: Waterphone, Concert Bass Drum, Concert Snare Drum, Concert Tenor Drum, Timpani, Power Toms, Bodhran, Tapan, Bendir, Mediterranean Tambourine, German Tambourine, Concert Tom, Concert Cymbal, Suspended Cymbal, Thunder Sheet, Darbuka, Brake Drum, Egg Shaker, Ratchet, Whiny Tube, Bones, Boom Whacker, Italian Tambourine, Air Tank, Sleigh Bells, Large Frame Drum, Wind Chimes, Wind Singer
Latin Kit: Repique De Mao, Repinique, Zambumba, Surdo, Snare Cajon, Latin Roto Tom, Recko Recko, Flextone, Pandeiro, Tambourine, Cowbell, Vibraslap, Bongo, Conga, Afro Conga, Timbale, Agogo, Cabasa, Maracas, Brazilian Whistle, Guiro, Claves, Afro-Latin Woodblock, Cuica, Triange, Caxixi, Rebolo, Berimbau
Indian and Middle Eastern Kit: Tar, Tablas, Tonbek, Udu, Gaval, Daf, Tala, Indian Ankle Bells, Elephant Bell, Riq, Kanjira, Dumbek, Pakawaj
System Requirements and Installation
- GarageBand 2, Logic Express7, or Logic Pro 7 or later installed
- 512MB of RAM (1GB Recommended)
- 12GB of available hard disk space
- DVD drive for installation
One good thing is that you can install the instruments, loops and Demo Songs in seperate locations or drives which is cool if you have a jam packed PowerBook internal drive like me
Bill Josey's World Jam Pack Tips
About 2/5ths of the loops in 4/4 time are MIDI, so that you can easily change notes around and reassign the loops to different instruments. This extends the value and useability of around 1,200 loops.
But it's easy to miss the richness of the loops in this pack, since most of us work in 4/4 time signature, the GB default. To access alternate time signatures, bring up the Track Info for the Master Track and change the Time setting. Check out 3/4 time, where you'll find another 123 loops, again about 2/5ths of which are MIDI. There are even a loop in 7/4ths time, two in 6/8ths, and 10 in 7/8ths!
Bill Josey's World Music Conclusion
In just two days of listening to random loops and experimenting, I have a firm impression that World Jam Pack has the same richness, beauty, breadth, and depth as does Jam Pack 4, Symphony Orchestra. The software instruments alone in World Jam Pack are worth more than its $99 price.
iFingers World Music Conclusion
The World Music Jam Pack is simply superb. Vibrant, sparkling ethnic and exotic loops and instruments to inject some real flavour into your productions. Highly recommended.
Listen to the wonderful Oasis by Bill Josey to get more of a feel for what can be acheived using just the World Jam Pack loops and instruments.