How do you use your Apple with your drumming?

So it's been awhile since I've owned a drum kit, but have been a Mac user for quite awhile. This site and the you-tube have sparked the passion in me again. I'm curious how drummers are using their Macs to enhance their playing? I think video instruction alone and seeing other people playing is an excellent resource, but would like to hear how software apps are being used alongside of drumming.

I keep all of the songs that my band covers in an iTunes playlist. If we have to refer to a tune during practice I punch it up and play it through the PA. I also use the playlist for personal practice. I pull up songs on YouTube during practice to help us work on them.

I use a usb microphone along with QuickTime to make recordings at practice so that we can hear instant playbacks of tunes that we are working on. QuickTime allows me to record right onto the desktop without opening GarageBand and creating tracks. It is fast and easy.

I keep my gig calendar on my Mac.
I keep set lists on my Mac.
I keep chord charts for songs.

I use GarageBand for multi track recording and editing.

I use iMovie to edit video of my band and put the vids on YouTube.
My Mac is always next to me at practice ready to assist.

I help manage the band websites.

My Mac is a valuable tool for my music hobby.

I have done some recording to Garage Band

If my set is complete (what it will never be...) I want to buy me a fancy Mac for my drumming. I have a desktop pc at my practice space right now, and that works fine, but if I am ever going 'to make it', like get on tour or something, I want a laptop, so that'll be a mac.

A Mac user since 1984, I use it quite a bit. Probably 75% of Mac's time goes toward something drum related. The rest goes to photography or gaming.

• I use Logic for recording, whether its practice or for song writing. I also use it to convert written music into audio tracks, like when I see something I like in a Modern Drummer mag, I can turn that into an audio track to follow along with.
• Have all of my instructional DVDs ripped to a NAS drive that I can access from all of our Macs and our AppleTV. Sometimes, I just wanna hang out in the living room and work on the pad. Other times, in the studio on the full kit. I don't have to move anything other than me and the full library is easily available.
• Have a practice routine progress sheet that I built in Numbers that references follow-along tracks in iTunes, some of which I built in Logic. It also references clips from DVDs that were ripped in Handbrake and edited down in iMovie. And I have a iPhone sized version of the entire thing so I can take it anywhere. Very convenient.
• Made a drum tuning audio reference guide for my kit with Logic. Makes it easy to keep the kit highly consistent. I can tune faster by ear than with a DrumDial.
• Using the Mac version of Maya to design my drum studio and I keep light blog on my kit, the studio build and other drum related stuff that I build with iWeb and Aperture.

Hmm... Looks like a lot of time spent but the Mac makes doing these kinds of things quick and easy.

Brundlefly said:

A Mac user since 1984, I use it quite a bit. Probably 75% of Mac's time goes toward something drum related. The rest goes to photography or gaming.

• I use Logic for recording, whether its practice or for song writing. I also use it to convert written music into audio tracks, like when I see something I like in a Modern Drummer mag, I can turn that into an audio track to follow along with.

Hmm... Looks like a lot of time spent but the Mac makes doing these kinds of things quick and easy.

Click to expand...

That is really cool. I have a hard time turning written music to audio in my head.

Logic is great; I record with that. My MacBook Pro's built-in iSight camera and built-in mic for documenting rehearsals, etc.

And the iPhone has been huge for me. I use the metronome app all the time. Also great for updating your music sites - Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. I can even edit my website from the phone with the WordPress app. Not to mention how easy it is to manage my schedule and contacts by syncing the phone to my Google account...because drumming involves more than just drumming...

I have a MacBook Pro and use it for playing my bass late at night. I plug the bass into an Edirol Ua-25EX interface, which is USB plugged into my mac. I use Logic sofware to listen to the bass with a touch of reverb of course. For drums I write midi bass lines and then set them up in a loop so that I can play the drums over the top.

Stay cool
Davo