So, GarageBand allows the use of AudioUnit plugins, but not its competition – Steinberg’s VSTi plugins. FXpansion have a special adapter, but it costs $99, and I’m pretty well broke. Is there a way we can use instruments such as Delay Lama in GarageBand without shelling out any hard earned cash?
Sort of. There’s at least a way to record a VST as a “real instrument”. You won’t be able to fix a bum note without rerecording, but it’s better than nothing.
Get reFuse Software‘s Ugly VSTi Host, and Cycling 74’s Soundflower (you could probably do the same thing with JACK, if you prefer it).
Copy Ugly VSTi Host into your Applications folder. Install Soundflower from the installer package, and copy Soundflowerbed into your Applications folder. You’ll have to reboot after the package installs, so do that.
Now fire up SoundFlowerbed, GarageBand and Ugly VSTi Host. Set SoundFlowerbed’s SoundFlower (2ch) to Built-in Output. In Ugly VSTi Host, set the audio output to “CoreAudio SoundFlower (2ch)”. In GarageBand, set the audio input (in Preferences->Audio/MIDI) to SoundFlower (2ch). Now, create a “Real Instrument” track, arm it for recording, and set Monitor to On. Now with any luck, when you play your VST instrument, the record level should appear in GarageBand. When you actually record in GarageBand, anything played should show up.
Pretty cool, huh?
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