Musicians ditch studios, embrace Logic, GarageBand and tech like GiO for Macs

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Forty years ago at Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix stirred the crowd with a rocking version of the American national anthem, full of stinging feedback provided by the walls of Marshall tube amplifiers behind him.

Today, Bob Robles can get similar sounds just by plugging his guitar into an Apple laptop.

“The sound quality is amazing,” says Robles, a Los Angeles studio musician. “I’m just blown away by it.”

Apple has cranked up its offerings for musicians of all kinds — especially guitarists. After a January revamp of its popular GarageBand program, the music-editing software bundled into its iLife suite, guitarists can plug their instruments directly into a Mac via a guitar-to-USB cable and rock out with five simulated amp sounds.

In July, Apple released advanced software ($499 Logic Studio and $199 Logic Express) that includes even more amp and guitar combinations — 25 in all.

And this week, veteran audio gear manufacturer Apogee lets guitarists control their sound hands-free with the launch of the $395 GiO for Mac computers. It lets you tap controls with your feet, like those guitar pedals favored by guitarists going back to Hendrix and his Wah-Wah pedal.

Marrying musical instruments with computers isn’t new. For years, musicians have been able to connect with a variety of interfaces, mixers and other tools for making music. But once connected, musicians had to fiddle with a computer mouse and space bar to control the recording process.

“Now you’re free to play,” says Sean McArthur, director of marketing for Apogee.

Peter Thorn, a Los Angeles guitarist who is currently in Eagle Don Henley’s touring group, has used the GiO and says the big advantage is being able to keep his hands on the guitar and not the mouse.

“It’s just really cool to be able to do it all with your feet, on the floor,” he says. [read: USA Today]