The UCI Computer Store held Jamfest 2004 on Tuesday, Nov. 23. A regular crowd gathered at the Student Center near Ring Road between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to enjoy musical and dance performances. According to the computer store’s marketing coordinator Ronnie Gou, the event ‘was a good opportunity to showcase some of the new Apple products and give students some entertainment along the way.’
The Apple product which made the event possible was GarageBand, a basic songwriting program which can create the illusion of a full band when only one real instrumentalist and the artificial band members created in the program are playing. It allows the user to combine MIDI and audio tracks of guitars, keyboards, basses, drums or anything else recordable. The key signature, tempo and the actual ‘patch’ of sound is customizable.
Members of the local, UCI band, Mimensis, jammed with the GarageBand to start the publicity event. Bassist Rob Hall, a third-year civil engineering major, works at the UCI Computer Store and drummer Sam Brawner is a first-year music major at Orange Coast College. Despite the fact that Hall does not own a laptop, he attests that GarageBand is ‘super easy’ to use. Just one week ago, he was presented with the program and was asked to compose songs for Tuesday’s event.
‘The store gave me a laptop and the program and just said ‘go,” Rob said.
The professional sound of Hall’s songs was impressive, especially considering how much experience he had with the program.
The first songs Hall and Brawner performed were reminiscent of the popular acid jazz band The Brand New Heavies
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