JAMES EARL This is a quite exceptional product which any musician or aspiring musician should try. Just occasionally a program comes along that immediately feels like it ‘fits’, and is elegant, intuitive, unbloated and highly innovative. Easy Beat has all these attributes.(the last program I can remember feeling like this about was the early ClarisWorks!) Easy Beat’s note-entry scheme puts other sequencer programs to shame (no fiddly set of tools, just a cursor which changes depending on your actions). The drum view is a brilliant tool for writing beats. The midi set-up is incredibly easy - it worked first time for me (compare to almost any other sequencer!). The printed scores are excellent. The wonderful way you can change time signature by stretching the first bar time indicator, lengthen bars to see more clearly, and... a hundred other things. Easy Beat’s support is second to none: I received a reply to a query within two hours! I finally read the (superb) manual for pleasure - I didn’t need it to use it to understand the program. Easy Beat is permanently installed on my iBook (works great on an 700 G3). After trying it for three days I bought a licence. I am a professional jazz musician in London (and have no connection with the company.) Garageband, for those wondering, is a very different beast: the programs are not in competition and I use Garageband occasionally. (If anyone wants me to expand on that I’d be happy to be emailed.) (Version 2.0) |