Audio to MIDI in GarageBand

Why this takes a converter

GarageBand has no audio-to-MIDI command, and it does not have the Flex Pitch conversion that Logic Pro has. What it does handle well is importing a MIDI file. So the job is: convert the audio outside GarageBand, then bring the .mid in.

Get a clean source

• Already in GarageBand? Solo the track, set the cycle area over the bars you want, and use Share → Export Song to Disk as WAV (uncompressed).
• A voice memo or phone recording? Use it directly. Humming or singing into the phone works if the room is quiet and nothing else is playing.

Either way, one instrument or one voice at a time converts far better than a mix, and a dry recording beats one with reverb.

Convert

1. Open the audio to MIDI converter and drop in the file. MP3, WAV and M4A all work; the conversion runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
2. Select up to sixty seconds.
3. Play it and switch between Original and MIDI. If the MIDI is a scatter of short notes, raise the minimum note length; if notes are missing, lower the sensitivity.
4. Set the tempo — to your GarageBand project tempo if you exported from one, otherwise to whatever the converter estimated or you know the take to be. Write it down.
5. Download the .mid.

Import on the Mac

1. Set the project tempo first, in the LCD at the top of the window, to the value you exported with. Do not rely on GarageBand picking the tempo up from the file.
2. Drag the .mid from the Finder onto a software instrument track, or into the empty space below the tracks to get a new one.
3. Pick a sound in the Library. The MIDI carries pitch, timing, length and velocity, so it will play on any instrument, not just a piano.

Import on iPhone or iPad

1. Save the .mid to the Files app or iCloud Drive.
2. In GarageBand, open Tracks view, tap the Loop Browser button, choose Files, then Browse items from the Files app and pick the file.
3. Drag it into the Tracks area. It arrives on a Keyboard track. Set the song tempo to match before you do, for the same reason as on the Mac.

Common problems

• Notes run ahead of or behind the beat. The project tempo does not match the tempo you exported with. Change the project tempo, or set the tempo in the converter and export again.
• The part sounds busy and fluttery. Usually reverb in the source, or slides in a vocal. Raise the minimum note length and merge repeated notes, then export again.
• Chords come out thin. Expected on dense material. A single melody line converts much better than full chords.

Afterwards

Open the region in the Piano Roll and fix what remains — a stray note, a note end that runs on. It is a draft of the part, and editing a draft is still quicker than playing it in again.