Software Alternatives & Reviews

GarageBand VS Surge XT

Compare GarageBand VS Surge XT and see what are their differences

GarageBand logo GarageBand

GarageBand is a fully equipped music creation studio for Mac

Surge XT logo Surge XT

Open-source subtractive-hybrid synthesizer formerly sold commercially as Vember Audio Surge.
  • GarageBand Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-15
  • Surge XT Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31

Surge XT is an open-source hybrid synthesizer and the synth which started the Surge Synth Team project!

GarageBand videos

Garageband review 2020 - WORST or BEST free DAW Mac?

More videos:

  • Review - Professional producer tries GARAGEBAND
  • Review - Garageband vs Logic Pro X: What's the Difference?

Surge XT videos

Free VST - Surge Synthesizer plugin

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GarageBand and Surge XT)
Audio & Music
80 80%
20% 20
Email Marketing
0 0%
100% 100
Audio
100 100%
0% 0
Work Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GarageBand and Surge XT

GarageBand Reviews

10 Best GarageBand Alternatives for Android
There was a time when making songs was a difficult and time-consuming task as songs were recorded live without autotuning, and supported by real-world instruments. But with time, technological innovations have led us to that point where we have Digital Audio Workstations to create, mix, edit, and fine-tune songs. These DAWs are so powerful software that they can process...
Top 18 Free Music Making Software for Beginners [2023]
GarageBand is a DAW developed by Apple, mainly for use on macOS PCs. It comes loaded with a robust sound library and features you can leverage to record, mix, and master music from one interface.
Expand Your Arsenal of Music Creation Tools With BandLab Alternatives
GarageBand is an iOS app that makes creating music on your iPhone or iPad easy. The app features various instruments and effects and the ability to record multiple tracks simultaneously using the built-in microphone or connected instrument input. You can also collaborate with others online by sharing projects or joining sessions in real-time.
Source: bandlabwin.com
5 PRO TOOLS ALTERNATIVES FOR RECORDING AND MIXING AUDIO
GarageBandGarageBand is a free DAW popular among music producers and sound engineers. It has a wide range of features for audio recording and mixing, as well as a built-in mixer.
9 Adobe Audition Alternatives That Do More Than Cleaning
Logic Pro is the big sister of GarageBand. Many users who started on the stripped-down DAW upgraded to Logic Pro after outgrowing its features.

Surge XT Reviews

We have no reviews of Surge XT yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Surge XT seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 178 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GarageBand mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GarageBand yet. Tracking of GarageBand recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Surge XT mentions (178)

  • Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
    Good stuff! I started getting in to this at the start of the year. Already had an old, dusty MicroKORG and MIDI interface to use it as a controller, but recently splashed out on a bigger controller as the Korg's tiny keys were hurting me - plus, I wanted something bigger to get better at piano! A couple of free soft synths I'd recommend are Surge XT, and Vital. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Obsolete (or not) DAW recommendations for windows 8?
    Https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ and https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ should work like a charm. Source: 10 months ago
  • Hi, I'm new
    To get the equivalent of a symphonic orchestra in your computer, the solution is basically money; you buy the instruments you need. In the case of synthesizers, things are much cheaper - if you put in the effort yourself. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ is excellent and could even be used if you wanted to make a more retro-style soundtrack. Source: 10 months ago
  • So is serum worth the money? Can someone ELI5 why I should buy it rather than use a free synth like synth one?
    Instead of Synth1, try https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ . It's pretty much better in every aspect except for the UI which is going to look a lot more daunting to you ;). Source: 10 months ago
  • These just appeared in my Facebook, anything to be excited about? I’m waiting on prices.
    For the DW-8000, check https://www.fullbucket.de/music/fb7999.html . Alternatively, https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ can use single-cycle waveforms (basically wavetables that don't change) which can get you close. Source: 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing GarageBand and Surge XT, you can also consider the following products

Audacity - Audacity is a free and open-source audio production software suite that includes a surprising array of editing tools and recording systems.

Vital - Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer with drag'n'drop modulation workflow and animated preview of the synth's inner workings where needed. Comes with many modulation sources (including audio-rate), MPE support and FX chain.

FL Studio - Image-Line's FL Studio, now on it's 12th version, is a well-known music production suite and the most popular beat processor on the market, due no doubt to its longevity. Read more about FL Studio.

Serum - VST for FL Studio, Ableton Live, and many other VST supported DAWs. Heavily utilized in EDM.

Reaper - Reaper is a focused digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Cockos. In the creation of the software, the digital audio technology company intended to make audio editing accessible to the masses.

ZynAddSubFX - ZynAddSubFX is an open source software synthesizer for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.