Watch Tim Cook make sweet music with GarageBand’s Chinese-flavoured update
GarageBand gets traditional Chinese musical instruments
Lookout China, Apple’s coming for you – and it’s bringing the pipa with it.
The latest version of GarageBand has just received a whole load of traditional Chinese instruments, including the erhu and Chinese percussion.
Apple has also created 300 different Chinese musical loops across Mac OS and iOS, as well as two new Chinese templates (traditional and modern) for GarageBand’s Live Loops on iOS. A
nyone with an ear for music can play the new instruments with surprisingly realistic results, using 3D Touch to control vibrato and intensity on an iPhone.
Of course, there’s no point in making music if you can’t share it, so the update also adds expanded sharing options to Chinese social networks like QQ and Youku.
Apple head honcho Tim Cook joined JJ Lin, Singapore’s musical boy wonder, to showcase the new app with a rendition of Lin’s new song. Using GarageBand’s freshly added erhu, JJ Lin launches into the opening strains of the tune before Tim Cook jumps in with the Chinese percussion.
Apple’s been making waves in China this year, with speculation growing on what it has in the pipeline after it invested in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.
We might not know what Apple’s grand plans are in the long run, we do know the quickest way to a country’s heart is through its culture – and it never hurts to play nice with a country that’s as influential and instrumental to growth as China.
Just ask Google.
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