Can I configure Garageband differently on two different OSX user accounts?

January 2, 2005 11:18 AM

On my Mac OS X 10.3.5 machine, I have two user accounts. Is it possible to set up the Garageband music software so that one of the user accounts contains only the original installation of Garageband loops and effects... and the other user account contains the original installation, plus all other loops and effects I've installed from subsequent Jam Packs?
posted by skylar to computers & internet (3 comments total)

User folders have their own Library folder.

Each Library folder has an Application Support folder that can contain resources for the application in question. This may be where GB keeps loops.

Each Library folder also has an Audio -> Plug-Ins -> Components folder which stores Audio Unit effects and instruments (Garageband effects are AU effects).

You might try moving items from the system-wide Library -> Application Support and Library -> Audio folders to the individual user's respective Library subfolders, if GB puts items here for use by all users.

In your case, you'd move the Jam Pack items from the system-wide Library folder into your user Library folder.
posted by AlexReynolds at 12:02 PM on January 2, 2005

Thanks Alex - I can confirm that all the Garageband files are in the system-wide Library folder, where Garageband seems to install the items by default.

With the loops, it's easy to identify which ones came from the original installation and which came from the Jam Packs, because the loops are in separate folders. Unfortunately I'm having trouble separating out the effects and instruments, because they seem to all be in together.

Can anyone recommend an easier way to define which user folders these items get installed into?
posted by skylar at 1:30 PM on January 2, 2005

Have you ever messed with Color Labels in the Finder? Pick a file, select a Color Label from the File menu, and you can differentiate default installed files from later ones. In the Preferences dialog, you can even assign names to the colors you're using so you don't forget which color means what.

(In pre-OS X, you could change the colors as well, and assign a transparent color to all 'virgin' files, which was sometimes quite useful. There might be a hack somewhere to change the value of the colors, but I don't know what that'd involve.)
posted by kimota at 7:25 PM on January 2, 2005