In this lesson Andy takes us through software instruments, more commonly known as VST Instruments (a.k.a. VSTIs or just VSTs). The Piano Roll is what we use to play these instruments - it's literally just a piano keyboard spread down the left hand side of the screen. We can use the mouse to add notes on the grid.

Key points

• The grid shows note pitch vertically, and time horizontally
• The time aspect of the grid is separated into bars and beats, so setting the tempo is important when making music in this way
• GarageBand has loads of great VST Instruments built in, but you can also find more online