Reviewed
by: Mario
Georgiou, August 2004,l
Published
by: MAGIX, go
to the web site
Requires: Windows
98 through XP
MSRP: US$79.95,
UK£49.99
When
I receive suite based-products I find myself in a
quandary as to how to approach reviewing them. Magix
Music Maker 2005 Deluxe is a music production environment
which facilitates the creation, mixing, recording
and publishing of music for the enthusiast. It is
a modal environment which is scalable to the user's
experience level. The range of tools provided with
Music Maker Deluxe is very extensive and if I were
to list each feature it would require as much room
as I have for the entire review. This product is
feature rich and of a quality which surprised me.
With this suite you can arrange and remix live, while
editing with a mouse, playing a keyboard or while
using another MIDI instrument. The suite also facilitates
the production of Audio CDs, MP3s, Videos and Web
Publishing.
Music
production using Magix Music Maker is a breeze with
tools such as vocalizers, virtual synths, drum machines
(Robota), vocoders, loopers and a text-to-speech
module which is pretty cool. The remix agent intelligently
recognizes beats in your CD and MP3 tracks and then
allows you to create a perfect mix. While this tool
will not make you into a good DJ, it will allow you
to have hours of fun with your music. |
|
Beat
Box 4.0 and Drum & Bass Machine 3.0 were great for
helping me create breakbeat and drum & bass style mixes.
The inclusion of virtual turntables completes the picture
by adding the capability to scratch, mix and cross-fade
your music. Other favorites include the Ambient Synth which
can be used to create great background sounds and chill-out
type elements for those mood swings and lazy summer nights.
Editing
your music and samples is easy too, with a whole array
of tools for pitch-shifting, time-stretching and tuning.
With support for up to 96 tracks, creating your masterpieces
has never been so easy. One caution here is that with so
much to play with its easy to get lost while playing.
The Video
Creation tools in this Suite are also a lot of fun, with
an integrated virtual video controller for special FX and
an audio visualization component which syncs animated visuals
to your music. The mixing unit also creates transitions,
animated credits and captions.
The sound
and files libraries supplied with this suite are quite
extensive with over 2400 samples and loops and over 1600
audio effect templates being among the many incorporated
elements available for you to play with. Sounds included
in the UK edition were samples from styles like 2 Step,
Disco House, Hip-Hop, Nu Metal, Score Music and Techno/Trance.
The Internet
capabilities of this suite are well-integrated and nicely
done. The weakest part of the Internet functionality is
the selection of templates. Although individually well
done, there's not a lot of a variety. Support for e-mail
programs is limited to Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.
Cons: Easy
to get lost in the multitude of features. Big learning
curve. You need a lot of screen real estate to use this
program efficiently.
Pros: Many
great tools. Overview mode is a great feature allowing
easy navigation of your production. The extensive library
is of great value to all users no matter how new or how
far advanced they are. If you're looking for an all around
music creation tool to play with, then this is your baby.
What is really nice about Music Maker Deluxe is that it
will give you plenty to think about and an insight into
just how easy it is to make music these days. It will also
demonstrate how hard it is to make good music because although
Magix Music Maker is more than capable of generating professional
sounding results, as with all good music tools you have
to have a clear vision in the first place of what you want
to produce. I've often made music up in my head, now I
have a composition tool to play with that is almost as
easy as just thinking it up. Highly Recommended.
