Magix Music Maker 2005 Deluxe

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.

 



 

 




© Copyright 2000-2007 kickstartnews.com. All rights reserved. legal notice
home | previous reviews | forums | about us | search | store | subscribe

 

Forums Search Home Previous Reviews About Us Store Subscribe