Magix Music Maker 10 Deluxe review:4 stars (Big Improvement Over MM2005 Deluxe, But Still Not Perfect) - I have been using Magix Music Maker since version 7, and have seen it progress in terms of stability and features. This version is the most capable and stable yet, although it is not without problems.
To summarize the functionality of this application, it is a clone of Sony's Acid program. It is a loop sequencer with which you can quickly put together loop-based musical compositions. Included is a set of loops of varying styles to get you off the ground quickly, as well as a series of virtual synthesizers to create your own sounds. For the price, you get a lot right out of the box.
Central to the program is the main sequencer, which is simply a specialized grid onto which you can drag and drop your loops and synthesizer tracks. There is the ability to individually manipulate track data by varying volume and adding fade in/out effects, as well as a rather extensive collection of special effects for creating 3D effects in your audio. There is also an integrated effects rack for tweaking and "fiddling" to get the sound just right.
The synthesizers that are included are varied in nature and include a beat box, a drum machine, a "virtual drummer", copper, silver, classical guitar, a grand piano, an ambient sound generator, and a couple of others. While these are all useful, I have found that one cannot generate the "right sound" in every situation. Particularly limited is the new "LiViD" synth (Little Virtual Drummer) which seems to be just a loop-based drum generator with prerecorded tracks that allows you to tweak the drum tracks in a few interesting ways.
While the built-in synthesizers may leave you wanting a little more, there is a VSTi host for integrating other synthesizers that are downloadable from the net to allow you a wider range of unique sounds. In MM2005D I had consistent problems with the VSTi host, but the problems seem to have been addressed in this new version. Adding a couple of external synths is easy and can give a big boost to the range of sounds you can create. I am glad this feature seems to have received some attention.
One of the strongest features of this package is, in my opinion, the mixer, which allows one to manipulate individual tracks, setting volumes and balance as desired, all in a central place. This fine tuning capability enables one to get the track arranged perfectly without needing to go after every individual loop in the arrangement.
In spite of the good things I have to say about this application, it still is flawed. I have had it crash on me a few times, grabbing the CPU and not letting go and not doing anything. The solution was to kill it in the task manager, which is a poor way to close an unruly application.
Also, as was true with the 2005 edition, the program only allows a limited number of mp3 creations before requiring an additional fee if you want to use this feature. To get around this, I save my compositions as WAV files and convert them using LAME (free DLL that can be downloaded from the internet), which is an effective and no-cost solution.
Overall, this is a good application and allows the user to have hours of creative fun, building music tracks. It is not a perfect solution, but for the price it is worth the investment if loop-based music creation is of interest to you. |
