Overview
I recently had the opportunity to play around with and review Music Maker by Magix. Music Maker is a music creation program that has many instruments to choose from. To be fair, I don't really have much experience with music creation software, so this was also a learning opportunity for me as a musician. Playing around with Music Maker is no different from when I play around with real instruments; it's a lot of trial and error because I don't know the first thing about writing music. I play more with my ear than with musical academics. What makes music creation software different is that you have a multitude of instruments to play with and multiple ways to play with the sound. This was the daunting feature for me; the ability to play with instruments I never would have otherwise. Music Maker gives you a few instruments to play with to start out with and you can buy all the others at $29.99 each, and there are a lot of them. I have the free version which comes with just a grand piano, a drum kit, and a soundboard. With those alone there is so much you can do, so many sounds you can make just with the soundboard and available presets.
The user interface is reasonably intuitive. You can see your different windows and know what they are even if it seems daunting at first. The least intuitive part of the software for me was learning how to pair a MIDI controller to the software. My MIDI controller is a Jamstik+ and this was the first time I was really able to try it out as a MIDI controller rather than a guitar education tool. There was a delay between playing on the Jamstik+ and hearing the sound from Music Maker. However, Magix has you covered there as there is a latency slider so you can adjust the latency response time and play in real time with a MIDI controller. At that point, I felt the issues I was having were more to do with the Jamstik+'s settings rather than Music Maker. Playing with music creation software and MIDI controller really changes the game. Without a MIDI controller you use the keyboard to play instruments, and with a MIDI controller, you have a completely different layout to play all the instruments with. Let me tell you, playing drums and piano with a guitar is really weird. So what can Music Maker really do?
Music Maker
When you open Music Maker you are greeted with a track window, an instrument window, and a side window where you can select a new instrument, add loops, manage your files, and go into the native sound store. The loops are a great way to just get started jamming within Music Maker, just a select a loop and play on top of it. You can add any number of loops you want as well. In the track window you can add or remove tracks and instruments, rearrange tracks on the timeline, and record externally with a microphone. There's a built-in metronome, a fade in/fade out mixer, a peak meter, and other options, and even a volume slider.
Each of the instruments has their own controls and effects in the settings for that instrument in particular for you to adjust the sound to your liking. In the instrument window there are some general settings that include changing the octave/location on the instrument, entering the instrument settings, changing the scale, changing how you want to view the instrument as an instrument or in a more box-like form, and some automatic playing. Automatic may not be the best term, as you can change the scale within these options as well, but you can also change the length of the notes played, and you can select to hold for crescendo/decrescendo, and a couple other options. Outside of those options, there are some other options available such as audio effects, a mixer, and a master audio effect rack.
Given the instrument options and sound options, preset and not, the only real limit is your imagination. Being able to record multiple tracks and move them just where you want them gives you a huge amount of creative freedom. With all the instrument settings, there are so many unique sounds you can create to make music with. It does help to have some knowledge of the effects, but it's not required. You can play around with them and see what they do and sometimes that's where the best sounds and music come from. Unfortunately, to get some of the instruments you want, as I said, you have to pay for them unless you just record them with a microphone. Music Maker is not just about creating music with software instruments, it's also a way to mix your own music. That's just another great feature of the program and something I'm also looking forward to trying out at some point. The real question with Music Maker is what will you create with it?
Conclusion
Magix's Music Maker may not be the most feature-packed music creation software out there, but it does offer a lot of great things in a reasonably intuitive interface. There are plenty enough options for someone new to music creation software to get lost in. If this were your first time opening any music creation software it can look a little daunting, though it is easy enough to learn your way around. If you haven't played around with music creation software and are looking to get started, Music Maker would be a good choice because it doesn't overload you with options and features that you probably don't need getting started. I would have no issues recommending Music Maker to others and I'm excited to spend more time with it and really see what I can create with it. There are different package levels for Music Maker starting at free and the more expensive packages do come with more features. You can buy them directly from Magix right here.
I recently had the opportunity to play around with and review Music Maker by Magix. Music Maker is a music creation program that has many instruments to choose from. To be fair, I don't really have much experience with music creation software, so this was also a learning opportunity for me as a musician. Playing around with Music Maker is no different from when I play around with real instruments; it's a lot of trial and error because I don't know the first thing about writing music. I play more with my ear than with musical academics. What makes music creation software different is that you have a multitude of instruments to play with and multiple ways to play with the sound. This was the daunting feature for me; the ability to play with instruments I never would have otherwise. Music Maker gives you a few instruments to play with to start out with and you can buy all the others at $29.99 each, and there are a lot of them. I have the free version which comes with just a grand piano, a drum kit, and a soundboard. With those alone there is so much you can do, so many sounds you can make just with the soundboard and available presets.
The user interface is reasonably intuitive. You can see your different windows and know what they are even if it seems daunting at first. The least intuitive part of the software for me was learning how to pair a MIDI controller to the software. My MIDI controller is a Jamstik+ and this was the first time I was really able to try it out as a MIDI controller rather than a guitar education tool. There was a delay between playing on the Jamstik+ and hearing the sound from Music Maker. However, Magix has you covered there as there is a latency slider so you can adjust the latency response time and play in real time with a MIDI controller. At that point, I felt the issues I was having were more to do with the Jamstik+'s settings rather than Music Maker. Playing with music creation software and MIDI controller really changes the game. Without a MIDI controller you use the keyboard to play instruments, and with a MIDI controller, you have a completely different layout to play all the instruments with. Let me tell you, playing drums and piano with a guitar is really weird. So what can Music Maker really do?
Music Maker
When you open Music Maker you are greeted with a track window, an instrument window, and a side window where you can select a new instrument, add loops, manage your files, and go into the native sound store. The loops are a great way to just get started jamming within Music Maker, just a select a loop and play on top of it. You can add any number of loops you want as well. In the track window you can add or remove tracks and instruments, rearrange tracks on the timeline, and record externally with a microphone. There's a built-in metronome, a fade in/fade out mixer, a peak meter, and other options, and even a volume slider.
Each of the instruments has their own controls and effects in the settings for that instrument in particular for you to adjust the sound to your liking. In the instrument window there are some general settings that include changing the octave/location on the instrument, entering the instrument settings, changing the scale, changing how you want to view the instrument as an instrument or in a more box-like form, and some automatic playing. Automatic may not be the best term, as you can change the scale within these options as well, but you can also change the length of the notes played, and you can select to hold for crescendo/decrescendo, and a couple other options. Outside of those options, there are some other options available such as audio effects, a mixer, and a master audio effect rack.
Given the instrument options and sound options, preset and not, the only real limit is your imagination. Being able to record multiple tracks and move them just where you want them gives you a huge amount of creative freedom. With all the instrument settings, there are so many unique sounds you can create to make music with. It does help to have some knowledge of the effects, but it's not required. You can play around with them and see what they do and sometimes that's where the best sounds and music come from. Unfortunately, to get some of the instruments you want, as I said, you have to pay for them unless you just record them with a microphone. Music Maker is not just about creating music with software instruments, it's also a way to mix your own music. That's just another great feature of the program and something I'm also looking forward to trying out at some point. The real question with Music Maker is what will you create with it?
Conclusion
Magix's Music Maker may not be the most feature-packed music creation software out there, but it does offer a lot of great things in a reasonably intuitive interface. There are plenty enough options for someone new to music creation software to get lost in. If this were your first time opening any music creation software it can look a little daunting, though it is easy enough to learn your way around. If you haven't played around with music creation software and are looking to get started, Music Maker would be a good choice because it doesn't overload you with options and features that you probably don't need getting started. I would have no issues recommending Music Maker to others and I'm excited to spend more time with it and really see what I can create with it. There are different package levels for Music Maker starting at free and the more expensive packages do come with more features. You can buy them directly from Magix right here.
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