Magix Music Maker 10 Deluxe Software

not worth it

11/24/2009

Did not have full funtion of controls....Magix did not help, said product too old. this is a 2000 version. save your money.

A lot of good things, and a few omissions

9/2/2007

I upgraded from version 5 to version 10 last year. This product features two different software programs, the Music Studio and the MIDI studio.
The music studio functions like a recording studio, and provides easy editing of a multi-track recording, with intuitive, easy-to-use effects.
If you're used to dragging and clicking things in other computer applications, it's not at all hard to figure out how to do it in Music Studio 10. The features list is far more than one needs to easily record and remix in Music Studio 10. The Music Studio side offers a number of synthesizers and effects. the effects are easy to use. The synthesizers
are not too difficult, but underwhelm me somewhat. For example, the "natural" drum machine LiVid, aims to provide easy "instant" percussion, but in my experience its "instant" beats rarely satisfy.
On the other hand, if one wishes to create ("sequence") notes into a simple synthesizer to supplement one's song with individual composition, the synths are useful for this purpose.

The main place to create new music, as opposed to record music, is the MIDI Studio. This studio lets one write songs which can be played back
using either general MIDI, several in-built synthesizers, or by adding "VST plug-ins", which are little plug-in additions to host programs which may be easily obtained from a number of on-line sites (there are freeware, shareware and commercial ware synths readily available).

I've never made much use of the MIDI studio, although it has a lot of functionality. Here I find myself disappointed with the tutorial materials. The materials included with the handbook and the software are
not well-written. In some cases, they seem to be transliterations from German written by people who do not put themselves in the mind of the consumer who actually wants to make music with the software. I find myself using other software for my MIDI sequencing as a result.

In mitigation, Magix runs a forum which is staffed by really knowledgable volunteers, which helps with support. Also, lately Magix tutorials which are more useful show up at the recognized on-line video sites where people go to watch short video. Still, for me, Music Studio is by far the more useful device, as MIDI studio has never seemed as user-friendly to me.

Music Studio is great software if you want something more featured than freeware programs like Audacity, but want to keep the price affordable.
Both versions 10 and 11 have come down a good bit in price, and what was formerly good value for the money is now incredible value for the money.

I have done a number of ccmixter.org remixes using Music Studio 10, and have been very happy with the product. I wish the product had even more tools to assist the remixer, but the bpm detection, "elastic audio easy" for pitch tuning and other devices are of some use. Still, it's not a bad rudimentary remixing station, and it's a very capable recording workstation.

This is not perfect software, but it's very good software. If Magix put as much thought into getting routine technical writing done by people attuned to the new user's musical goals, then this product would improve dramatically. But Magix does try, and this is a good product.

Great product !

7/14/2007

This software is easy to use and it doesnt take long to figure out the many options it has to make great music.

Makes you feel like a pro

4/3/2007

This product is great!It is pretty easy to use and to navigate around. You can produce a nice sounding track once to get the hang of it.I have several songs I made already on my personal website and people are rating them!

Great for the money to throw down some tunes

1/31/2007

I am a blues/rock/experimental musician with intermediate skill with both instruments and recording software. I don't have the time or money to devote to learning high dollar pro-tools, etc. I was familiar with cakewalk prior to this purchase. For the dollar, this was a great bargain to do my recording. That being said, I'm a one-take kind of guy who doesn't like to do much tweaking on the mixdown or master.

So I highly recommend this product if you fit the following traits:
1. Don't have money or time to learn the professional toolsets
2. Are computer-literate (lots of drag and drop action)
3. You are not overly picky or have high expectations of the software.
4. Just want to have a little fun.

I did find issues with stability on Windows XP Home with the latest SP. The software has crashed a couple of times.

Another complaint is the drum synth doesn't sound right when you slow down the tempo. Maybe there is a workaround but if you want to play a song at 93 BPM the best bet is to use an external drum machine as opposed to the kits provided in this software.

There are plenty of mixdown and editing features available for those who do editing and mastering.

I wouldn't use it if I were recording a professional-quality CD, although it probably could be done. Definitely a good starting point for young or inexperienced recorders.