Customer Reviews

Music Maker DeLuxe 2004

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just bought this program and boy, am I sorry! There is so much wrong with this program it's hard to know where to begin. First off, it crashes quite frequently. The documentation is terrible. The "synthesizers" are worthless, except for the beat box, which is pretty cool (but which crashed on me whenever I tried to play the RockPop default beat). The guitar synthesizer is particular hopeless: there is a big echo and vibrato on the notes which is impossible to remove, and you have to include 64 bars (you can't just do, say, 8). The bass synthesizer's notes are transposed up a whole tone for some reason, and you can only play one note at a time. The samples are OK, but forget about it if you like rock music; there's next to nothing there. There isn't even a good generic bass sample, just weird funky stuff. There are tons of little interface glitches, annoyances, and misfeatures. I could go on and on and on, but the bottom line is that this software exhibits incredibly shoddy workmanship. If I were Magix, I would be deeply ashamed to have released something this bad.

I am a frequent user of Music Maker 7 Deluxe, and it is better on so many levels than this its insane. I was very stoked to buy this product when I heard it had guitar modelling and all the great features in 7 enhanced. BUT, I bought it and realized they took out some of my favorite drum sounds, which worked the best for rock (I am a drummer who likes to make rock music in MM). In addition, there are tons of bugs, crashes, and other annoyances to worry about. The guitar modelling is difficult to use and doesn't really sound like guitar (although its better than what you had before.) The interface is also worse than before. I am very disappointed and pray to god that a patch comes out so my 60 bucks isn't wasted. I will do all my music making in version 7, and maybe use 2004 dlux as a 60-dollar compressor. I'm very ticked right now.

This is not only (much like music maker generation 7) highly unstable but pretty useless on both my of my Sony Vaios (Computer Brand). Do not waste your money on this program it was a great disapointment because the crash ratio was higher them the running time.Even after cleaning my memory (as stated in the instructions)it crashed just as bad on both my Pentium 4 and my Athlon.Not only did it crash alot but the program effects broads, such as the guitar effects, need to be updated or done away with. They constintly errored out and most effects that was advertised on the box just plain out did not work. Stick with Sonic Foundry or final cut 4 both are alot better programs to work with.

I do better using the built-in Windows multimedia applications and the 'Nero' burner and wave editing software that was bundled with my CD burner. This was the MOST disappointing purchase I have ever made in my life. Nothing on the box even HINTS at the license agreement restrictions, which requires you to upgrade to a 'pro' (or 'royalty free') product if you don't want to include something similar to 'Created via MAGIX' in anything you publish, even the FREE stuff (either that or violate the license agreement), regardless of whether or not you use any of the samples. Further, I couldn't even load a simple MIDI file without the application CHANGING THE TEMPO and as well as all of the patch information in the process. So after converting the MIDI file to '.wav' format (using the windows application 'sndrec32' and the media player, like I usually do) I then added this track as #1, and started trying to add extra tracks, only to find out that the ONE feature that would have made this valuable was missing: NO 'per channel' graphic equalizers! And the "tone control" (not even a graphic EQ) had only 3 levels for bass, mid and treble! Even the free software that came with my CD Burner (namely, Nero Wave Editor) has a multi-band graphic EQ in it (and you can even change the frequencies for each band). So much for "effects". I was completely dissatisfied. I immediately uninstalled it and looked on the box for "money back guarantee" so I could return it. And you know what? There's no money back guarantee. (...).

If you are crashing....Music Maker Deluxe is my secret weapon, Music Maker Deluxe 2004 (MMD 2004) coupled with 2 other programs I currently use, are proving to be a winning combination for me. Those who have listened to the beats I am pounding out using MMD 2004 are astonished by the layered arrangements and effects this program gave me. Anyone out there who builds beats from scratch and limits their sampling would be impressed with this application. The virtual instruments are cool......bottom line!!!! Even the sampling savy "beat pirates" out there would enjoy this program. It works on my vaio buddy.....LOL The people that will have problems with this program don't read instructions and have too much porn saved to their hard-drive!!!!!!! I'm out

All this has basically been said, but I'm gonna sum it all up for you. First I'd like to point out that I have an album due to release this summer, using soley this program. There are a few glitches an irritations, but all of which can be overcome, so long as you actually think! There's a plethora of sounds and samples that are included with the program, and a good number of synths. Most of the actual instrumental synths are difficult, and awkward, but useful if you have the time to make it sound right. The generic synths are great, lots if different effects for them which make up for the lack of being able to play more than one note at a time. This can be overcome, by simply imputing another synth track directly under the one you want multiple notes played simultaneously, in fact, with 96 track slots you can do this with basically anything. The layering possibilities are endless. I would not recommend attempting to add VST's to the VSTi synth as it will make the program even more unstable, this is the most frustrating problem with the program, frequent crashes, highly annoying when you weren't able to make a save, but I presume that is why magix makes several backup saves quite periodically. The sampler synth is definately a plus, easily add more sounds by downloading free SF2 files and placing them in the appropriate folder, easily found. MM2K4D also has many many different effects that you can apply to anything you add to the sequencing area. Overall this is a very good program, that is quite simple and easy, excellent for the price. Look for my album Randomosity, by my band alias ActionTekJackson, check out here www.myspace.com/actiontekjackson and there you have a sample of just some of the things you can do with the program, quite easily I might add.

Look... If you need software to CREATE music but have no skills with music production, instruments or stuff then this is your tool. It's easy, it's fun and it's cheap, I'm 16 and on a parental buget so cheap is good. Loop based music arrangements like that old Sonic Foundry Acid program but cheaper and easier. I can use mp3 files, CD files, MIDI files and even video. I can even create a website with the software. Created a song in under 5 minutes, I added video later and I can't say enough about it.

I am hooked... this almost makes it to easy.

The only thing that is lame is that the mp3 encoder is extra. no biggie. I say if your into music you need this program.

has some bugs.
needs to be improved.
no staff notation.
no expression marks.
needs more sound variation.