Customer Reviews

Magix Music Studio 10 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]

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

 

 

I've been spoiled by FL Studio 5.0 and my demo copy of Project 5. A friend of mine was going to let go of his copy of Sonar 4 because he just bought Sonar 5. But he hasn't gotten around to it yet, and in my impatience I ventured into the software aisle of Comp USA looking for an inexpensive tool that I could use to automate the VST control interface of FL Studio while I lay down some audio tracks. I came across Magix Music Studio 10 Deluxe. By the looks of the screenshots and the promises on the box, as well as what few reviews I've found on the product, I decided to give it a shot.

I loaded it up and quickly discovered, however, that this kludge of a product had been literally sawed in two. The audio multi-track recording environment is one environment, while the MIDI and VSTi/DXi multi-track recording environment is a COMPLETELY SEPERATE PROGRAM!! Can you believe it? Yes, you can record audio, by loading WAV files but possibly in realtime also, within the MIDI recording environment. But all those nifty audio effects must be loaded up into the seperate program.

To make things worse, there does not appear to be a way to specify the default MIDI output device, so the MIDI Out on my MIDI controller is being used as the default device for MIDI playback because it's the first thing it finds. And if THAT wasn't bad enough, trying to use ASIO doesn't work for me because the ASIO drivers keep giving me messageboxes saying "cannot use clock rate of 44khz" or whatever. (I guess this is because my sound card--an Audigy--is set up for 48kHz.)

And if you're like me, you'll throw up over your computer monitor when you see the remnants of an 80's/90's-looking user interface filling up half of the product's windows. It still uses pixellated two-color toolbar icons that remind me of the days of System 6.x on the Macintosh.

I have not done enough tinkering to give it a full evaluation, right now I'm still recovering from the shock factor of how utterly useless this thing is. I should have gone with Sonar 4 Home Studio on the rack there, or Cakewalk Music Creator, or drove over to Guitar Center to pick up Cubase SE, or something, anything other than this.

Heck, the Voyetra offering looked to be better than this.

After becoming frustrated with the way Cakewalk handles system resources, I began to shop around for another option for my main recording software. A couple of years back I tried a fully functional demo of Samplitude (also made by Magix) and was highly impressed, though it was rather out of my price range. Just recently I found Music Studio in a local store, and the screen shots caught my eye because it resembled Samplitude so closely.

Hoping that this program could handle system resouces much like its bigger brother, I decided to take a chance. For $70, I found it hard to argue with. To put things into perspective, I'm running a 900Mhz processor with only 384 of RAM in XP. With Cakewalk, I could usually get up to 8 tracks before I noticed my resources starting to take a major hit. Real time effects were out of the question, except for maybe a general reverb patch. With the Audio Studio portion of Music Studio, I recently recorded up near 30 tracks, rerouted via virtual submix busses, EQing most channels, and adding some real time processing, and my system was perfectly fine. And if a situation might come up where your system is being hammered, Music Studio offers the option to freeze tracks in order to clear up resources.

Further, although it lacks some of the nice additions that Samplitude has, all of the everday basic features (and then some) are still here. The wave editor has some nice features for cleaning up tracks, and the time stretcher, when set to "Smooth", produces some impressive results. The various scopes and meters are a nice touch (spectroscope, phase correlation, oscilloscope, spectrogram, and more).

I really enjoy the realistic layout to the mixer view, along with the ability to assign a particular mixdown to a preset so that you can save and compare up to six separate mixdowns side-by-side.

It would be nice to have MIDI and audio built into one single program, but most of these issues can be resolved by downloading a free virtual MIDI router. I suspect (though I could be wrong) that these (MIDI and Audio) are two separate programs in order for the Audio portion to be programmed strictly around audio to allow for better handling of resources. The reason I suspect this is that I have generally had poor results with programs that feature audio and MIDI capabilities in one program. I could upgrade my system, but it makes a strong statement for a program to be able to produce the results that Music Studio does on the resources I have available.

In short, if you enjoy recording as a hobby and want quality results, Music Studio is the way to go. There will be a slight learning curve, but with a little work you will feel right at home and content with this program.

I have not used much recording software in the past but have talked to friends that do about the features of this product before I used it and after. I am a musician (teach guitar at a local music store and in my home) not a recording engineer although I have been around some recording projects for a CD we recorded and have seen the use of Pro-Tools I was concerned about how long it would take to figure out the interface.

I was concerned that I would be able to quickly get some guitar tracks laid down and be able to use the effects to produce demo-quality outputs (both MP3 and CD). I found that with only a few hours of trying, I could do most things I wanted to with the following exceptions:

- couldn't figure out an easy way to mark a section for copy (or cut) with a drag-n-drop operation. I found I could use a 'split track' feature to segment the area I wanted but there HAS to be a better way!

- some of the effects are not processed in real-time so you have to guess at the settings and then process the audio and then listed to see if you got it right (usually involved several cycles of un-do's to get it right). Maybe all the less-than-pro tools do it this way but I am not sure


- could not find a way to have the monitoring include the current track being recorded; could hear the previously recorded tracks just fine but had to split the signal before it went into the computer and then mix it with the other recorded tracks coming out of the computer to get a monitor signal that included what was currently being recorded; again, perhaps most software has trouble doing this because of the latency involved in processing the signal coming in so perhaps it wasn't obvious to me that this should be a problem; especially for vocalists, singers need to be able to hear themselves in addition to any previously recorded tracks

- disappointed in the manual and on-line help although I didn't expect very much; phone support with a knowlegeable resource would have saved a lot of time (my time) but never could find a support number to call that was open when I needed it (mostly evenings, of course!)



In spite of the above issues, I was very pleased with what I was able to produce and am willing to continue to work with it to get it done faster and better. In particular:

- the interface to capability including the mixer, recording track controls and effects features (chorus, eq, delay, etc.)were pictured as the hardware would look which greatly reduced any guessing about to operate it.

- I had no problem with the quality of sound produced either in MP3 form or on CD

- seemed to include a pretty wide range of effects that would total a lot of $ to own the actual hardware


For under $100, it is surprising to me what is available in this package and I expect to continue use it for future projects.


John C. Cochran

I have been creating music for most of my life. Whether it had been on a cheap keyboard, various music programs, Motif 7, digital recorders, MPC's, to other odds and ends, I haven't seen a manufacturer produce a better variety and user friendly computer based program(s) that will out do Magix. I was introduced to Magix programs in 2003. I found two people using Magix Audio Studio 6 and Music Maker 2004. I then bought the 2005 vers. of Music maker. I was astonished over the features it had. When I picked up this product I had a feeling I would stay with Magix for a while.
Audio Studio:
Magix has done it again. When I initially installed the program I went through some of the features and noticed it was two Magix programs thrown into one. The Mixer is upgraded to a more detailed, similar to most analog mixers, feature than any other program I have come across other than Pro-Tools. The effects rack has additional plugins ready for use rather than right clicking the object track. This program also has plugins including a filter, chorus, delay and flanger. I will be honest and tell you that it is not a wise decision to use the presets on these plugins. The only thing I didn't like about the program is the option(s) of panorama and smooth filters that Music Maker 2005 has.
Midi Studio:
I haven't really had a lot of time to work as much with the MIDI portion. This features offers wide variety of inputs with MIDI through its interface. It is not the best program for MIDI, but definately something you CAN work with.
Overall this program has improved production for me immensely. It is very user friendly. Whether you have years of experience or just starting out i would have to recommend this program to anyone creating music or making remixes.

I am not one to read the instructions, rather rely on screen prompts to use most software at first. All Magix products lack in this area. After playing around with the Audio software, I became hooked. I cannot make use of the MIDI program in the package, because I use it in my Notebook and the sound card sucks the big one! The effects are fairly good and the available tools are user friendly once you find them all. I have already used the program to record a couple of original tunes, one of which has actually gotten some air play locally. The verb and delay effects seem to be really clean. The delay puts me in mind of some of the older Lexicon outboard effects. The free distortion pedal download is a decent analog style distortion, once I was able to find where it was on Magix's site. This is an "NEW" but old program and Magix doesn't make it easy to get free downloads for old programs. Visually, the program is similar in layout to a professional system I use to use some twenty odd years ago. Over all I'm very pleased with this product other than the couple of things I mentioned. I run it on my notebook to allow me to do on-site/live recordings as well as my own personal home studio. My op-sys is Windows XP, Media Edition and I have found no problems thus far. I will upgrade to V11 after a newer version comes out. I would recomend this program to any one wanting a fairly decent traveling studio in a notebook.

LED

I've had the Magix Music Studio up and running for five days, so I don't yet know how to do anything beyond the simplest processes. I also don't have any previous experience recording music on my own. In fact, on the MMS I have only completed one 6 track acoustic song. That being said, my review will probably only be valuable to fellow beginners.

As you can see from my four star rating of the MMS, the positives heavily outweigh the negatives. On the positive side, the program looks great on the screen. The mixer screen and effects screens are very realistic looking. You can operate their most basic functions intuitively. I had no serious problems figuring out how to do the basics with these virtual components, i.e., laying down basic tracks, punching in and out to fix errors, applying effects to the tracks, doing a quick production mix. The sound quality of my "finished" song is much better than I ever thought it would turn out. I can't believe that after just ten hours or so I was able to produce a song of good quality.

There are some negatives, however. The MMS is not perfectly integrated with Windows. By that, I mean that you have to use Windows functions to control, for example, the input signal of your microphone. This wasn't a big deal, once I figured it out. But--and here's my main gripe--I couldn't find anywhere in the instuctions (in the booklet, online, or in their "how to" guide on the disk) how to adjust the level of the microphone. I had another microphone problem in that I couldn't find any instructions for how to turn the microphone on in the computer. I lost several hours to each of these admittedly minor problems. My real concern is, as I become more advanced, that I will have more problems using their instructions to find out how to do things. Moreover, some of their online responses in the FAQ sections of their webpage are clearly written by non-native English speakers. I think if they invested more effort in an online instruction manual that they would have a five star product.

First, let me make it clear that I have used Guitar Tracks Pro (GTP) for about 5 years, and in the 90's used the original Cakewalk sequencer software (multiple versions) for about 8 years. Consequently, I'm very used to working with their user interface. That said....

This product installs easily, and supports both computerized recording as well as midi sequencing. I have NOT used the midi portion at all.

There are actually 2 separate applications, the other is the Midi Studio, which does allow you to create recorded tracks for playing with midi tracks.

The recording application works well. My GTP has been hanging up my PC for some time, for no apparent reason, and the Magix doesn't do that. This app will certainly record tracks, provide tools for mixing and adding effects, and will export to .wav or other format files.

I found the track editor is not very intuitive, but this is largely due to how easy I find GTP's editor to work with. In Magix, clicking the top half of the clips allow you to do some things while clicking on the lower half allows you to do other things. This is confusing to an old guy like me, trying to figure out which half of the clip to click to do what I want.

It's not easy to block out a range for looping. And when you do, sometimes the looping stops (it's after an action on my part, but I can't figure out how to get it looping again once it stops). There are some other weird behaviors too - bottom line is it's just kind of klunky.

One other big negative for me is the lack of support for ACIDized files. You can't easily stretch a loop to the pitch or duration you want. There are tools for it, but I gave up on them. As I recall, you work in percentages - if I want to stretch a 132 BMP loop to 114, what percentage is that? Seems pretty un-thought out (in GTP, with an acidized loop, you set your song tempo and drop the loop in. That's it. If you then change the tempo, the loop changes too. NO fuss.) If I need to do this, I will use Cakewalk for changing the loop, export it as a new file, then import into Magix. Since that's not fun, I probably won't do it!

On the good side of things, though - I like this mixer much better than GTP. It has quite a few features built in to the mixer that GTP forces you to add a plugin for, such as dedicated EQ for each track, compression, reverb, delay, and AMP SIMULATOR, easily available on each track. Unlike GTP, you can type in paramters such as pan and levels. Cool!. The master section has it's own effects too, such as a multi-band compressor and stereo enhancer. No extra plugins required.

When you export a file, it remembers where the destination is (GTP always resets, at least if you exit the project, so you have to go browsing for it each time).

And the point I like the most - the export (when you do a mix down of the song to a single wav file) is MUCH FASTER THAN GTP! I don't know what language they wrote in, but all Cakewalk code used to be in C++, yet it's slower than dried snot flowing uphill. Magix is great.

I will use this product some because I'm doing some projects with a friend who uses it. I don't know what the mix will be, as I said I like some things better, but the lack of ACID support is almost a show stopper for me since all of my drum tracks are loops. If you use the software to record everything, and don't care about dropping pre-recorded loops into your song, I'd recommend this app.

The hard copy manual is poorly written (at least the english version - this app was not written by someone who has english as their first language), and says to refer to the online manual. The online manual may have more in it but it's poorly written too. It's not complete or topics are hidden - I have been unable to find answers to some of my questions, even using the search mode.

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Update, 4/23//2006

I had a need to do some short midi tracks. Since I'd bought the Magix Midi Studio (as indicated in another review here, it's a completely separate project), I decided to try it out.

I gave up after about an hour of trying to figure out how to get the sound card to work (never did). The other thing I tried was to find a piano roll type window. Couldn't find that either - I'm guessing all this product does is record midi from an external device and doesn't really provide any editing like the old Cakewalk or other midi editors.

But, I don't know for sure. What I do know is that the help is so poorly written and the help interface design is so crappy, that I gave up trying to figure it out.

I can't recommend this product at all to anyone (the entire Magix package). I can't point to a better midi product because I do so little with that any longer, but I would suggest Frooty Loops. I've tried the demo version of it that came with my Guitar Tracks Pro, versions 2 & 3, and the sounds are incredible, it provides easier editing to develop SHORT sequences (like a measure or two, in a loop format).

But, I would recommend Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro for a straight recording package. I use it constantly, and after having the Magix for a few months now, I only use it to exchange projects with a buddy. Even that's going to stop, since I sent him my GTPro 2 (I'm using version 3). Once we can exchange projects using the Cakewalk, this whole mess will get unloaded and the cd's will get filed along with all my old AOL cds. I can't say enough what a disappointment this product is and a waste of money.

This is a fabulous program. I love it. I'm older but it is easy to use.

excellent software. A+++ This is great because I like to freestyle and put out Top Hittin Tracks with My Crew called the JCrew look out for us thanks to Magix Music Studio 10

THe product came in fine and worked as expected no complaint for this Item