Making Music: Create! Play! Experience! Win/Mac

by Viva Media

Product Features

• Create, play, and experience music using only your mouse and imagination
• Innovative software by world-renowned composer Morton Subotnick
• Endless possibilities to draw original compositions on your screen
• Cool games teach rhythm, melody, pitch, musical instruments, and more
• Choose from 16 instruments; compose with 23 tools

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00015V59O
• Item model number: 00133
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 1, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,125 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #9 in Software > Video & Music > Software > MIDI
  • #18 in Software > Video & Music > Software > Music Creation & Sequencing
  • #57 in Software > Video & Music > Software > Notation & Composition
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Use Building Blocks to arrange intros, verses, and endings to make your own composition; even edit pitches and rhythms in each block to create new melodies. Mix and match melody, rhythm, and instruments in the Flip Book. Play games to determine higher or lower and same or different melodies. "Paint" notes on a virtual canvas, then stretch, reverse, change instruments, and change tempo and dynamics. REQUIREMENTS: Windows 95/ 98/ 2000/ ME/ NT/ XP *OR* Mac O.S. 7 to X (O.S. 9 preferred); external speakers or headphones (also sound card for Windows); QuickTime 5.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An old favorite remains the best of its kind!, April 20, 2004

By 

Martin Tolson, third grade teacher (Springfield, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Music: Create! Play! Experience! Win/Mac (CD-ROM)

As a third grade teacher, I had this product in my classroom for years, until one day it inevitably got lost. I have been looking for a new copy for a while, and was glad to find it available on Amazon. It is, in my opinion, the best program of its type. The concept is very easy, children paint in a KID PIX type of format onto a white board, and that painting is then translated into music. If you draw at the top of the screen you will have a high note, at the bottom a low note. The longer you draw the same pitch horizontally the longer the note will be held. The simplicity makes it accessible to kids as young as kindergarten, but there's lots of features that make it riveting for older kids and adults as well. You have a wide variety of instrument to "draw" your music with, and there are lots of options that allow kids to experience their compositions in different ways. Hear your opus backwards or learn what it sounds like if it were flipped upside down. This is a program that people of all ages will enjoy (it was one of everyone's favorites on parent night). Sometimes simpler really is superior, and this program is a perfect example.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting, but didn't hold their attention, August 25, 2006

By 

Laurie J. Neverman "The Common Sense Woman" (Denmark, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Making Music: Create! Play! Experience! Win/Mac (CD-ROM)

My two boys (8 and 6 years old) both really loved this program when we first installed it and couldn't get enough of it. The interface is easy to use and the screen is bright and colorful. The problem was that it just didn't hold their interest. After a few days of playing around with it, they got bored. You can only create very simple compositions and the novelty factor quickly wore off. It's not a bad buy for the money (the "real" composer software is much more expensive), but it just didn't have the long term "playability" of what I would consider a good software program.

2.0 out of 5 stars Neat idea, but hard to use., March 12, 2009

By 

Brent Lang - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Making Music: Create! Play! Experience! Win/Mac (CD-ROM)

I was excited by the concept of this product but was disappointed with the experience. I ran into troubles installing it, as it was forcing me to uninstall a newer version of Quicktime and use the older version on the CD. It also took longer to learn how to use and my kids 5 and 7 were frustrated with it quickly.