Magix Music Maker

Description

Over the years, game consoles have become much more than just hardware devices used to play videogames. Whether surfing the Internet, listening to music, watching DVDs, or compiling the latest Linux kernel, game consoles have evolved into hybrid multimedia machines through intention, and not. One of the more notable software releases that melded game consoles with music creation was Codemaster's MTV Music Generator for the PSOne. With the said "game," users could create beats and loops without the use of, say, a PC or a dedicated drum machine. Players could even output and record the sound using the console's audio I/O interface. As the market for this sort of thing is relatively niche (anyone dedicated to such a hobby assumingly has more flexible/powerful software), there has never been much competition in ways of like titles, but that hasn't stopped Magix from releasing Magix music maker for the PS2.

Magix music maker is more or less the equivalent of MTV Music Generator, sans the MTV license. Players can create beats, arrange loops, and even make corresponding music videos, though the videos are nothing more than Winamp-like plug-ins that produce bright colors and epileptic lighting patterns. All of this comes in a nice $10 package. Yep, you read that right. Walk into your local game store and you should be able to find Magix music maker for the same price as a night at the movies. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

The main navigation "hub" for music maker is the Studio. Here players will find a control panel of sorts that is divided into six virtual screens, each representing the interface for one of the six equipment selections. They are: the Work Screen, Control Monitor, the Mixer, the Video FX Screen, the Beatbox, and the Sampler. Let's start with the Work Screen. Think of the Work Screen as your canvas. Here you can arrange samples, choose sounds, see the video components; just about every general function is handled here in a timeline-based horizontal format that is relatively easy to use and analyze.