Features

• Import music CDs or load your MP3, OGG Vorbis, WAV and WMA files
• Convert existing ringtones into MP3, WAV, AMR, SMAF and ADPCM formats
• Record your own voice to create a truly personalized ring tone
• 4-Track mixer customizes your ring tone sound
• Mix your own imported sounds with the included music loops

Product Description

Soundtrack Pro, Upgrade ... Read more

Features

• Includes over 5,000 sound effect and music Apple Loops, a console-style mixer with control surface support, synchronized external video display support, AppleScript support, ambient noise print, audio time stretching, and multi-take recording.
• Waveform Editor With Action-based Editing—Allows editors to reorder, suspend, and delete any audio edit or process at any time.
• Intelligent Find-andFix—Lets editors quickly identify and repair common audio problems.
• Professional Effect Plug-ins—Editors can expand their sonic and creative palettes with over 50 professional effects plug-ins.
• Multitrack Editor and Mixer—Soundtrack Pro features a multitrack editor that allows you to build complete projects with hundreds of audio tracks.

Product Description

Turn your PC or laptop into a MIDI Music Recording Studio. Record Producer MIDI Edition software lets you record, edit and play music with your MIDI keyboard, and you don’t have to know how to read music. Record one track at a time from your keyboard to create lush orchestration with different instrument sounds. You can even print sheet music! Includes USB MIDI cable. ... Read more

Features

• IBM PC or compatible, with Windows-compatible SVGA display and 16-bit soundcard Pentium II class 233 MHz processor (400MHz for Windows 2000/XP) Windows 98/Me 64 MB RAM, Windows 2000/XP 128 MB RAM 16 MB of hard disc space for program.
• Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home and Professional A 16x or faster CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive 800x600 high color (16 Bit) MIDI MUSIC KEYBOARD: (or controller) required
• USB PORT: required INTERNET ACCESS: required RECOMMENDED: Pentium II class 400 MHz processor (700 MHz for Windows 2000/XP) Windows 98/Me 128 MB RAM, Windows 2000/XP 256 MB RAM.
• VOYETRA TU

Reviews (5)

WARNING: SPYWARE
"System Requirements: Internet Access" The included software is spyware / 30 day shareware even though you paid for it. Very irritating multi pop-up messages that demand access to the internet. They are time consuming to dismiss.

DO NOT BUY IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS XP
This software says it's supports Windows XP but it does not. Voyetra does not have good customer service. This is what Voyetra had to say about this package:

"The USB Music Studio Kit is compatible with Windows XP. The drivers just aren't XP certified, but that doesn't mean they don't work.

They do work of course, otherwise how could we sell it?"

If you are on XP it will give you a warning that it is not XP certified and it may damage your system.

If you have $50 to gamble on this package then go for it.

Setup is a challenge, but performance is awesome
I have finally connected my Yamaha PSR-225GM keyboard to my Toshiba XP laptop and now I am recording music directly from the keyboard into MIDI format.The software takes a while to get used to and there are some places where it might have been more user-friendly, but it is powerful and easy to use once you understand it.I like how you can select and move notes, change the length of the notes, change the musical instrument, and print out music.The music recording captured dynamics.

Getting things to work took a lot of time.I spent a few hours and was about to give up.I am still not sure which of the things I tried made the recording to work.I ended up using the Edirol UM-1SX (purchased separately) instead of the USB MIDI cable that came with the studio kit.I configured the keyboard MIDI settings to channel 1 and made sure the MIDI would be sent out.I uninstalled and reinstalled the application.Then tried recording and voila it worked!Used EDIROL as MIDI input and Microsoft MIDI Mapper as MIDI output.

Good value! Software registration needs Internet connection
I bought it because I neded USB to MIDI adapter cable to use my older Windows 2000 laptop with my MIDI keyboard. MIDI worked as soon as I installed the software from CD. The only thing I do not like is the registration with included Voyetra Record Producer software, it forces registration throught Internet to be able to use the software or it goes in 30 days demo mode.

Didn't work on my Windows XP system
I'd like to be able to say more about this product but I've
been unable to get the included MIDI cable working with my
Toshiba XP system.I've exchanged about 10 emails with their
support person, but so far still no luck.He insists that they
have tested it successfully with other XP installations, but since they can't tell me why it doesn't work with mine, I'd be concerned that it may not work with yours. ... Read more

Product Description

Sibelius and PhotoScore Pro Bundle. Sibelius 3 is the brand new version of this award-winning software, with over 200 new features and feature enhancements. PhotoScore Professional is the most advanced software package of its kind. The Sibelius Educational Editions are intended solely for the use of qualified students, educators, educational institutions, and church and music ministry personnel residing in North/Central/South America. ... Read more

Product Description

Cakewalk® PYRO® Plus is the all-in-one digital media creator for enjoying, organizing, backing up, and sharing photos, music, video, and data on CDs, DVDs and the Internet.

• PYRO Plus provides an integrated environment where you can create enhanced slideshows with photos, video and background music
• Build Web-ready photo albums with thumbnail index pages and captions
• Arrange your digital video & music into playlists for personal best of compilations
• rip, record, enhance, mix, and burn your favorite digital music.
• Create VCDs or DVDs of your slideshows and digital videos that play on home DVD players
• Make photo albums ready to upload to the web, or burn them to CD or DVD
• Take your music with you on your portable music player, burn it to audio CD or data CD/DVD, encode it to MP3 or WMA for Internet sharing
• Make back-up copies of audio or data CDs with just one click
• Archive valuable data files to DVD or CD

Reviews (2)

SAVE YOUR MONEY
THIS PROGRAM IS TERRIBLE...ON TRYING TO BURN VIDEO DVD'S IT HAS NO SOUND OR IF IT DOES IT SOUNDS LIKE THE "CHIPMUNKS".
ON SOME MP3 FILES AGAIN IT'S LIKE HAVING THE "CHIPMUNKS" AT YOUR COMPUTER.
TECHINAL SUPPORT...HA HA HA...NO HELP...
SAVE YOUR MONEY OR INVEST IN ANOTHER PROGRAM........

Cakewalk is no cakewalk!
I purchased Pyro Plus specifically to organize photos, create slideshows and have more control over music playlists. Unfortunately, the program is severely lacking in the image processing department. Cakewalk has failed to meet even the basic fundamentals in image processing with this program and their advertising would have you believe otherwise. Audio features are adequate but are lacking in more sophisticated features such as tempo/beat matching between mixed tracks. Again, contrary to advertising. I personally found technical support to be polite, yet unhelpful and evasive. Their advice was to spend another $100 to actually purchase the features that I had been duped into believing I was purchasing in the first place.Thanks, but no thanks! My advice is to carefully review the features you must have, (like I did), however do not purchase unless you can download a trial version! This way you will likely find software worth paying for. I hope this saves a few people 50 bucks!
... Read more

Product Description

Soundtrack Pro ... Read more

Features

• Includes over 5,000 sound effect and music Apple Loops, a console-style mixer with control surface support, synchronized external video display support, AppleScript support, ambient noise print, audio time stretching, and multi-take recording.
• Waveform Editor With Action-based Editing—Allows editors to reorder, suspend, and delete any audio edit or process at any time.
• Intelligent Find-andFix—Lets editors quickly identify and repair common audio problems.
• Professional Effect Plug-ins—Editors can expand their sonic and creative palettes with over 50 professional effects plug-ins.
• Multitrack Editor and Mixer—Soundtrack Pro features a multitrack editor that allows you to build complete projects with hundreds of audio tracks.

Product Description

MusicTime Deluxe is the easiest way to make music with your computer using your soundcard or MIDI instrument. Whether you are a beginner, hobbyist, or professional, MusicTime Deluxe gives you the power to create and print music with lyrics, text and guitar chords on up to 16 staves. The Easy Way to Write, Play, and Print Music! Educator Version 3.5 for Windows and Mac. For Educators Only. ... Read more

Features

• Produce musical scores quickly and easily with MusicTime Deluxe's clear, intuitive user interface
• Notate up to sixteen staves with up to eight instruments per staff
• Prints beautiful sheet music on your printer
• Enter music with your mouse or from your computer keyboard
• Record your performance live using a MIDI keyboard for instant display of notation

Product Description

Thousands of sounds, great effects and instruments, live recording, vocal pitch correction and Remix Maker make MAGIX music maker 10 deLuxe a universal music toolfor beginners and advanced musicians alike.

Includes:

• MAGIX LiViD - Little Virtual Drummer
• Ringtone generator
• Two CDs of sound loops
• Vintage Effect Suite PLUS: Chorus, Flanger, and Delay and ModFilter
• MAGIX Task Assistant
• New mixer functions
• Enhanced remix automation
• MAGIX Media Manager 2004 silver
• Expanded MIDI editor
• Optimized start and end marker handling
• MAGIX Low Latency - Realtime live audio input24-bit
• DVD support - Burn data DVDsBonus CD with sound loops

Features

• Use the Magix LiViD virtual drummer, for digital percussion with human performance qualities
• New ringtone generator lets you export your own sounds to common cellular phone audio formats
• Comes with 2 CDs featuring 3,000 new loops, samples, effect presets and video clips
• Burn data to a DVD, archiving your entire sound library
• Work with professional effects like Chorus, Flanger, Modulated Filter and Delay

Reviews (1)

Big Improvement Over MM2005 Deluxe, But Still Not Perfect
I have been using Magix Music Maker since version 7, and have seen it progress in terms of stability and features. This version is the most capable and stable yet, although it is not without problems.

To summarize the functionality of this application, it is a clone of Sony's Acid program. It is a loop sequencer with which you can quickly put together loop-based musical compositions. Included is a set of loops of varying styles to get you off the ground quickly, as well as a series of virtual synthesizers to create your own sounds. For the price, you get a lot right out of the box.

Central to the program is the main sequencer, which is simply a specialized grid onto which you can drag and drop your loops and synthesizer tracks. There is the ability to individually manipulate track data by varying volume and adding fade in/out effects, as well as a rather extensive collection of special effects for creating 3D effects in your audio. There is also an integrated effects rack for tweaking and "fiddling" to get the sound just right.

The synthesizers that are included are varied in nature and include a beat box, a drum machine, a "virtual drummer", copper, silver, classical guitar, a grand piano, an ambient sound generator, and a couple of others. While these are all useful, I have found that one cannot generate the "right sound" in every situation. Particularly limited is the new "LiViD" synth (Little Virtual Drummer) which seems to be just a loop-based drum generator with prerecorded tracks that allows you to tweak the drum tracks in a few interesting ways.

While the built-in synthesizers may leave you wanting a little more, there is a VSTi host for integrating other synthesizers that are downloadable from the net to allow you a wider range of unique sounds. In MM2005D I had consistent problems with the VSTi host, but the problems seem to have been addressed in this new version. Adding a couple of external synths is easy and can give a big boost to the range of sounds you can create. I am glad this feature seems to have received some attention.

One of the strongest features of this package is, in my opinion, the mixer, which allows one to manipulate individual tracks, setting volumes and balance as desired, all in a central place. This fine tuning capability enables one to get the track arranged perfectly without needing to go after every individual loop in the arrangement.

In spite of the good things I have to say about this application, it still is flawed. I have had it crash on me a few times, grabbing the CPU and not letting go and not doing anything. The solution was to kill it in the task manager, which is a poor way to close an unruly application.

Also, as was true with the 2005 edition, the program only allows a limited number of mp3 creations before requiring an additional fee if you want to use this feature. To get around this, I save my compositions as WAV files and convert them using LAME (free DLL that can be downloaded from the internet), which is an effective and no-cost solution.

Overall, this is a good application and allows the user to have hours of creative fun, building music tracks. It is not a perfect solution, but for the price it is worth the investment if loop-based music creation is of interest to you. ... Read more

Product Description

Perfect for students and beginning musiciansMusicWrite Starter Kit is a great way to learn how notes, rhythm and harmony work together to create music. Click on the music staff to add notes, and instantly hear what they sound like. Compose a few bars and hit "Play" to hear what you’ve just composed. Compose, print, play and learn music!

The easy way to create musicIncluded lessons give you the foundation you need to start composing music. Learn basic concepts quickly, even if you’re a complete novice, or brush up on your music knowledge if you already know how to play an instrument.When your compositions are ready, print them out as clean, professional-looking sheet music, complete with title and lyrics. ... Read more

Product Description

Developed to provide an exciting new way for guitarists and songwriters to produce and convert guitar tablature, G7 delivers unparalleled ease-of-use and product features never available before in tab software, and is designed for use with PC or Mac platforms (including Mac OS X).G7 is the perfect tool for guitarists of any level to create tab faster and easier than ever before, add lyrics and chord symbols and instantly create lead sheets or Piano-Vocal-Guitar arrangements. G7 also enables guitarists to scan tab and instantly turn it into standard notation (sheet music) or scan standard notation and turn it into tab. G7 reads and saves ASCII tab and MIDI file formats so musicians can share music by email or on the internet. The intuitive virtual fretboard allows guitarists to enter tab by clicking on frets, and the fretboard displays fingerings as it plays back making it easy to learn new songs. In addition to being a tab authoring solution, G7 contains the G7 Guide, a complete information source for guitars, playing techniques and musical styles, with audio examples and useful musical illustrations to help players write and play better. The Guide provides a fully comprehensive tutorial and teaching materials for guitar teachers and all students of guitar. HighlightsGuitarists can enter tab via an interactive fretboard, mouse, keystrokes, playing live, or scanning;The interactive guitar fretboard provides a visual representation of how to play the musi... ... Read more

Features

• This special set of lessons and exercises is designed by professional guitarists, to show you exactly what you need to know
• Understand the basics by reading & playing along
• Turn the guitar tabs you read & play into standard notation, for easier reading & transcribing
• Fast creation of your own signature riffs
• Create your own lead sheets and post your songs on the Internet

Reviews (9)

Better than I expected
Being a teacher and bandleader, and new to computers, I needed an easy program to help me prepare lessons, and more importantly to make my originals readable on the job, usually in low light situations. Some of my tunes have twists and turns, and my handwriting isn't beautiful. My computer-savvy colleagues spoke highly of Sibelius and so I gave G7 a shot. It does the work I need simply, elegantly, and most importantly, I found it easy and fast to figure out. It certainly does a lot for the money, too. I'm very satisfied.

Save Time, Effort and Money
I run a Master's Degree Program in Instructional Technology and am always impressed when a program can teach well. The animated fretboard in G7, and the ability to seamlessly go between standard notation and guitar tablature are superb. As a guitarist, I'm stunned by the number of uses I have already found for G7. It is also incredible for eliminating "grunt" work which guitarists, teachers and students have always had to go through. I almost feel guilty for having paid so little for it...almost. If you play the guitar and don't have G7, you are wasting time, effort and money.

Excellent software for songwriters
This software is great.
The documentation is excellent and I was up and running really fast.You can input notes from a MIDI keyboard or MIDI Guitar, as well as clicking or typing the notes in (using a,b,c,d,e,f,g!).
You can add lyrics, chord symbols and chord diagrams, and there's a guitar guide with it to help you learn even more.FABULOUS!!

Very poor functionality
This software is a MAJOR disapointment.I've tried for 4 hours (learning curve) to build a simple lead sheet and I can't get past 16 bars.This software is full of bugs.I tried to add lyrics but when I came to a half note at the start of a measure that was tied to a note from the previous measure the lyrics jumped to the following measure, skipping 4 eighth notes, making it useless.You have no flexiblity in the lengths of measures. They seem to take on a life of their own. Not only do they become either too long or too short, the page jumps all over the screen when trying to stretch or shrink the measure.

I didn't find this software to be hard to use, only the buggiest software package I ever owned (hope to get a return).The functionality just isn't there. The manual and help are weak. The manual and help say one thing but the program does another. I can't continue to fight with the package and try to figure out why something does not work the way the manual says it should.

This was just a couple of things I found bad, believe me there were more.

I believe that this software was written for a Mac, based on the manual and user interface.Maybe it works for Macs but if you have a pc, forget it.

this does not live up to the hype
I purchased this product one week ago,,, after several hours
a day and talking to there support i find this program not anywhere
near intuitive, the reviewer that said it has a tall learning curve was not kidding,
i think he was being nice! this program doesnt do what it claims
(it doesnt play all guitar symbols i even have email from them stating that)
it is very difficult to even put a bend on tab and get it to sound right.
the scanning software does not work at all (if it doesnt crash it doesnt even get 20% of the song right)
I am going back to guitar pro it cost half as much and is so much easier. ... Read more

Product Description

Even more control over your tracks!Record Producer Deluxe adds even more power to choose how your song was meant to sound. This deluxe edition adds powerful tools like the Advanced Audio Editor and digital effects like delay, reverb, compression and EQ so you can adjust your recorded tracks and final mixes with the finest precision. When you are done sculpting your musical masterpiece Record Producer Deluxe lets you choose how you want to share it. Choose to burn your song to a CD or convert it to MP3 format for others to enjoy!

Note: Record Producer Deluxe will recognize and open files created in the Digital Orchestrator (.ORC) format.

• Advanced Digital Audio Editor and CD creator:Turn your composition into a stereo wav file for burning to CD! Editing tools let you add fade outs, maximize the volume of the final mix, and more.
• Delay, Compression and Reverb ControlsUse digital effects like delay, reverb, compression and EQ to put the final touches on your songs. Make your voice sound like it was recorded in a professional recording studio!
• Samples, samples, samples!The boxed version of Record Producer Deluxe comes with 1,500 samples on the program CD, plus 3 additional CDs of 4,000 high-quality samples. That's a total of 5,500 Samples for your arsenal!

Reviews (4)

No professionals/semi-professionals allowed!
After I purchased the software directly from Voyetra, I soon became aware that Record Producer Deluxe has several significantly limiting flaws for anyone other than a casual hobbyist:

1. You cannot use ANY VST/VSTI or DX/DXI plugins - there is simply no way to integrate them from within.
2. You cannot export wave files produced in RP Deluxe. For example, you might want to use a program such as Sound Forge (or any other program to apply effects or adjust EQ. Once you create something in RP deluxe, you are stuck with RP Deluxe! If you want to move to a non-Voyetra software product later, you are out of luck on moving your compositions to the new product.
3. I had a technical issue in that the timing of my digital tracking was off (with RP Deluxe ONLY, not Cakewalk products). I went around with tech support by email. Finally, they just gave up on me. I asked for a refund or even a credit, which they would not give me!
4. The digital effects (which is what you are limited to) I found to be VERY basic at best.

Overall I rate this product quite poorly in that it has a lack of even semi-professional features. I also had a horrible time with tech support. I spent just a little more money on Cakewalk Home Studio and I am infinitely more pleased with this. If you are anything more than just a casual music enthusiast, I would recommend another product.

My Review of Record Producer deluxe
I agree with much of what K. Wagner of Rosslyn VA wrote.

I use Digital Performer in the classroom.I noticed last year that Digital Orhestrator Pro, which preceded Record Producer Deluxe and by all accounts is the same program re-packaged, worked very much like the Digtal Performer software.I used it extensively and then decided to buy Record Producer when it was introduced. I upgraded to Deluxe when I realized I did not have all of the tools.

Record Producer Deluxe interfaces well with my equipment.No problems yet.

I have not used the FAQ page form Voyetra but I am getting close because of a nuance.I have noticed that Record Producer Deluxe arbitrarily changes my patches.For example, I assign patch 65 to an instrument but when it is saved and I load it again later, that patch may be (and usually is) changed to 64.The same goes if I assign 57, 58, 66 or 67. They all move.I have noticed that patch 68 stays in place.I don't know why this happens but it causes a sound problem when music is played back.

One other thing that I really don't like is that wave sounds are not called waves, but RPP files and can not be accessed or played like waves. There is some special set up that Voyetra has inserted that keeps you from using any of the sounds and effects that come with the program.Bummer.

The program may be hard to work with but I have not noticed as yet.I think that Digital Performer prepared me for it.

I like this program, especially the piano roll editing, and really wish that Voyetra would concentrate on improving it by maybe intergrating a form of Music Write with it, making it good for universal use, like reading and accepting all types of audio files, adding a little color to the track lines, grouping the sliders, and charging more for the good product that it is and can be.Just now, it is like a toy but very useful.It is a good place to jump off

good product for the price
I bought this program to do midi sequencing and audio recording for guitar and voice. Overall I think it's a really good program for doing standard musical recording tasks on an intel-based system (on a Mac I'd expect more and pay more too). It's totally replaced my 4-track cassette recorder system since Record Producer also records midi. I'd used MOTU's FreeStyle and Digital Performer before (for college coursework), so I wanted something that would work kind of like these programs but didn't cost so much. Record Producer doesn't have the same slick setup for midi instruments that FreeStyle has - doesn't recognize my Alesis QS6.1 banks - but you can still access all the banks.

The program has a reasonably good interface for recording and overdubbing audio and midi tracks, and it's pretty easy to edit things as well. It's also very quick from startup time to recording your first track - very nice if you're in the heat of inspiration. The audio editing isn't perfect - could use some more work to give you finer control.You can edit midi data directly, and you can easily edit midi controllers and related parameters (volume, tempo, etc.). It lets you do punch in/out recording for midi and audio which I've found to be very useful. Does NOT let you edit in the musical score - you'd better go withFinale or something like that if you're looking for notation-oriented software.

I must admit I haven't tried many other sequencer programs for the PC. I just read reviews, looked at their specs, and decided on this one. I tried Jazz (a free program) and it's not bad, but not as full-featured and a bit more difficult to use.

I found the online help (mostly the FAQ from Voyetra's website) to be a lot more useful than the manual. The FAQ/online help answered all of my questions about step recording, audio recording latency (needed to set my onboard audio card to full duplex mode and updated my audio driver).

One important note though: a fast, modern processor (I'd guess at least a 2GHz Pentium/AMD) and a separate soundcard (probably any modern soundblaster thingy) would be really nice. Otherwise, you won't be able to record and playback lots of audio simultaneously (a problem I'm having with a 1GHz-equivalent AMD machine using the motherboard's sound chip (a K7SEM motherboard), though not too bad for me since I usually only record 2 tracks of audio and the rest is midi).

I sympathize with the earlier review - this program takes a fair bit of work to set up, and you have to play around a bit to get the right drivers, the right midi interface, etc. But once you do that, it's full-featured. I didn't have nearly as many problems as that reviewer did, so this is probably very hardware-dependent.

I do not recommend getting the cheaper version of Record Producer (the non-deluxe one) - it doesn't let you record your stuff to CDs and doesn't have all of the audio editing tools. The deluxe version just makes the music-making process a lot more fun.

If you've got a couple hundred dollars more, I'd suggest moving up to the more professional programs, or moving to a Mac (which is much better for doing anything audio and has much better software out for it). But this is a good intro program if you're not sure what you want yet.

Be wary of buying this product!!!
Be wary of buying this product.It is very difficult to use and even the simplest things seem to be a problem.When I use the software, the registration page seems to pop up even after I registered.I also had problems getting technical support help.There is no phone support, and the website and FAQ is severly lacking in any help.Save your money! ... Read more

Product Description

Sibelius is the world's best-selling music notation software. It is as intuitive to use as a pen, yet so powerful that it does most things in less than the blink of an eye.There are other music programs. But we don't believe any of them gives you the freedom to do whatever you want to do, in the way that Sibelius does. That's because Sibelius was created by musicians for musicians - we understand the things that you need.We spend an enormous amount of time trying to anticipate your every move, constantly working to make Sibelius the best tool that you could possibly want. ... Read more

Features

• Mac
• Clear, elegant design
• Scanning
• MIDI input

Product Description

With Music Creator Pro, you get all the tools you need to turn your PC into a powerful, multitrack recording studio. Now you can record yourself or your whole band in pristine 24-bit/96 kHz***, DVD-quality audio.

Music Creator Pro combines professional recording,, mixing, and audio effects with integrated ACID™-format looping tools, software synthesizers, audio CD burning, and more.

Best of all, it's easy to use and you can get started with the PC you already own.

Take the next step and start producing your music today with Music Creator Pro.

Features:

• Record unlimited tracks of audio and MIDI
• Mix with real-time audio and MIDI effects
• Perform with DXi software synthesizers
• Create loops fast, includes ACID-format loop library
• Audio CD burning and ripping
• Simultaneously record your whole band with support for multi-channel audio cards
• Record up to 24-bit/96 kHz audio
• Easier soft synth implementation
• Click and drag to paint drum tracks with new pattern brush and Drum Editing Grid
• Pyro Express CD maker and WAV ripper
• Support for all Windows compatible audio hardware through WDM, MME, or ASIO

Features

• Record up to 24-bit/96 kHz audio
• Turn your PC into a powerful multitrack recording studio
• Record unlimited tracks of audio and MIDI
• Mix with real-time audio and MIDI effects
• Perform with DXi software synthesizers

Reviews (1)

Great features, but partially unusable, with terrible suppor
I bought Music Creator Pro to create sound tracks for the video projects I've been putting together, and it's a very capable set of tools. The MIDI and recorded sound mixing, effects, and automation would be perfect for my application - if they worked. The description of the product on Cakewalk's web site is accurate, and the user interface is not very difficult to understand.

I installed the software on a fast Windows XP machine, and soon discovered that it would crash when the drum pattern paint tool was used.Cakewalk's tech support has been very slow in their responses, taking at least one day and sometimes more than four to respond. I still haven't received any help other than advice to reinstall the product (I did), make sure I have the latest drivers (I do), and delete a couple of configuration files (I did).The drum pattern tool still crashes the application, and in the course of working through the tutorials (the ones I can use) I have also discovered some features that appear to be globally disabled.

Two weeks after installing the product, I'm simultaneously very impressed with the features and capabilities, and very disappointed with the responsiveness of Cakewalk's tech support.If everything worked the way it was supposed to, I would probably rate Music Creator Pro with five stars.

[update]
It's now a month since purchase, and the software still does not work correctly. Cakewalk will not support this product by telephone. If you call their (non-toll-free) support number, you are told that they only support Music Creator Pro by email. They have failed to respond to either of my last two email messages, the first of which was sent two weeks ago. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Capably hosted by respected session guitarist and veteran instructor Ross Bolton, Voyetra Turtle Beach's Teach Me Guitar Deluxe won't teach you how to solo like Carlos Santana. The program instead distills the most important elements of beginning and intermediate rock guitar into bite-size bits that promote extensive hands-on practice and self-discovery. Like a Reader's Digest Condensed Book, it smartly conveys the flavor and styling of its subject matter without overwhelming the user, thus allowing aspiring players to begin the move from bumbling amateur to nimble-fingered virtuoso.

Starting with basic open chords and progressing sequentially through chord variations, power and movable chording, basic melody positioning, scales, picking techniques, and several standard blues and rock progressions, Teach Me Guitar Deluxe features 30-plus lessons amid a wide variety of compelling visual accompaniments. Students have access to such perks as animated fretboards, graphic fingering demonstrations, charts, and live-environment music videos featuring Bolton and his made-for-software band. While only four complete songs are offered, each is paired with an impressive tutorial that covers every note from the beginning of the introduction on through the verse, chorus, solo, and conclusion.

Fortunately, the program is designed to adapt to varying abilities. At any point during the proceedings, players may opt to loop and repeat a given passage, decrease or increase musical tempo without affecting the key, skip sections that seem too simplistic, or consult the enclosed chord dictionary booklet for more comprehensive fingering instructions. Teach Me Guitar Deluxe distinguishes itself from Voyetra's earlier Teach Me Guitar in several respects, the most notable of which is an electronic tuner that allows you to connect your axe to the computer's sound card for error-free digital setup. The package also includes a new audio-visual presentation of its printed chord dictionary, a hard-copy tablature pad, and a trio of guitar picks. Sadly, all three of the latter are equally thick and perhaps a bit too stiff for some.

Those who already know their basic chops and feel the need to move on to advanced soloing and phrasing are advised to check out Voyetra's more sophisticated Teach Me Rock Guitar or Teach Me Blues Guitar. Yet rookie and sophomore players wanting to supplement their learning curve with a grab bag of the essentials should find Teach Me Guitar Deluxe a helpful, enjoyable, and easily navigable instructional aid. --Gordon Goble ... Read more

Reviews (1)

All flash and no real learning!
I bought 2 CDROMs from this company, piano for my kid and guitar for myself. Neither does a very good job of teaching. This one is by far the worse of the two. My biggest problem is the lessons are very scattered. You are expected to go from point A to point D, skipping B and C. The playback on the songs isn't very flattering, as it is MIDI with no real guitar sounds. The instructor is straight out of the eighties with his big hair, so if anything I got a good laugh. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Take your digital music and music library to the next level with AudioSurgeon. Record, edit, convert, and burn your music to CD. Customize and control digital music files by optimizing loudness, removing unwanted sections and hisses, adding sound effects, and more. Use AudioSurgeon's loop control to create and edit loops for drums, rhythm parts, and more. Easy to use, AudioSurgeon is the perfect companion for your digital music library and any music jukebox program.

AudioSurgeon's tools remove pops, clicks, and hisses from recordings and then convert them into digital audio files on your PC. Its simple cut-and-paste operations let you add music and voice-overs to presentations on Microsoft PowerPoint and other visual applications. Add effects like echo, volume scaling, fades, reverse, and more. AudioSurgeon also comes with a customizable mixer. Customize its faders, hide unnecessary options, control multiple sound card mixers, and even create your own mixer applications for MP3 playback, Internet chat, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Disappointing
I tried to use this software to restore the sound quality to my vinyl records before burning to CD. This product is truly unusable. It takes minutes and minutes to do the simplest task. Unless you have unlimited time and unlimited patience, do not buy this product. A far better product at a much lower cost is Magix Audio Cleaning Lab. Today, Jul 10, 2004, Audio Cleaning Lab 3 is only $9.95. ... Read more

Product Description

Soundtrack 1.2 ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Soundtrack and House music
I got Soundtrack after hearing about Apple's reputation on music software. I'll tell you right now, they are good at making music software. I got this program for the purpose of making house music in the form of Daft Punk. Basically sample/filter house. Overall I am very satisfied. The program features a ton of samples and a lot of effects. What really makes it shine is that it will match the tempo of samples and you can, chop, slice, and cut all samples. Plus, you can even adjust the speed and pitch of each sample. The only thing that sucks is there is no midi support. But if you want to make house music, then this is a great tool to start with.

If your interested, visit my music site to hear the music I've made with Soundtrack:
http://mercuriusmusic.blogspot.com/

also visit my other site:
http://landofthesuperanime.com/

What, no MIDI? (even garage band has MIDI!)
Musical Talents,

i used to use Opcode's Studiovision Pro for my MIDI and when Gibson bought out Opcode and ceased production of their MIDI software, I went to Steinberg. I now use Cubebase SX3. It is emensly flexible, has many sounds and effects, records audio, has many mixing options and, unfortunatly, (...) and requires an expirianced MIDI engineer to get good results.

On the opposit side of the world is Garage Band, a drag-and-paste music creation tool that is only a fraction of the Apple program available as Ilife. It includes about 1000 canned sounds that can be assembled together and called Music.

Soundtrack meets a middle ground. For about [$$$], you get about 4,000 samples to drag and drop into a timeline on multiple tracks to creat music. It is great fun and useful for backround tracks, but you must accept the provided melodies. Soundtrack, unlike even Garage Band, has no means by which you can create YOUR melodies. You can not use a keyboard interface to create a melody. It is a great loss that earned Soundtrack only 4 stars from me. I found no intros or exits from certain genre of music. In consolation, I'll admitt that you can supply Soundtrack many menues of downloaded and/or purchased blocks of music in the ACID, WAV (and other) professional samples. From there, you'll find an almost endless list of expasion sounds for a price.

I use Soundtrack, which was an added bonus in my Final Cut Pro 3 program, and I use Cubase SX 3 for any true musical compositions, But I recommend Garage Band over Soundtrack for anyone who desires to "make their own music" and can connect a cheap MIDI keyboard to their system. With the added sound effects in the optional expansion set of sound blocks, they may be quite satisfied.

P.S.: I don't own Garage Band (yet!)

Mark.........................................................................................................................

Soundtrack is GB's big brother
If working with Digital Audio and Video is your thing, then Soundtrack is a must buy. Unlike GarageBand (Which works with digital audio clips just like SoundTrack), this is geared toward the professional. It comes with a track just for video which allows you to sync up your audio with what's happening on the screen easily. It also comes with 4000 loops as compared to GBs 1000. You can get GBs accompanying software, Jam Pack, but that still offers much fewer loops than Soundtrack alone. Built in effects to each track also far surpases GBs effects. Pan your volume left and right with just a few clicks to name one. I enjoy GB and have written tunes based on it (Check macidol.com artist name Guy Serle) and it's fun. But when you're ready to do more, get Soundtrack. ... Read more

Product Description

Now you can fulfill your dream of learning to play the piano for a fraction of the cost of traditional lessons. With Instant Play Piano on CD-ROM your professional video instructors use your home computer to guide you through in depth piano tutoring at your own pace!

... Read more

Features

• Over 20 instructional videos with full-screen and slow motion options to help users learn
• Multiple practice tools including variable-speed and repetition loops
• Software corrects musical passages and sequences onscreen as you play
• The powerful Etude Sight Reader heightens your skills in note recognition, rhythm, rests & duration, and easy & complex musical passages

Product Description

The complete software for writing, playing, printing and publishing music notation. It's designed to make your life easier, save you time, produce beautiful results -- and enable you to do things you might never have dreamed of, like publish your music world-wide or create your own CDs. And its designed for every kind of musician, from students and teachers to professional composers.Sibelius is suitable for all educational levels -- it's easy for beginners, yet sophisticated enough for all university requirements. Sibelius helps teachers with lesson preparation such as creating worksheets, handouts, and exam papers. It lets students hear how their work sounds, makes it easy to find and correct mistakes, and is much more fun to use than pen and paper!At university level, Sibelius satisfies the most advanced requirements, from avant garde and early music notation to Schenkerian analysis.If you're an instrumental teacher, Sibelius makes it quick to create exercises, scan in and transpose pieces, and produce accompaniments and arrangements -- you'll never need to write out parts again!Sibelius Notes is a complete pack of educational resources to help you teach music in the classroom with Sibelius. Covering all school levels (K-12, Key Stages 1-4 and beyond), Notes contains ready-to-use exercises and worksheets on everything from notation to composing, plus dozens of music files on CD-ROM and other useful... ... Read more

Product Description

Burn your Videos on Disc - Watch them on TV!

Restore and preserve your collection of home videos, favorite TV shows, VHS films and movies downloaded from the Internet. Simply convert all your favorite movies in top quality to CD or DVD and enjoy them on your home DVD player.

Improved image quality, no commercials and easy playback navigation - the ideal video archive! ... Read more