I'M CONFUSED about Music Maker Versions PLS. Help :)

Karling wrote on 6/19/2016, 5:48 PM

I have Music Maker Premium (that's all the information the software says about it) installed on my computer.

I also seem to have a Trial Version of Music Maker 2016 Premium that I had installed a month earlier.

I searched through products on the Magix sales page, and I can't even find Music Maker 16 Premium. When I click through the software to purchase 2016, it goes to the Music Maker Premium page

Can someone please tell me what the differences are?

I appreciate it, as I'd like the best version.

Karling

Comments

browj2 wrote on 6/20/2016, 9:59 AM

Hi,

Magix put MM2016 Live on the market and it's still there, then a couple of months later put MM2016 Premium on the market. The engine is the same but some of the features were different. Shortly thereafter, Magix changed their system to a subscription type (see this to understand how it works) and eliminated the version in the titles. They renamed MM2016 Premium to simply MusicMaker Premium and withdrew the 2016 version from the market. They are identical except in name. The idea is that there will no longer be new versions released every year, but there will be upgrades with new features released as they become available. Here is what the Magix.com site says: "* With the update guarantee you will receive a full year of free new features and updates, which can be used indefinitely. If you reinstall the program after one year, you will have access to the basic version. After the one-year update guarantee has expired you can extend it for a discounted price."

Just to make sure that you have the correct version, uninstall the previous one and install the latest one. You will see that they are the same. Then purchase from Magix. Make sure that you get Music Maker Premium and not the basic version.

You didn't say how you will use the program. If you are after the Soundpools and will use them a lot, then MusicMaker Premium is good, but be aware of the limitations. You can only record to one track at a time, tempo is limited, and you cannot vary the tempo, you can change it but not vary it. Of course, you don't have to follow the tempo if you are making your own music, but arranging becomes complicated.

If you are a power user and don't need a lot of Soundpools but you want to do simultaneous multi-track recording and you want the same instruments as in MusicMaker Premium as well as a lot of effects and tools, then look under Music Studio for Samplitude Music Studio 2016. It is a much more complete DAW with many more features.

And if you are a pro and don't need the Soundpools, then there is Samplitude Pro X2.

Karling wrote on 6/20/2016, 6:40 PM

Thank you so much. That makes sense. I thought I was going nuts! I do have another question since you seem to know your way around this program...

I really like the "pitches" feature at the top of the screen because i'm a song writer, so I have quite a lot of chord changes, and this looks great. However, I add all the changes, and add a track or 2, its all good, but when I save it and open it again, the chord names on the "pitches" section have gone back to what they were originally. The chords themselves however, are as I had changed them. Weird.

Do you know if there's any tutorial videos on using this feature?

Thanks again for you help

Karling

browj2 wrote on 6/21/2016, 11:27 AM

Hi Karling,

Interestingly, the pitches feature is only available in MM and not in Samplitude Music Studio or Samplitude Pro X.

Magix changed the pitch feature from 2015. There is no longer a "No preset" option in the Pitch menu, but there are now many possibilities under Pitch, Advanced for major and minor keys. Very nice.

But, as you have pointed out, the pitch name is not saved with the program. It wasn't with 2015 either. If you purchased the program, raise a ticket with Magix about this. I feel that the pitch name should be saved, as do you. There is no way to get the pitch onto the blank bars after saving without selecting the pitch name again or adding a Soundpool, thus losing any modifications. This should be fixed.

I think that the feature is intended to be used with Soundpools, but it would be nice to use it for arrangements created by the user.

For a future feature, it would be nice to have access to the pitch bar by have a user defined option and then you can indicate what you want, rather than starting with one of the presets. And then the user should be able to create a pitch name and save it as a template. In fact, any changes to an existing template should allow the user to create a new name for the template/preset.

If you find out more or if I got something wrong, please let me know.