Music Maker - Bugs I've Identified

dark_spartan wrote on 12/22/2017, 2:05 PM

Hi All,

I just wanted to share the bugs and issues I've encountered so far with Music Maker Premium.

First, I want to preface this by saying I absolutely do not use the Soundpools - so my feedback is purely based on trying to use this as a simple MIDI driven DAW. I haven't really investigated any of these issues too deeply, I don't really have time. But I wanted to share it with others so they know what to expect.

Problem: The mouse does not match the On-Screen keyboard

Cause: It appears to be caused by the graphics driver of the program. All other items work correctly for mouse placement, it is only very specifically the on screen keyboard.

Notes: The only solution is a patch executable from the development team - however Windows Defender will block the file

Problem: When adding a new track instrument using the [ + ] box - you cannot use this device with a MIDI Controller or MIDI Keyboard

Notes: To trigger this problem, have a MIDI device attached. Use the [ + ] to add a new midi instrument. You will find you will not be able to use this instrument with your MIDI keyboard even if it says MIDI RECORD. To remedy this, you need to start recording, mash some keys, stop the recording, and undo the track.

The on-screen keyboard works correctly, and the physical computer keyboard works correctly.

Problem: Cannot Upload to SoundCloud

Notes: When selecting Share on SoundCloud, the application just freezes and does not operate

Problem: If you switch MIDI devices, Music Maker will not recognize it

Notes: Anytime I switch MIDI controllers, or add a MIDI controller, with Music Maker running - it detects the devices in the Audio settings page. However, it ignores all input from the MIDI device until the program is restarted.

Problem: Loop Bar Stops Accepting Input

Notes: Start a recording, stop, and undo. The Loop Bar will become stuck and unmovable as both the start and end points of the navigation loop overlap each other and the mouse input doesn't know what to pick. You will not be able to reselect a range of audio for loop playing. You can work around this by double clicking on an audio track.

Problem: Loop Bar Doesn't Match Playback

Notes: Sometimes, while working on tracks, the loop bar gets into a strange broken state. Where the start/end doesn't match the loop range - and when cutting and trimming tracks the positions simply no longer line up or snap properly. In some cases, you can't even drag items past the starting position of the loop as it blocks movement of the recording piece.

Problem: Recording Produces Different Audio Than Playback

Notes: In around 1 in 3 songs, we find that the audio recording is not matching the audio playback. This was most noticeable with arpeggios and DN-E1. We had to actually completely redo a bunch of tracks because the arpeggio plays beautifully in play mode, but records with intermittent sound

Problem: Coupon Codes Unusable in Different Store Fronts

Notes: When you get a newsletter coupon, it is ignored by the MAGIX Store. At the same time, both the newsletter coupon and the premium 15$ coupons, are ignored by some of Magix other store fronts including Catooh. This should be much more apparent for people purchasing the software for coupon codes. In addition, coupons cannot be stacked, and the website keeps trying to apply mgxsoftware coupon code to my orders - which gets rejected (as I've used it once already).

Problem: Skipping MIDI Triggers

Notes: Quite often, I'm finding that beats (even quantized) for MIDI tracks are ignored by Music Maker at the start of the beat. It simply skips over the sample. The only fix I've been able to find is to make sure every track starts 1/64th off from the start of the track - which is not ideal.

Problem: MIDI Timing Off

Notes: Even with a near 0% CPU use, Music Maker seems to have a 1/16 "wander" for MIDI input where it triggers early or late for recording. Usually it is relatively consistent, however the delay varies between recordings.

Problem: Fading Doesn't Work in MIDI

Notes: Fading in tracks using the little dragable sliders does not work on MIDI. It simply does not appear to trigger the note. I suspect, the note's initial volume is being set, but not adjusted over time.

Problem: Keyboard Input Gets Confused & Shortcuts Stop Working

Notes: After a few minutes, the keyboard input gets into a real mess. I find that it starts acting like control keys or alt keys are being held down (when none are being pressed according to any other software). This causes all the hot keys such as RECORD and CUT to stop working after about 1 or 2 minutes. I've seen this happen in every session. This is not to be confused with accidentally having the On-Screen Keyboard active and taking input - this happens too - but it will actually block my input and prevent hot key use until I completely restart the program.

Thanks for reading!

Although it has some really big and annoying bugs, I actually like the software and I'm trying to use it for the simplicity. It is a challenge but I am working through it.

I'll share some cash saving tips and general advice for other people that went from HUMBLE to PREMIUM. Note that that this does not grant any commercial soundpools, it does not unlock all the features, nor does it unlock all the presets.

Comments

browj2 wrote on 12/22/2017, 3:50 PM

Hi,

You didn't indicate which version that you are talking about. Look under Help, About. There is a new patch:

Changes in patch 25.1.2.78 compared to 25.1.1.67

* New features in the in-app Store
* Dialog for activating Editions has been optimized
* Get additional Editions via the in-app Store
* Speaker positioning in Surround mode has been fixed
* Notifications and error management have been optimized
* Various modifications and improvements

Check your various problems to see if any have been resolved by the new patch.

Which audio driver are you using? Check the manual for latency problems.

Fading in MIDI - no, you have to do this in the MIDI (piano roll) editor. Adjust the velocity of the notes at the beginning. Look in the manual to see how to do this.

John CB

dark_spartan wrote on 12/22/2017, 4:32 PM

You didn't indicate which version that you are talking about. Look under Help, About.

Fair question,

The issues above have been present in the last 3 updates - I am currently running 25.1.2.78. The beauty of an auto-updater, is it has been easy to check on some of these every update.

On that note, in case specifications are required, my system us running 32GB of RAM, 2 x 1070 GTX, AMD FX 9360 (8 Core, 4.4 GHZ) with a dedicated large SSD drive for MAGIX and a separate SSD for the OS. We are a VR game studio.

Which audio driver are you using? Check the manual for latency problems.

I'm already aware of that - thank you. Audio card driven latency is typically a consistent latency within a few milliseconds (of itself) during a recording.

The MIDI delay I am reporting changes sporadically into both the positive and negative, and exists on both MAGIX ASIO driver, the public domain ASIO driver, as well as the normal DirectX audio driver. Although it is typically consistent for the duration of a single recording. I suspect it is an initial timing issue of some kind in the software.

The issue is only happening in Music Maker. I made sure the issue was not present in Renoise, Skale etc prior to sharing.

For what it is worth - I'm just looking to report the bugs I see as the software operates - not really dig into / resolve any of them. These are the problems I encountered out of the box, but otherwise I'll leave it to MAGIX to decide if they want or need to fix anything.

Fading in MIDI - no, you have to do this in the MIDI (piano roll) editor. Adjust the velocity of the notes at the beginning. Look in the manual to see how to do this.

Thank you - I already know how to set the velocity in the midi editor. However, I suspect I didn't explain this well.

(the forum really butchers images, you'll probably need to click on it). The editor view allows volume manipulations for fading in and out audio recordings and midi recordings. In my case, long midi nodes fade out, but they do not fade in, using the editor. It does set the "base" volume of the key when the key is triggered, but the volume does not swell. I've seen this over the last 3 updates. If they are doing this through MIDI channel 7 triggers or something there-in, then this maybe a similar issue to where (sometimes) the first MIDI note is being ignored by Music Maker when it is "on the beat" - even when quantized and snapped.

If you are saying the feature isn't supported on MIDI, then it is interesting that fading out works. And really in modern UX, if it is not a feature for use, it should not be presented as an option to the user, in which case it is a non-working feature and still and equal priority bug in my opinion.

Side bit on the volume slider:

This particular feature has strong potential but is a little frustrating in honesty - intended to make volume setting quick and easy, it actually is actually a bit frustrating to try and work with. It is not easy to tell if a volume adjustment is reset or has a tiny fade-in, and there is no way I've seen to control the starting volume. The distinctions there are critical to create properly looping audio as missing a tiny bit of fading in can case a pop on the loop.

I know, I can work in the MIDI editor - just as I can use Adobe Audition to fade-in and fade-out audio recordings if I really want - but the intent of this feature appears to be simplification of velocity, making it "quicker" to work with. Additionally these fades do not mix down into the MIDI sequences, making the sequences easier to reuse - which is probably their intended purpose on wave forms. Anyway, if as you suggest, this isn't meant to be used for MIDI, they should consider simplifying and remove it for MIDI sequences. But thats up to them - all I know is a feature is presented and it doesn't work for me :).