MusicMaker 2018 Premium Released

browj2 wrote on 9/25/2017, 8:31 AM

I received an offer for the new MusicMaker 2018 Premium today when exiting MMM. The offer is not available yet on Magix.com and they are still selling the old version.

Whats new? Nothing really. A lifetime of free updates, 3 new presets and a selection of Soundpools and instruments, your choice, plus other software, like SoundForge Audio Studio 12, MP3 Deluxe, iZotope Ozone Elements and lots of stuff to buy.

http://www.magix.com/us/music-maker/upgrades/20170913-music-maker-premium-edition/?utm_medium=product-newsfeed&utm_source=newsfeed-campaign&utm_campaign=Music_Maker-Upgrade&phash=IFf7jZHP183OcLxO

Here is what they say:

"New: A lifetime of free updates Our promise to you: From now on, you will always be able to download the latest software version of Music Maker. Even if you use the free version, you'll receive all basic functions and bug fixes free. And that's the case for as long as we continue to develop Music Maker.
So - from now on, everything's free? No, not everything. However, our goal is to continue providing you with the best environment for making music. We'll continue to develop the program, keep it up-to-date and make bug fixes available. More exclusive software instruments, updates, features and Soundpools for the Music Maker Editions will be made available to purchase in future."

Sounds, functions & instruments worth a total value of $699.00
All free sounds, features & instruments in Music Maker
NEW! 1 Soundpool Collection of your choice ($100.00 value)
NEW! 3 preset packs
NEW! 8 software instruments of your choice
NEW! 3 Soundpools of your choice
Valid until October 4, 2017$50 / C$80 discount
Included for a short time only: Soundpool Collections with a total worth of $/C$159.96
Store coupons with a total worth of $/C$30
Included for free: MP3 deluxe (a $/C$49.99 value)
Also included: The brand new SOUND FORGE Audio Studio 12 (a $/C$59.99 value)

And, seemingly hidden away, iZotope Ozone Elements. See the comparison table.

All in all, it looks like a good deal, however, members on the German forum have had some difficulty understanding how it all works. It looks like MusicMaker as a program has plateaued and that Magix is now selling content instead.

More to come.

John CB

Comments

browj2 wrote on 9/25/2017, 1:49 PM

A few things about the new version installation:

If you have instruments from prior versions and they worked before, they should still work in the new version. You do not need to click on "Activate" for previous versions that have been detected on your computer. EDIT: I take that back, you probably have to Activate; I'm still trying to figure this out. If you do, the installer will uninstall and reinstall needlessly, a whole lot of instruments.
New instruments that are installed free from the Store as part of the bundle do not work in Samplitude. This is the first time that this has happened and is plain annoying.
I assume that the 4 Soundpool Collections 17, 19, 20 and 21 will arrive in the mail as one user pointed out. Thus a DVD player is required at some point to install them.
The "1 Soundpool Collection of your choice ($100.00 value)" is available from the Store and there is an indication at the bottom of the screen beside "Balance" showing how many collections and Soundpools are remaining to be freely chosen. The problem is that Soundpool Collections are being sold for 50$. There is a note "Save 50% with 5 soundpools in one collection!" However, this is not worth 100$ as indicated in the advert for the program.
"NEW! 3 preset packs" I don't know what this is. On the web page under feature selection, I see "Preset Packs" as "Vita 2 Plus Presets," "Vita 2 Premium Presets," and "Revolta Plus Presets." These are not new; I already have them. So what are these?

browj2 wrote on 9/26/2017, 10:46 AM

After some testing, I have been able to crash MMM2018 almost every time doing different things. Once it crashed just checking for updates; did it again after reopening, no problem. Then it crashed adding in the VST path. I didn't note what happened the other times. No crash message comes up; it just freezes and I have to use Task Manager to end it. It remains open in background processes and I have to end it there as well. However, sometimes it takes quite a while before it disappears.

I did an export to mp3 with Normalize checked and it worked, so this bug in the previous version has been resolved in the new version.

More to come when I have time.

John CB

browj2 wrote on 9/27/2017, 12:16 PM

The iZotope Ozone 7 Elements plugin comes in a 64bit version and can be added to MEP, I presume, and definitely to VPX and Samplitude Pro X3.

The external editor can be replaced by Audio Cleaning Lab under the Program settings folders tab. For some reason, I can't get the external editor to work on my desktop in any recent version MusicMaker, only on my Surface Pro 4. I have had this problem before in MEP and VPX, but it seems to have sorted itself out.

If you purchase additional instruments through the store, even using the coupons, and then open MusicMaker on a second computer, the instruments will show up with a download arrow so that they can be installed on the second machine. Nice touch!

As before, the windows can be undocked and moved around, like to another screen, except for the Media Pool which remains with the main window. Of course, it can be collapsed. The windows setup is remembered and used the next time the program is opened. However, this seems to be limited to the bottom Media Pool window (Keyboard, Templates, Inspector), the Arranger, and the Video monitor which includes tabs for Peak meter, Video, Overview and Info Box. The Mixer and Effects screens do not show up if they were opened when the program was exited. It would be nice to have the Mixer show up in its last location automatically, but pressing on the shortcut M opens the Mixer at its last location, but only to the default width of 8 tracks, not to the last width used. Unfortunately, there is no way to save the setup as there is in VPX, so that a standard setup can be done with F4 and a personalized setup with another shortcut.

When recording audio, Normalize after recording still does not work. I reported this in several previous versions and it has never been fixed.

John CB