Mixcraft - Music Making for the Mac Challenged

So you don't have access to a Mac? Did you actually listen when your tech advisor told you not to buy one? So now you are stuck without GarageBand. In my search for a PC replacement I come accross Mixcraft 4. It is looking promising. I haven't spent too much time on it yet but it looks like a powerful music creation tool. It has lots of clips that you drag and drop to create your own song. It supports multiple tracks and it also records instruments and voice. There is lots of support for Midi instruments as well.

I gave it to one of my students to try out. I wanted her to compare it to GarageBand. She liked it and put togther a neat little clip (and if I can figure out how to upload it I have her permission to share it). When I asked her she said that she preferred it to Garage Band. I think that the included clips are a little longer and have better variety (not completely sure though.)

I spent a couple of hours trying to hook the Rock Band instruments up to it (like I did with the Mac and Garage Band). No luck. Now that doesn't mean it can't be done - it just means that I have not figured out how. I am still new to the world of digital music creation.

It isn't free, but the $65 price tag won't break the bank either. Go on over and download the free trial. Let me know what you think. If you have any other music editors/creation tools I would love to hear about them.

Rock On - Garage Band Style!

Well, we did it. Rock Band instruments work just fine while hooked up to Garage Band for the Mac. It was not too terribly hard to hook them up and set them up. I downloaded a quick little program called Game Pad Companion (as recommended here). Then it was as simple as configuring the buttons to match keys on the keyboard. We then used the musical typing tool in Garage Band. It really was quite easy, and it sounds pretty realistic. The video I have up above is of my classroom neighbor (and his students) messing around with it. There are tons of instrument sounds to choose from - but the lead electric guitar is definately the best.

One problem is that we have not found a way to use two or more instruments simultaneously. You have to record each track and instrument separately (otherwise the instruments fight over the musical keyboard). In the video you can see the girl at the drums waiting for her turn to record a drum track.

Hooking the Rock Band instruments up to the Mac is a neat trick but in reality you can achieve more with a Midi keyboard - or even just working directly from the computer keyboard. The advantage is using the student's kinisthetic learning. They are used to the shape and feel of the guitar - many of them play real guitars (and even more play Rock Band or Guitar Hero). The touch is familiar to them.

Too bad we didn't actually have any musical talent.

The Mac Loses

So I finally got to play a little bit with one of our school's Mac laptops (apparently everyone else shares as poorly as I do). I figured that I would try to create a time lapse video just like I did in Windows Movie Maker (see the post here). There were a significant number of swears, throwing things, curses, threats, and finally tears before I finally got Windows Movie Maker to work - but iMovie still lost.

DISCLAIMER - (Stuff the Lawyer made me put in)
I am not a Mac user. This is the first significant experience I have ever had with a Mac. I don't really know how to use them. But I did approach the project with an open mind.

I had guides up on the screen (of my PC that is). I pressed buttons. I slid sliders. I attempted to right click. I read help guides. Then I gave up. I was unable to create a time lapse video with iMovie. I did not find iMovie to be as intuitive as I expected. Windows Movie Maker made more sense to me. This might be because I am unfamiliar with Macs but I had never really used Windows Movie Maker before either.

The good thing about the Mac? No cussing and swearing (I did try this in school with little ears around). That and it never crashed.