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RE: Music Maker 15!

Apparition — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:23:48 GMT

Oh Zuijlen!

It is very interesting to se the way conceptual art is going!

Notice I did not mentioned the word "art" in my posts. Art in itself is subject to a lot of interpretations; academic, personal, political, even religious.

For me Art is a form of action or work which captures audience into the "Here and Now". It's power resides in making people forget sorrows, needs, problems or dreams and become more alive and awaken, even for a second.

Understanding Art this way, ALL activities, including sticking together musical fragments, in a sort of empirical "composing", can become a form of Art, if it gains this capture power I mention.

But musician is something else. And actual composers, in it's pure understanding are beyond musicians! A true composer must know music! I think you know music. (theory)

A music "audiolizer" (sort of a visualizer) is a different breed. Like song "composers" which whistle a song and a true musician makes it come to life! No doubt the whistler is an Artist because he creates a musical idea, attractive to listeners. The musician and composer MAKES it a reality, even better if it is artistic in nature.

Of course we have the right to become amateur "musicians, artists and composers"... Or "Gluers, or the modern techno DJ " !!!!!

NOTHING BAD WITH IT! It can even be... Creative! All this is for the pure fun of philosophy and play....

So... Let's "glue loop"! Have you tried Kinetics? By the Cakewalk folks? It's fantastic and easy to use!!!!

Mike

RE: Music Maker 15!

zuijlen — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:56:46 GMT

Inspired by Jeannette's review, I played with it a bit yesterday and it's actually kind of relaxing. Now, as a composer, I have always liked to experiment with unusual combinations of sounds (I started doing that about forty years ago) and Music Maker is very suitable for that as well. Never called myself a musician, but I do consider myself a "composer"...

It's a bit like film-making in iClone; most of the content I use was created by others (although I made changes in the texturing), but I am putting it together in, hopefully, an interesting way. In the end it's all about being creative...

RE: Music Maker 15!

Apparition — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:35:00 GMT

OK!

Certainly much better than pirating music, a very common mistake!

I understand it! But let´s call the new art breed, "Gluers"? "Remixers"? "Loopers"?

but not Musicians! Please! (The musicians MADE the loops)

Mike

RE: Music Maker 15!

jeanetteeichhorn — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:37:19 GMT

I just bought this program a couple of weeks ago and have made over 25 song arrangements with it that I've burned to my own CD. I JUST LOVE IT. It's wonderful and so easy to do anyone can make their own music by dragging and dropping sound clips onto the screen.

Their Magix Movie Edit Pro will create music for any scene on the spot by selecting a mood like whether it's drama, or suspense and the music will be the length of the clip that you specify. I haven't used the movie program yet, but love the music one and they both come with your own website so that you can publish music, videos, photos etc to share with family and friends.

I just can't say enough about it.

Best Buy carries both programs and puts them on sale often. Magix is running a sale on their additional content cds for $20 each and they contain over 10,000 sound loops per cd.

So for those of us that can't play a lick of music and have to search to find the right piece to go with our movies, this is a huge timesaver for a small price. I paid $59 for the Music Maker and $29 for Movie Edit Pro. It even comes with the free version of iClone in the package so that you can make animations to add to your family videos or assemble all the scenes you made in iClone.

There's a trial download of both programs from their website with a 15 day expiration. That's how I started and once I finished my first piece of music, I was hooked. Went to Best Buy the next day and bought it.

RE: Music Maker 15!

Apparition — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:03:50 GMT

Great thread!

Of course we are derailing more and more. I am NOT arguing about untrained musicians as to be bad or good. Not at all. Taking Gabe's comparison, a musical pencil would be either the notes themselves or the sounds taken out of an instrument. Whether "studied" or just improvised.

The problem is in the musical fragments which are intended for the original musician to mean something. Blending musical pieces into a so called "remix" surely can produce a result... Why not... But this guys, the blenders are NOT musicians. Are "gluers"... If the word exist.

Now about dear BB, sneaking in slight criticism towards precut mesh.... Hum... I think it has nothing to do with the subject. But it is also contradictory in a sense, because PreCut mesh does NOT mean you can not make texture for it... Not at all! Where did such idea came from? Have you seen ChristyO video? All textured C4G3 precut mesh, indeed!

Certainly, Precut ALSO can be used for designing art textures on it. On a PreCut mesh, I've seen many great Texture Artists generate a lot of varieties from the same. And users, also can do some creative work, rather than just buying, paying and applying.

Lets not "take the radish by the leaves"... We are talking about music, creative process and Art. Not about technical issues such as The advantage or disadvantage of PreCut mesh to full sized mesh. Both are mesh. Both can be texture applied, both work. As in a sense, all 3D mesh is precut, as it certainly has a limited shape. Some like mine offer a variety of intermediate covering mesh objects so you don't really have a lot of "invisible" polygons floating around in an animation.

But it can be, it has been and it is supposed to be texture covered as well.

So let's get back to music. By the way I am a musician too. Both kinds in one. Trained and also an improvisation freak. But certainly not a "gluer".... :D

Mike

RE: Music Maker 15!

planetstardragon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:13:34 GMT

Art is a reflection of life, the tools we use are as much art as charcoal and berries were tools that reflected that period of time to cavemen.

humanity is about being faster, stronger, more efficient. These tools allow a stronger, faster and more efficient way to express an idea.

I have no doubts the time is coming where you can simply think a song and a computer will interpolate the electromagnetic messages in your brain to sheet music. They are doing it now with prosthetic technology and wheelchairs.

we only practice and study so we can ultimately effectively communicate our imaginations in a comprehensible way to others. Ever sing a riff that no one understands because the beauty of the song was all in your mind ?

these tools help you say whats on your mind more efficiently. Practice and study is an art all its own, the process of the travel, not really getting there. study helps people understand those who do have imaginations. Practice helps them express their imaginations with more clarity, fluidity and euphony.

the art is ultimately all in your mind, not in your instrument.

RE: Music Maker 15!

BigBoss40 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:44:06 GMT

Since I am a musician,... I cannot resist providing my opinion on this :)

I once said... Lighting is to the Video what the Saoul is to the Music...

I tend to agree with both Mike and Aknzr on this ...

Using a Music Making machine to generate a complete song would be much the same thing as dropping pre-made textures on a pre-cut mesh... The end result would likely be dry and short of artistic content ... This is why the most effective Avatar texturing is done by artists carefully working every detail of a texture inside a paint program, much in the same way the musician will express his saoul using a real instrument. :D

However, one must admit that using the Music Making machine tool wisely will likely provide the artist with more capabilities to experiment and try new things...

So Music Making machine is a good thing, as a tool to experiment but it is not the end solution :)

RE: Music Maker 15!

aknzrdude — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:06:53 GMT

Mike this is a good discussion - i look at this from two perspectives

the first one is as someone who sits back relaxes and enjoy the work - whether music or video - i can appreciate well composed music or video, just leave my mind blank and enjoy. Sometimes when i create stuff in iclone, i listen to music to help me in the creative process. When i am in this mode, how the music was created is less relevant than how good the final piece is. I have received some music from other artists who wrote them but they did not appeal to me so while i don't doubt the skill that went into the creation process, the final result does not reflect the skill so to me that is not good.

Not being a musician (only thing i can play is a radio) - i appreciate these little tools that can help realize a composition without knowing the individual instruments - which leads me to this:

i think artistry does not reside 100% in the technical aspects - artistry can take the form of taking seeing something other people may not see - mathematics is a great example of this where there are a ton of skilled mathematicians but only a few the can discern the patterns in numbers. Like wise all of use know how to use a pencil, we know how to draw but only a few can create magic out of that pencil - i see the same thing with these type of tools - you have bits and pieces here and the tool gives everyone a boost towards creating music much like a pencil gives everyone the tool to write - but the artistry comes in combining these bits and pieces into something a lot of people can enjoy.

with iclone, we all have the bits and pieces, one can argue you are not a true 3D artist unless you can model but knowing how to model is different from the ability to pull in the right pieces to create that top notch movie

i remember an interview one time with George Martin (Beatles producer) - he was talking about john Lennon who was not trained musically but rather was a self taught hack. In one of songs, he used a musical technique used by the masters - and George pointed it to him - John commented along the lines of - so that's what its called - i just thought it sounded good

but one thing i agree on - music goes a long way to convey a mood, a feeling, especially when coupled with a video

RE: Music Maker 15!

safegaard — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:03:44 GMT

Its maybe out of order but this program is something more than described above.

Its midi rigged so you can take any of your own electrical instruments like keyboard or guitar and record you own preform to. It has a great senthyzeiser and is cheaper than a lot of other software that can record in reliable quality.

Of cource one can use all the premade stuff in it to. I use it with great pleasure for handmade Washburn guitar because its better than my amplifier, and cheaper ;)

I know a lot of people who of course dont mean i make music but only noise. I just dont think that it would be better without it, they would mean the same. :D

RE: Music Maker 15!

zuijlen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:41:19 GMT

...and some study and do...

RE: Music Maker 15!

planetstardragon — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:22:39 GMT

music is an expression of the soul.

some study, some just do it.

RE: Music Maker 15!

Apparition — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:20:57 GMT

Well dear Gabe, it seems we are starting an interesting philosophical thread! There is a lot to say about this particular subject. I would like to call our attention to the fact Music is also a discipline. A Real musician requires a lot of study, hard work, thousands of listening hours, and of course Soul sensitivity, a certain degree of inner feeling and all this, put together, brings out Real Music.

Lets compare it to what you can do so well. Making artistic textures and other very interesting graphics output. There could, some computer nerd as myself, put together a program that would chop little parts of classic paintings, photos, drawings and whatever, and by means of some topology analysis of the texture map surface, would pop out with all kind of fantasy textures, of ancient knights, fiction heroines and such.

Many "noble" minds would consider this outcome "suitable" or fulfilling the "goal"--- Right?

But you, your colleagues, Art Directors and students, me and many others would find this "robotic" textures meaningless. Lacking Art or creativity. Random elements placed in a clever way! Working with certain fixed rules (by computer) on how colors match, shapes meet and lines converge. Just as a program using chopped musical pieces, would follow the rules for musical beat, rhythm, accent, whatever the programmer (The Real Artist) would put in it.

Have you ever tried to read one of those books on ""computer poetry"? Same case!:P

Certainly my colleagues, my students at the Superior School of Arts in Galileo University and at ANY other music school, thousands of trained musicians, a major audience and maybe me, would find it, robotic, "mathematic", boring ar at least not stimulating. Of course, once in a while, "the flute will sound", and something interesting could come out of such process. Then the Real Art would be: Not putting it together but actually being able to recognize it! :D

As a teacher in Video and Cinema Production I tell my students an audiovisual is 50% audio-50% video! I make strong remarks on the importance of the sound track. I show them how a different sound or musical background can create totally different impressions with exactly the SAME video!

We discover week by week how disastrous or relevant the proper music will be. And to be correct it must come out of a creative who understands the effect of minor and major harmonies, on sevenths, and 13ths. and so on. A musical language was created by the Elder and us, the descendants, have learned to react to such. A crazy sound track can mislead us all the way into total lack of understanding.

Certainly I would not agree to the saying. " The goal justify the means"...

Would you elaborate on this?

Mike

RE: Music Maker 15!

aknzrdude — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:22:12 GMT

i think music as is with any art form - the end result is the goal - if it can move, stimulate emotions then it is all good - regardless of how it was created - of course musicians, someone who creates it from scratch is to be admired and valued much more - but from the confines of my desk, headphones on, listening - this detail is sometimes lost on me, focusing instead on the final piece

RE: Music Maker 15!

zuijlen — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:45:51 GMT

Thanks for your understanding, Mike... That's why I moved to filmmaking... It's unpaid, but at least I've fun...

I have composed film music in the past, but in the current climate you need to be a businessman before being an artist and that doesn't interest me. Or, you are asked to do the work for a copy of the film...

So now it's just music for my own films.

RE: Music Maker 15!

Apparition — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:32:24 GMT

Well....

Music is STILL an Art Form... I wonder if automated music machines will bring the right feel to a mood background or to an emotional climax.

Mixing and remixing is sort of people buying paints at the Louvre then cutting them in pieces to make "collages" and new "remixes" of "old ancient paintings"....

I am still pragmatic about this. I feel the Soul of a musician is IRREPLACEABLE!

Certainly this "fad" will contribute to the undesired Uncanny Valley we all are striving to get rid off!

I hope Real Musicians will still live and prosper....

Mike

Music Maker 15!

CloneBot Zack — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:35:13 GMT

Any CCD interested to jump into the Reallusion music business? Or just looking to have your own sound tracks for your next movie? Magix Music Maker 15 on the Creative Resource Center has what you're looking for! Quickly put together instrument sounds and beats to create your own music. Package and sell the music, or show it off in your Rock Band video or movies!

Check it out! http://www.reallusion.com/creative/creative_magix.aspx