Description:
If you've always wanted to try your hand at spinning some beats, but amateur MC night at the local club seems a bit intimidating, MAGIX Hip Hop Maker lets you play DJ without leaving your PC. Find all the tools you need to produce and publish professional quality songs and videos, even if you have no prior musical training at all. Hip Hop Music Maker is based on the concept of sound and video modules, all of which can be combined to create mixes and clips of varied lengths. These modules live in containers that are classified according to instrument, including drums, bass, chords, and melodies. You can choose any number of modules from each container, simply by double-clicking on that particular icon. Once a module is chosen, play with the volume, reverse play, fade in or out, distort sounds, and add other cool effects. If you wish to add lyrics to your mix, the melodies container provides a few simple yet surprisingly authentic sounding raps, our favorite of which was "To All the Ladies," and its counterpart "To All the Fellas." And old-school enthusiasts will love the virtual turntables, which let you use your mouse to record scratch sounds into your songs. In addition to mixing up tunes, Hip Hop Music Maker lets you add video clips to your creations. Video modules also live in a container, and include the quintessential rap video poolside scene, as well as various scenes involving dancers decked out in full hip-hop regalia. With the help of a special effects tab, we added a fade-in-and-out effect to our video, so our dancer looked like she was getting down while standing above the pool. To further personalize your creations, Hip Hop Music Maker allows you to add your own recordings to your mixes (with the help of a microphone).Or, if you're shy about showing off your inner hip-hopper, have the Song Wizard help you mix up a jamming beat to get you started. Once you've completed a tune, show it off by publishing it to the Web or e-mailing it to friends. While Hip Hop Music Maker won't put Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound out of business anytime soon, it is a fun and innocuous way to play DJ for a day. --Gisele Toueg
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