Create Your Own Songs
– No Experience Required

The free version of Music Maker comes packed with hundreds of samples. You can use these Soundpool loops to create songs or simply produce a basic framework to use as a background for vocal recordings.

• Click on the "Loops" button to the right to open the tab containing Soundpool loops.

The free Soundpool "Feel good" is installed with Music Maker Free. Additional Soundpools from virtually any thinkable genre can be installed using the program's in-app Store (see below).

To the right, select the category of instruments in the Soundpool. For example in "Feel good", there is "Bass", "Brass", "Drums", "FX", etc.

In the list below, you can choose the samples. In the "Bass" category, for example, the choices include "Right Bass" (in the variations A-C), "Right Sub Bass" (in the variations A and B), etc.

• Click on a sample to begin listening to a preview.
• To use the sample, drag & drop it to the arranger.
• The principle is like a musical puzzle: You load different samples, loop them, combine them with other samples and create your own songs. You should keep a few things in mind, though:
• It is probably best to start with a drum track and then compose a bass track.

Drums and bass provide the musical backbone for many songs. After that, browse for more sounds like maybe a piano or a guitar. You can change the pitch by clicking one of the seven pitch buttons above the loop library before loading it into your project. This is not possible with drum loops, because drum sounds don't have a specific pitch.

If you move the mouse to the back edge of an object in the arranger, the mouse pointer will turn into a double arrow. You can now click and hold the double arrow to drag out the section. It will then continue to play as a loop. You can also use the same method to trim the loop and make the beginning shorter.

Above track 1, you can see the playback range. The default length is 16 bars long. This range will be played back as a loop. The 16 bars aren't enough to make a complete song, but it's long enough to work with to create the first section. Now, you can shorten or lengthen the playback range from that point to the desired length.

The tempo of your song is set in the transport control. The default is 120 BPM, which is appropriate for most rock and pop songs, but might be a bit too fast for hip hop, for example. If you slow the tempo down to 90 BPM, the samples in the tracks will take on a whole new, more relaxed character.

Tip: If you only want to create a background arrangement for your recordings, don't use too many different instruments in order to keep the sound from becoming too crowded. In most cases, drums, bass and a piano will be enough.

To record your own music with vocals and/or a "real" instrument like a guitar or piano, do the following:

• Connect a microphone to the microphone input of your computer. You can also use the built-in microphone on your computer, however, it will not provide particularly high-quality recordings.
• Switch an empty track to mode for a microphone recording. Click on the red recording button on the left side of the interface in the track header until "AUDIO REC" appears.
• To use an existing arrangement as accompaniment, you should use headphones so that the other tracks are not picked up by the microphone.

• Start the audio recording by clicking on the red record button in the transport control.

Now, the recording will start and you can begin your performance. During the recording, an audio block will be created that will become increasingly longer as the recording continues.

• When you're finished, click on the stop button.

If something went wrong, simply retry the recording again. To do this, click on the red "Record" button again. The recording will start again and the previous, flawed take will be overwritten.

This allows you to record several takes in a row, for example, first the instrumental accompaniment such as a guitar or piano, and then the vocals. To hear the backing instruments while singing, use headphones again.

Similar to Soundpool loops, the software instruments are based on short musical recordings (samples). All software instruments are played like any keyboard instrument using the computer keyboard or with a MIDI keyboard. Alternatively, you can use the MIDI Editor to program melodies note by note. This is particularly useful for drum beats, where every beat should sit in a specific place.

At the bottom of the interface, you'll see a large keyboard with a piano keyboard. This controls the software instruments. The default instrument sound is a concert grand piano.

• Click the "Keyboard" tab to open the keyboard window.
• Click once on the keyboard to activate it.

Letters and symbols will now appear on some of the keys. These keys indicate the notes on the computer keyboard. To create harmonies like in a chord, press several keys simultaneously. You can play the normal C major scale using the top row of your computer's keyboard (starting on the left with the letter "Q" and ending on the right with the "[" symbol). It is the easiest to use this row of keys to play melodies. 

Through trial and error as well as a little practice, you'll learn to play instruments with dynamically and accurately on the computer keyboard. To record your playing, you need an "armed" MIDI track, on which you wish to record. Track 1 is set up for a piano recording by default.

• Click on the red recording button on the left side of the interface in the track header of track 1 until MIDI REC appears.
• Click on the red "Record" button in the transport control.

Now, a MIDI recording will start.

This recording process works the same way as recording audio, as described above.

Along with the piano sound of "Concert Grand", two other additional instruments are available to choose from in Music Maker Free: Revolta and Vita LE. The Revolta is a classic synthesizer with many setting options for electronic basses and sounds, whereas Vita LE is a universal sampler and provides sounds for an acoustic drum set to test out in Music Maker Free.

To play the Revolta, the easiest way is to click on the instrument icon on the left in an empty track and select the Revolta.

• If you have used every track, you can add additional tracks from the menu under "Edit" > "Track" > "Add new track".

A large, independent Revolta user interface with a number of possibilities to creatively modify the sound will appear. Press a few keys from the keyboard window to preview the sound.

• Open the Revolta dropdown menu and switch to another sound preset.
• To record the active sound out of the Revolta, switch the Revolta's track to MIDI recording mode as described above for the piano and begin recording.

As mentioned before, it's best to program drum beats in the MIDI editor. This is easier and more accurate than recording sounds live. To test it out, use the acoustic drum set in "Vita LE".

• Insert a new, empty MIDI object from the "Edit" menu.
• Here, you can choose from multiple presets. One bar length usually is enough to get started.
• Select the preset "Empty (1 bar)" from the "Edit" menu.
• Drag the empty MIDI object to its own track.
• Choose the desired synthesizer for this track. To do this, click on the icon in the left of the track header and select "Vita LE".
• Set the playback range above so that it is exactly over the MIDI object. This will play the entire length of the object as a loop.
• Double-click on the empty MIDI object to open the MIDI editor.

This opens the MIDI editor. The MIDI Editor is a custom user interface for software instruments. This is where you program your beats, melodies and chords. On the Vita, you'll find the kick drum on the left side of the piano keyboard in the "C1" row. The snare is two rows above that.

• At the top, switch to the pencil tool.
• Click in the rows of the matrix to create MIDI notes.
• Press the spacebar to preview your work.

The bar will loop, so you can listen to what you have drawn in an endless loop. Press the spacebar again to stop playback.

To get an idea of the sounds that the current synthesizer has to offer, simply drag one of the notes up and down. For every row in the table, the corresponding sample will be played. For example, the snare is two rows above the kick drum.

At the latest by the end of production, it is essential to employ the mixer in order to balance the volume levels of the individual tracks and prevent a muddy sound.

• Open the mixer by clicking on the mixer button (or simply pressing the M key).
• There are volume controls for each channel and a stereo panorama knob to shift the respective track to the left or right.
• The FX buttons open the track and master effects.

You can access an compressor, two different equalizers, a stereo processor, reverb and echo here. The effects bank may expanded anytime with additional effects such as flanger, chorus distortion and filters.

If you want to accentuate a track in the mix a bit more, it is most effective to do this indirectly by lowering all other faders except the channel that is too quiet. The opposite approach could result in clipping in the mix.

After finishing the initial recordings and arrangements, you have created the first part of your song and can now used these bars to build a complete song.

This often involves alternating several parts, e.g. intro. verse 1, chorus, verse 2, bridge, chorus and then an outro. You can arrange all these parts together in one project. Often variations on existing parts are used in this process. For example, the intro might consist of a piano recording of a variation without bass and drums to begin the song.

The basic principle is to repeat existing song parts one after the other and to arrange them in different ways. In addition to looping, duplicates are particularly helpful here. A duplicate can be varied in any way, unlike looped passages.

• To create a duplicate, hold down the Ctrl key, click on an object and drag the duplicate to an empty area.
• The duplicate is completely independent of the original, i.e. you can edit it without affecting the original, for example shorten it to create a break, or distort it with effects.
• A second important technique is grouping. You can combine as many objects as you like into a group. This group can then also be duplicated and modified with a mouse click, just like a normal object. This allows you to quickly create more complex song structures like verses or choruses.
• Select all objects that should belong to a group. Click on the objects that are grouped together while holding down the Ctrl key, or use the mouse to draw a rectangle that encloses all the objects.
• From the menu, choose "Edit" > "Object" > "Group" > "Group objects" or simply press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + G.

This enables you to quickly edit the first bars of your own music into the desired length. As you continue, you can add other elements to your music, for example vocal recordings, melodies using the software instruments or other Soundpool loops.

Once you've finished producing your music, you can export it directly as a WAV file or in the compressed format OGG.

• Choose "File" > "Export" and the format you want.
• To export only the current playback range under the yellow bar, select the "Only export the area between the start and end markers" option in the export dialog.

During export, all tracks in the arranger are mixed down together with all effects and mixer settings into one "proper" audio file containing your finished song. The final result will sound exactly the same as when played back in Music Maker.

Now, you have learned the most important audio editing functions on how to make your own song and finish production. But Music Maker has much more to offer. The basic version of Music Maker Free can be expanded with additional content from the Store, which can be accessed from directly within the program.

As well as further Soundpools and software instruments, you'll also find a number of different professional effects and additional program functions that you can purchase and immediately start using in Music Maker. This will help you to develop musically over time.

• Click on the "Store" tab in the Media Pool.
• Sort the items using the drop-down menu.
• Browse through the products offered. Click on an item for more information.
• Click on "Purchase" and follow the instructions provided.

Tip: Sort the products by price to display the free offers at the very top. All you have to do is register as a MAGIX customer to get free products.