Recording - March 2012 - 38

BY ALLEN GOODMAN

Cakewalk

Music Creator 6

An affordable entry-level sibling to the mighty SONAR

work with each other seamlessly and are clearly organized by tempo. Just as in SONAR, you can auto-preview in the Media Browser, once you locate your desired clip in the browser; you can then simply drag-and-drop it into the desired location on your track. Building your song is just that easy, and Cakewalk even includes style templates, such as rock, orchestral, hip-hop and more. Once you get more comfortable with song creation, you can begin to use some of the more powerful features of the program to edit, tweak, and even record your own

Cakewalk’s latest entry-level music-creation software is Music Creator 6, which is based on the same engine as its big brother, Cakewalk’s flagship, SONAR X1. It only runs under Windows. Music Creator 6 allows you to turn your computer into a personal recording studio, by giving you everything you need to get started creating, editing and publishing music with professional quality. As we’ll discuss, many of the essential features and looks of SONAR have been distilled into the new package at a fraction of the cost of its large sibling. Getting started Make sure your computer matches or exceeds the program’s system requirements to run smoothly—the entire system requirements are listed on the facing page. First I wanted to test portability, so I installed it on my average consumer laptop rather than on my normal testing DAW computer. I am pleased to say that it runs as smooth on my HP Pavilion dv-7 as
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SONAR X1 does on my main testing DAW. This comes in quite handy, as I never know when or where the Muse may strike. I tested with both the internal sound system as well as an external USB MOTU audio interface; both performed equally as well in ASIO and MME driver modes. To get started, simply insert the CD and install. For registration an internet connection is required—registration is via Cakewalk’s standard challenge response method, and only takes a few minutes. In addition to providing instructions via the included comprehensive user guide, Cakewalk has partnered with Groove3.com to produce and offer over an hour of free instructional video, available online and through the program itself. Making Music Even a beginner will quickly become creative with the “Song Construction Kits” that include over 1000 professionally recorded guitar clips, drum clips, keyboard clips and more. Various styles of clips are made to

instrument or vocals, with up to 160 24-bit audio & MIDI tracks (32 audio, 128 MIDI). Many of the features found in SONAR X1 can be found here too, such as the MIDI piano roll, Matrix View, Skylight interface, and Staff View so you can work in a notation environment, among others. Once you want to graduate to a full-sized DAW, transitioning to the full-fledged SONAR X1 will be a breeze as many of the navigation and user interfaces are the same. Instruments and FX Music Creator 6 contains several impressive virtual instruments and effects. First off there is Roland’s TTS-1 General MIDI sound module with genuine Roland sounds, the Cakewalk Sound Center which provides access to 150 different instruments such as basses, pianos, ethnic sounds and more. Also included is Cakewalk’s SI-Drum kit, which brings along pre-recorded MIDI drum patterns in a variety of styles, such as jazz, Pop, Rock, and more. Many more instrument packs are available from the Cakewalk online store. Music Creator 6 also supports VST and DirectX plug-ins, should you feel the

http://www.Groove3.com

Recording - March 2012

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