Photo gallery: MTV Music Generator 3Music creation software in the past few years has caught on in popularity so much that many products are into their third or fourth iteration. The great thing about music creation software is that it allows you to dabble in your creative side without embarrassing yourself on something like an actual turntable. It's probably not a coincidence that the rise in popularity of dance style music has also come at a time when more of this software is being made. Although Codemasters somewhat promote MTV Music Generator 3 as a game, we're pretty sure "serious" musicians would be rather offended if people called their art a game. Moreover, as MTV Music Generator 3 proves, it's clearly not, and is really only for those with a bit of creative flair in their bones.
The whole aim of Music Generator 3 is to allow you to create your own music mixes -- up to fifteen minutes long. It gives you a virtual recording studio to do what you please, and ships with a number or pre-made samples to choose from to go with your beats. Although it is a little daunting at first, after a quick breeze through the tutorial you should be able to create a basic mix to play around with -- but this is where one of the package's problems first appears.
The tutorial, while being quite in depth, in our opinion doesn't go far enough. It runs you through all the options available including the ability to rip your own music to use but only briefly explains each option. Sure the ga .. software gives you a test to prove you've learned something, but you get the feeling you only know how to do it with that particular sample in that particular position rather then being able to mix in a number of beats.
The other problem is something which is of almost no fault to the developers and that is the fact that as mentioned before you really do need a creative side to get the most out of this title. Just like it takes a talented person to write a smash hit dance song you really do need to have some sort of musical ability to create a decent mix with this game. If you can't co-ordinate different styles of music together with adjusting speed and beats then it is best to look elsewhere. This is a professional level mixing system with as much control of a mix as you're going to get without actually doing it on a turntable or other mixing system.
Something that will turn many away from the package is that the interface is not very user friendly. You will find a number of boxes and small squares which control everything about the mix. The boxes are the different options and the squares are where the samples are placed for inclusion in a mix. The interface is what keeps this from being an accessible software product rather then something only for those who know exactly what they are doing from the outset. There are some nice features in the game such as the ability to turn your PS2 into a disco machine for parties but really, who is going to use their console system for that? However, it's not all bad for this option with some nice graphical effects displayed on screen while the songs play.
One area where the interface works quite well is the remixer and this allows you to adjust music on the fly in categories such as drums, bass etc. This area works well because you can hear the changes immediately. You can also do this in the studio area while a song is playing which can help but the fact you're only placing boxes makes this harder then really it should be. Every time you want to load a new sample the song stops and begins to play again once you have decided which one you like. This removes the flow of mixing that you would get using a turntable. Lessening the impact of this is that you can load any sample quickly without load time which has already been fetched from the software disc.
However for those who do take the plunge and think they have some ability in the music arena (only to perhaps have their ego destroyed) will find some generic samples as well as songs from famous artists of today. There isn't enough to keep you going and that's where the ability to rip your legitimately owned music comes in. Although due to copyright restrictions or perhaps the PS2 memory card you can't rip full songs it does give you a bit more creative freedom. Having said that, if you want total control and total freedom, you'd be better off looking at a PC or Mac product over MTV Music Generator 3.
As you can probably deduce by now MTV Music Generator is a decent piece of software which is only let down by its poor interface and lack of a really in depth tutorial to give users some idea of how to create a decent mix without using only basic sounds and tunes. It is a fully featured piece of software which will let you create a professional level mix, as long as you have the talent and creative genius. Our only question is this -- how do you get your smash hit dance track from the PS2 memory card to the world?
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