Good morning all,
Interested in a PC alternative to Apple’s venerable Garageband? Look no further than Acoustica Mixcraft 4, a powerful, flexible multitrack recording application that offers a simple user interface, hundreds of ready-to-use, royalty-free sounds and sound effects, a MIDI library, synthesizers, and more. It’s inexpensive, just $49.95 @ AcademicSuperstore.com (other academic resellers available here; the retail price is $64.95).
A studio-quality tool, Mixcraft supports (but does not require) MIDI keyboards, electric guitars, microphones, and mixers. If you or your students don’t happen to have Apple hardware and the iLife suite, Mixcraft looks like a viable option, the first program of its kind (as far as I know) to approach the power, functionality and ease of use that Garageband offers.
Yes but what does it DO? Take a look at the features list. It’s clear I have no technical basis to comment on the specifics – a music teacher (or perhaps a professional musician) would be able to offer a more informed opinion – but given the full suite of products Acoustica sells, it’s clear this company is serious about music software. Here’s a look at the user interface, shown below with one of the sample tracks provided:
Better yet, listen to Crazy About My Baby (3.8mb .MP3) which I literally just encoded directly from this application in about a minute. Better yet, go ahead and download a fully-functional, time-limited copy of this program and start playing with it yourself! Still not convinced? Maybe some of these reviews will be of interest!
Hope this helps!
-kj-
I used the trial copies last year with 8th graders who were writing/composing the sound tracks for movie trailers they made. I let kids with macs bring them in, but the PC users were so jealous of garageband- audacity just wasn’t cutting it for them. The mixcraft trials worked very much like the garageband interface and I got good work, happy 8th graders. Going to try to pick up a few copies, even tho it is inexpensive, no money is no money.
Hi Maureen!
Thanks for commenting. So you were able to get the project done before the time-limited trial expired? How long is that? You’re so right, Audacity pales in comparison to Mixcraft. Different beasts entirely.
I hear you with the ‘no money’ refrain, I was going to put in the posting that this kind of application is ideal to seek funding for from a Parent-Teacher Organization or local education foundation!
-kj-
Kevin,
One thing that I do not see mentioned here is the ability to create podcasts with either a track for images or a video track. I use garageband to create .mov files more than audio files. It interfaces with iMovie and Keynote and iPhoto, as well as iDVD. It is “multi” media. I didn’t see this feature in mixcraft. The beauty of Garageband is its ability to work with the other iLife suite and can create podcasts, movies, change a slide show into a movie, etc. Find something that does that, as easy as the drag/drop of iLife. Is there something for a PC like this?
:)
carol
oh yeah,
also shares right to your iWeb! :)
Hi Carol, thanks for commenting!
Mixcraft is for audio production only and you’re right, pales in comparison in terms of features and functionality vs. the iLife suite. You’ll notice that the title to my post is a question, not a statement, I did that for a reason. ;-) I doubt we will ever see an application (or suite of applications) for Windows approaching the usability of iLife. But what are teachers in PC districts to do? As demonstrated by Maureen’s comment, Mixcraft offers a viable alternative, even if it’s “only” for audio. I’m planning to expose our students in our newspaper/multimedia club to Mixcraft so we can see what they have to say, particularly as it compares to the Apple tools (we’ll use whatever works for us!) Will keep you posted!
-kj-
You will need to use another PC program for adding video or audio. I am suggesting teachers and administrators in my district use Photo Story or Windows Movie Maker as a way to get visuals onto their podcasts. You can create the audio in Mixcraft and then export out. It is not as easy and unified as GarageBand, but at least it gives us something that we can use to emulate the iLife experience on the PC.
Thanks Mike – we’ll be experimenting with Mixcraft soon! -kj-
Mixcraft 4 is a different animal than mixcraft 2. Mixcraft 4 is much more capable of producing music tracks than v2. (it’s being called garage band for windows) If you just want quick and dirty audio editing, Mixcraft 2 is better IMO, and Audacity has features that Mixcraft is not as good as (i.e. making an exact audio edit, and the time stretch stuff is still better in audacity if speech is involved) but, since Audacity is FREE, you are limiting yourself. You can do 98 percent of what you want with Mixcraft for 75.00 and Audacity for el freebo, and you will be amazed at the results. Take that Mac. For Radio Commercials, Mixcraft 2 and Audacity have no competition.
I think the difference between Apple and PC is in part that Mac users expect one program to do everything. PC users know there are different tools for different jobs. A Mac user will use a butter knife to do brain surgery and be indignant that the results were horrible; a PC user will look a the Mac user and go “moron”. Right tool for the right job, eh?
Billl, thanks for commenting, I didn’t realize that the Mixcraft releases were so different. I’d really love an opportunity to get into it in more detail…
Mike, I hear what you’re saying, but there’s no need to be derogatory … don’t hate on Mac, or Mac users … to each our own … can’t we all just get along? LOL!
-kj-
-kj-
Last week, I bought Acoustica Mixcraft 4 from discountdownloadsoftware.com in cheapest price. This software is very nice & Funny. Mixcraft is very easy to use, and it is so much fun. Very simple interface, MIDI, multiple tracks, effects, loops, etc. This is the easiest program for beginners, in my opinion, and has such a full feature set that it is worth the money and then some.
Hi Richard,
Glad you are happy with Mixcraft and thanks for sharing your experience. That website you mentioned kind of scares me, to be honest – are you sure they are a 100% legit, legal, manufacturer-approved retail operation? I’d want to be sure before spending too much money there. Prices look good though!
-kj-
Mixcraft kicks ass, For a pc recording program it is amazing, and look at the price! My band has just done some awesome quality recordings with this program, they sound literally amazing. Check them out, if they arent up yet, they will be in a few days.
http://Www.myspace.com/takeawaytomnz