DV Music Creation Software Review: Synk Audio Musicbed DV (page 2)

We really appreciate the ability to slide different sections of the song forward and back along the timeline, changing the duration of each section or the song as a whole. Each track in the timeline is comprised of different blocks, which make up the entire song. You can swap out these blocks if you like or extend and shorten them too. Having so much control with the timing of the each element will help producers change the mood of the song at the appropriate times. Musicbed DV also includes markers, so you can lay visual cues to note important changes in the music. In our test, we spent a good amount of time trying to create a moody track that constantly changed throughout time. We found that when we manually changed blocks within a song, oftentimes we would have to also slightly change musical parameters and timing to massage the transitions between blocks. This is really where you'll find the limitations of music generation software-if you were composing music from scratch, this wouldn't be a problem, obviously. The time you'll save from bypassing the music creation stage, you'll probably spend in perfecting the timing and musical parameters of your track. We think that this is a fair trade, especially for those who are not musically inclined.

Overall, Musicbed DV is a great software application for generating music for the narrative video. We are highly anticipating new scores that further strengthen this product. If you've got a story to tell, Musicbed DV has a robust library for every plot point and emotion that you'll want to reinforce. For most of us, that's just what we intend to do with our production music. Check out the trial version on Synk Audio's Web site to learn more.

CPU: PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel processor
Display: 1024x768 resolution or higher
OS: Mac OS X v10.4 or later
RAM: 512MB
Disk Space: 17GB available for application and music content
Audio Device: 44.1kHz stereo output capability required
Adjustable Musical Parameters: Synthetic/Organic, Background/Prominent, Melodic/Percussive, Sparse/Dense, Soft/Intense, Dry/Spacious, Smooth/Punchy, Pitch, Tempo
Music Content Provided: Seasons 1 & 2 (23 music packages, over 6100 non-linear tracks)

• Ease of use
• Relatively inexpensive
• Moody tracks

• None, really

MusicBed DV is a simple yet powerful music generator for the Mac platform.

Mark Montgomery is Videomaker's Technical Editor.

$249 (with Seasons 1 & 2)
Synk Audio Studios, LLC
3501 N. Southport Ave., #219
Chicago, IL 60657
www.synkaudiostudios.com

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