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Abaltat Muse 2.0 Music Composition Software Review

There are a myriad software solutions that can mix and loop multi-layered audio for your video presentation. But Abaltat Muse 2.0 starts where most editors fail: the composition. Most editors don't hold an advanced music theory degree and have two weeks to make a dynamic musical composition that analyzes each frame of video. Abaltat Muse 2.0 gives the editor a jumpstart on the most difficult process, so that you spend the majority of your time refining the smaller details that sweeten the music bed.

Launching Abaltat Muse 2.0 reveals nothing more than a menu bar. That's not the best first impression, but we're being picky. From here, you have to open a QuickTime video file into the application. Abaltat Muse will import only QuickTime files. Seeing as Abaltat Muse 2.0 is Mac-compatible only, this will not be an issue for most editors. Once you open a video file, Abaltat Muse 2.0 immediately analyzes the video clip. It didn't take more than 30 seconds for it to process a 30-second spot we loaded. This is where it all gets interesting. Abaltat analyzes the video color properties and creates a color timeline that follows the behavior of a variety of color channels. Later, we'll get into more depth with the color timeline in the composing process. After this is complete, the project window will load.

The project window is quite simple. It looks like a pretty standard video playback graphical user interface with Play, Pause, Forward/Backward buttons and more. If you look more closely, you'll see keyframe markers, timecode and frame numbers. All editors, no matter what their muse (pun intended), will feel right at home in this simple user interface. The real magic of Abaltat Muse 2.0 lies behind the oversized Compose button. Click the button and sit back. Abaltat Muse is now going through a second set of analysis.

After activating the Compose button, the user has the option to select a band. At first glance, the options seem a little bit limited. There are seven bands to choose from. Within each band, however, is a wide variety of preset options. The presets are very well planned out for the editor. They tend to match the various needs most editors have when co mposing a musical score. For example, the Minimalist (Orchestral) band option features Expressive, Pensive, Harpeggiator, Reflections, Relaxation and the Default preset options. These are great choices for developing a mood for your video. But don't ask us about the Harpeggiator option. Say what? It's like someone telling you their new wall color is called Happy Spring.

The trick with the bands is to develop just the foundation for the instrumentation, then to use the presets to make a composition that fits the appropriate mood. The presets also configure each layer into several settings. For example, in the Hip Hop band, you can choose the Chase Da Base preset, and the composition will emphasize the Bass and Drum channels while muting the FX channel. It's a rather clever and simple solution. What's more important is that you don't dwell on a thousand different instrumentation options at this point in the process. We can export our composition via MIDI files into another application (e.g., GarageBand, which is free and pre-installed on Macs) and swap out the instruments for others with literally just two clicks of a button. That's the beauty of this application.