OK. You got your band ready to rock. Click the OK button and Abaltat Muse 2.0 does its thing. More accurately, it matches the color timeline with a dynamic composition by importing the instrumentation and separating it into several layers (i.e., Melody 1, Melody 2, Bass, Drums and FX). The overall composition reacts differently according to the color timeline and the presets you've chosen. As color is one of the more common visual aesthetics for communicating mood, this is a rather intelligent way to compose a score. With just these few selections, Abaltat Muse 2.0 has just composed our sound bed for our video. It took a few seconds to compose a 30-second spot. How nice. But we're not done.

The basic composition option gets us in the ballpark. If we're picky (and we are because we're editors), we will want to make some changes to the arrangement. First, let's go back to the Composition task. When we hit the Composition button again, we get the same options to do a basic composition. But this time we'll click on the Advanced button to reveal a whole set of controls. Now we can choose a variety of Compose Methods. These variances allow us to either compose a score strictly related to the color timeline or define a more loosely-related association. We can also select which color channel (a total of nine unique color combinations) to follow in the composition. In our tests, we found it was optimal to be more selective with the color channels. We often found best results when choosing one or two colors.

The advanced settings will also allow you to change the Tempo, Complexity (i.e., the number of notes played), Jingle (i.e., the variety of notes played), Drum Pattern and Time Signature, and it will retain any markers or attributes you may have edited in a previous round of composing. This means your keyframes won't be lost if you decide to re-compose several times. That's a terrific feature, because the composition process may take a few tries before you feel you've found the best match with your color timeline.

Once you've found the composition that sounds right, you can hone in on the arrangement, using keyframes to edit a variety of properties. Using keyframes, you can edit the instrumentation in each layer of audio. If you don't like the drum kit used in your composition, you can swap it out with a simple keyframe. You can also use keyframes to edit the Volume, Pan, Transposition (pitch) and Scale. Using the Color Tracker, you can also manipulate each color channel over time, in case you want make your own impression in the composition.

While Abaltat Muse 2.0 simplifies the process of composing a musical score, it won't make a masterpiece all on its own. You still need to do a little bit of tweaking to get the best results. Still, it beats trying to do a whole composition from scratch. This can be extremely useful for editors who don't have a music bed in the can. For example, you don't have the rights and you don't have the cash to pay for them. Abaltat Muse can save the day in that scenario. Furthermore, for the music geeks out there, Abaltat Muse is a great gateway to expanding into original scores. The simple user interface and powerful manual controls make it easy to get comfortable with Abaltat Muse in very little time. It won't be as "insta-matic" as dragging and dropping a canned music score from a CD, but it will be custom-composed, not copyrighted, perfectly-timed and just the right mood. Now that sounds good. You can try it out yourself by visiting www.abaltat.com and downloading the free trial version.

Minimum Requirements - Mac
Operating System: OS 10.4.7 (PowerPC processor),OS 10.4.8 (Intel processor)
RAM: 512MB (2GB recommended)
Download File Size: 1.9GB

• Intelligent compositions
• Easy to use
• Exports MIDI for compatibility with other audio applications

• Mac only

Abaltat Muse 2.0 gives visual editors a leg up on creating custom music scores in a simple, no-fuss interface.

Contributing editor Mark Montgomery is an independent video producer.

Abaltat
Baile an tSagairt
Spiddal, Co. Galway
Ireland
www.abaltat.com
$99