When we reviewed Magix Music Maker 12 we concluded that it was good for arranging samples but was a little lacking when it came to recording instruments or vocals.

Magix Music Studio can record up to 64 audio tracks and as many Midi tracks as you might want.

The combination of audio and midi is the most significant change to Music Studio and it makes it useful for all kinds of musician.

Midi files contain information about the pitch and duration of the note, not the actual sound, which can be changed very simply.

Midi used to sound poor, but now that computers are capable of using an audio sample for each note, things have improved immensely. In fact, the supplied sound sets are uncannily good.

We recorded audio using both the built-in sound card in a notebook and a pro-level USB audio device, and got good results with both. It is possible to record a two input source either as stereo tracks or a pair mono tracks.

Music Studio caters for the fact that not everyone will be recording in a full studio with a complete set of musicians. There are several software drum machines including LiViD, which introduces minor timing variations into the track to make it sound more human. Several of the synthesisers also included in Magix Music Maker are present here as well.

As is common with other Magix products, there is plenty of other software installed at setup, some of which may prove annoying if you already have software for that purpose, such as managing music and photos. Music Maker Silver edition is also installed but this lacks the large sample library supplied with the full versions of that program.

There are some extra tools that make Music Studio more than just a recording tool, the most interesting of which is the JamSession. This loops clips and records the input, so you can experiment with different ideas. All the improvisations are recorded so the best work can be kept.

For musicians wanting to experiment with recording to a computer, Magix Music Studio is hard to beat at the price. Guitarists might find some of the effects in Cakewalk Guitartracks more appropriate but for all-round recording Music Studio is hard to beat.

Also consider:
Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3 /2150272
Music Maker 12 /2173988