15 April, 2008

Mix rage

Why must all music software be ridiculously complicated?

When I came across Pacemaker Editor I was excited by the prospect of doing a short mix for my friend Conor. Now all I have is a burning rage and a bitter determination to create this mix, even if it kills me. Not really the spirit of creativity.

Pacemaker's Editor software is intuitive and straightforward, but also has some good functions (a basic hi-lo filter and effects). Unfortunately, it also falls down on two big counts. It does not read all my music files - which admittedly are in sundry random formats - and (while it allows you to upload your mix to the Pacemaker website) it cannot export/render a mix as an audio file, for simple burning.

There is probably a workaround with FL Studio, but my skills with this software are less rude than rudimentary (and it is designed for arrangement, rather than live mixing).

Ableton Live seems ideal, but complex and pricy and I took one look at the Traktor interface and nearly wept.

Finally, in my quest for the perfect mixing tool, I've come across Mixxx, which gets extra points for being open source and having a lovely interface.

I like the fact that the waveform is visible - and arranged one channel over the other, so that it's easy to see whether or not the beats match - and the interface is uncluttered. I dislike too many nobs and switches.

Wish me luck.