Chaotic Music Maker first version released

[DenisLiganov]

Hi all,

I am pleased to inform you about new music creation app, named Chaotic Music Maker (CMM), that has been released and is ready to be exploited. The goal of CMM is to be fast, lightweight and powerful. Features description and all further information can be found on our website: http://chaoticdaw.com. Or go directly to download page. Currently, only Windows platform is supported.

This is a commercial product. Current introductory price is 65 euro, effective until Aug 15, 2010. Then it will become 85 euro.

All questions on the project you can ask here or on our forum.

[KrisM]

**edit** and apparently I'm slow in the head, he said it was windows-only in the post

I do like the minimal UI. Very spartan, but only because it doesn't need to be fancy. And I like this:

The basic composing feature, around which the rest of CMM functionality was built, is what we call "sequencing freedom". Abstractly speaking, this is the ability to sequence any kind of stuff at any time without redundant limitations. The lack of such freedom often forces composers to search various workarounds in order to implement even trivial and obvious things, and it also makes the overall composition project too heavy and awkward for changing and experimenting with. With CMM, we are trying to minimize any kind of composing limitations.

[NAS]

There is some super slick stuff in this
But a manual sure wouldn't go amiss and there doesn't seem to be any quick way to turn on looping in the timeline ? (Just right click drag on the ruler duh)

Liking it so far besides these though

NAS

[Mattox]

Just had a quick play around, looks cool mate well done!

[NAS]

You might want to consider a name change too since Magix Music Maker has been around so long

NAS

[DenisLiganov]

Manual is not finished yet, we are working on it. Just decided to release the app first and then the manual, after it will be well formed.

[stanlea]

But why "chaotic" ?

[DenisLiganov]

But why "chaotic" ?

Because we like to think about music creation as a chaotic and random process.

[suecae_sounds]

Chaos Χάος) was according to greek mythology the original prime void which everything else (including the Gods) were formed. Kind of an interesting name for a sequencer.

Anyway: enough philosophy! I'll check this out when I have the time.

[hxcobd]

Love the GUI. Will give this a spin shortly.

[gravehill]

But why "chaotic" ?

Because we like to think about music creation as a chaotic and random process.

I was wondering the same thing. Based on the name I was expecting to see some sort of algorithm and/or fractal based "sequencer".

[hxcobd]

Initial thoughts:

I love this. At first usage, it's got the tiny executable, quick workflow, and charming UI of a DAW like EnergyXT or Podium, but feels a bit more sophisticated than those; almost like the little brother of Cubase (or a weird offshoot of FLStudio).

Workflow is awesome. I love the default view of having the timeline span the upper half of the main window, and the bottom half populated by piano roll/grid/step sequencer. The mixer is very intuitively laid-out.

Runs like an absolute dream. Even without any ASIO drivers, there's no stuttering for me in the demo projects at all. A 2-meg installer is always wonderful, too.

Some gripes:

- UI could use a little help in a few areas. The horizontal stripe background, namely towards the program's window header and above the "Projects" quickbar, is a little cheesy-looking and dated.
- Some of the color choices, especially the purple-ish gradients on the transport buttons, could use a little help
- All of the UI buttons could benefit from tooltips/rollovers to explain what they are (especially the mixer button, its sub-buttons, and the "mute/solo/automation/sample" buttons in the main track window)

I'm a bit confused about the main window; the tracks are laid out in the typical manner, but the actual instrument/sample tracks don't line up vertically with their actual spot on the timeline, if this makes any sense. (For instance, open the tutorial project "Tutorial 3 Mixing." There's a huge block of text, then about 8 tracks down, the ACTUAL tracks begin. How is the user supposed to set this up and/or remember which instrument track is where, vertically?)

LOVE that you can write text right in the timeline, anywhere you want. That's pretty handy.

I really, really like this. This program came out of nowhere!

I work as a UI developer for my day job; if you guys ever want any help (or even any tips or whatnot) I'd be glad to assist!

[Goratrix]

Wow, I really like this a lot. It has that tracker/demoscene/early-fruityloops-ish vibe, but at the same time feels quite feature-rich. After some UI tweaking, this could turn out really nice.

[wakax]

i love its workflow.
it's the non bloated sequencer i was looking for
damn good job !

[DenisLiganov]

I'm a bit confused about the main window; the tracks are laid out in the typical manner, but the actual instrument/sample tracks don't line up vertically with their actual spot on the timeline, if this makes any sense. (For instance, open the tutorial project "Tutorial 3 Mixing." There's a huge block of text, then about 8 tracks down, the ACTUAL tracks begin. How is the user supposed to set this up and/or remember which instrument track is where, vertically?)

Well, actually, there is no tracks. Instruments exist separately from the main editor, which consists only of lines, and these lines aren't bound to anything - you can sequence any stuff on any line, deciding on your own, which line/group of lines will be for which instrument/group of instruments.

Thank you for the UI criticism. This is the very important part for us, where we greedily look for any room for improvement and simplification. I'll take into account your remarks and I would be pleased if you point out in more details about the colors/gradients and other UI areas, that could use a help.

Any additional tips, suggestions or criticism are more than welcome. If you want, you can even create a dedicated topic for this on our forum.