Xbox Music Mixer

Reviewed by JON MINIFIE


Herald rating: * * *

Whether you sing in the car or serenade in the shower, even if you just hum occasionally: there's a little superstar in every one of us. This new release allows you to indulge your vocal whims at home.

For the first time, Microsoft is encouraging Xbox owners to explore the connectivity of the Xbox console with their home PC. The reason is Xbox Music Mixer, which comes with a supplied microphone and lets you sing, croon or rap over your favourite tracks.

Music Mixer comes preloaded with 15 ready-to-go tracks from I Feel Good by the godfather of soul, James Brown, to YMCA by the Village People. Your Xbox is now a karaoke machine. Some fun can be had using the software from this package to strip down or dampen vocal tracks from MP3s on your PC, then exporting your work to the Xbox.

You can enhance your vocal stylings with audio effects to distort, add reverb and echo, even save your best performance to play back later. There is also a visual component to play around with.

Transfer pics and your own digital photos from your personal computer to use the Music Mixer to synchronise images with your music.

Visual effects can be added and as with the music, good transitions and mixes can be strung together improving on a simple slideshow idea.

Combing all the Xbox Music Mixer's features enables would-be musos to create something new and smooth to impress and entertain.

$89.95


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