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| MTV Music Generator 2,
For PlayStation 2 |
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| Games,
Richard Young,
02:00:00,
01 October 2001 |
Rating: F5
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For many, the original Music, and then Music 2000 for PSone represented a step away from mindless shoot ‘em, punch ‘em or race ‘em kind of game, and a step towards something a whole lot more creative. The ability to lay down a drum pattern, add a bass line and a couple of melodic riffs was a fun and rewarding way to spend an evening, and made Codemasters the first proper PlayStation utility publisher. Now what would you get if you took the same idea, added the extra power of the PlayStation 2, and a fresh paint job to boot? The MTV Music Generator 2, that’s what. (The “2” denotes its Music 2000 heritage).
Utilising pretty much the same basic principles of its predecessor, MTVMG2 lets you sample a whole bunch of “riffs” from drum loops, basses, keyboards, effects and vocals and then cut and paste them together to make a kicking techno track, a thumping dance number, or practically whatever you fancy. Visually, this title is very simple and functional, although there is the added ability to change the layout via any of the included “skins” to make your work area easier on the eye. These vary from spacey Hi-Fi settings to a bizarre 50’s radio theme.
Anybody who has ever used a software sequencer before will recognise the standard usage of timeline and beat divisions, start/stop buttons etc. The big difference here is that the time line actually scrolls downwards, while the blocks of your music track gradually move up the screen. This actually takes less time to adjust to than you might think, although sadly there is no global view that lets you see all of the tracks at once, as there was with Music 2000. The sounds, of which there are reportedly around 9000, are all very clean and sampled at CD quality rate of 44.1 Khz, which means that you can actually make use of the PS2’s digital optical output and lay down your masterpiece to CD or Minidisc.
Another feature that was possible with Music 2000 was the potential to record samples straight from any audio CD and drop them into your track. Unfortunately this proved cumbersome and very memory intensive. The PS2 makes good use of a separate peripheral for this function; basically a cable that plugs into the USB socket of your console that lets you connect a CD player or any other audio source. Even a microphone is included with this accessory, so you can have fun banging kitchen utensils together and making your very own John Cage pieces. You might want to record your own vocals too, because the ones included with MTVMG2 are mostly derivative and cliched (if I hear another “ooh baby” I will go doolally).
MTV Music Generator 2 also includes a video mode, that lets you put wacky visuals and light patterns to your song, and a “jam” feature that lets up to 4 players literally jam along by assigning various sounds to the buttons on the joypad. All in all, the planning, design and execution of MTVMG2 are exemplary and despite a slightly complicated interface, this is a must buy for the budding musician in us all.
Published by Codemasters
Developed by Jester Interactive
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