Xbox Music Mixer
Posted January 2, 2004
Trying to make their big black box more than just your ordinary video game console, Microsoft took the first step in making the Xbox an integrated part of your entertainment center, and this step was the Xbox Music Mixer. If you look at this item as a different and a non-competitive option to the Karaoke Revolution on PS2, then you may feel that this is worth the $39.99, but if are only looking for a way to access files on your PC it might be best to let this one slide.
Gameplay:
When first booting this peripheral up you will notice that it offers more than just karaoke, you also get a Slide Show option, a Rave Mode, a music player and some nifty visualizations; most of which you’ve already seen as part of the Windows Media Player. Also included in the package is a microphone for use while singing and dancing with your bad self. To connect the mic, a Mad Catz adapter is included which slips into one of the adapter slots on the Xbox controller. The quality of the microphone seems to be quite high, it feels solid in the hand and the cord is long enough that you can move around the living room without being tied to the controller.
Karaoke with this machine is actually pretty fun, a small selection of songs are available on the disc ranging from the standard I Will Survive to the summer favorite Steal My Sunshine. Additional songs are available for download from Xbox Karaoke or through Xbox Live. The main reason I could see for using the web site to download songs is if you do not have a Live connection, or if you want to customize which songs you are downloading as it is much easier to do with a mouse than the Xbox controller.
Unfortunately at this time, if you’ve got your own karaoke collection at home, the disc will not work correctly on the Xbox. The music will play, but the lyrics will not be displayed. Hopefully Microsoft will be adding this support as I think it would help convert more people to using this device. As mentioned, additional songs are available for download, but the price might be a little prohibitive; single songs cost $1.99, and packages of five songs are priced at $9.95. If you have a group of friends over, then everyone throwing in a buck or so for a good time shouldn’t matter, but for the frugal, this might be a down side.
Transferring songs from your PC to your Xbox was one of the features that had me excited with this program. Sadly, a large portion of people will not be able to take advantage of this option because of the restrictions imposed. You need to have Windows XP installed along with the latest version of the Windows Media Player. A small program also needs to be installed on your PC to make the transition go smoothly, and even then some people have been reporting issues with firewalls and other issues getting in the way. I did experience a slight delay in getting the operation to work correctly, and I followed the instructions on the Xbox web site, instead I did what I thought I should do and the program worked correctly. To start a transfer of either music (MP3, WMA) or photos, you select them with the helper program installed on your PC and it then performs a conversion on them. This operation takes a fair amount of time but the end result is worth it, when the actual transfer of files takes place, it is lightening quick. I transferred an entire CD from the PC to Xbox in seconds, and I even did this operation multiple times to prove that I wasn’t dreaming.
A downside to this is the soundtracks you bring over using the Mixer can only be used by the Mixer, until you do a conversion on them. In order to use the imported soundtracks in games you need to select the group of songs and using the clunky interface find the right option to make them readily available in games. This operation takes MUCH longer than expected, almost as long as ripping a CD to the Xbox hard drive which is disappointing because the audio files are already on the system.
Graphics:
The interface of the Music Mixer is a strange thing to behold, one would think that the color scheme and layout would match the integrated Dashboard for continuity, but Wild Tangent (Developers) went with something that comes right out of Willy Wonka’s factory with a strange pastel palette. Navigating the interface is somewhat awkward and not intuitive. To get to an option that I want to tweak, be it changing songs or changing the visuals, it usually took me three tries to get it right.
As mentioned, the visualizations seem to be ripped from the Windows Media Player, and don’t really offer much in terms of coolness. However, there are additional ones to download from Live for free.
Audio:
The karaoke tunes that are offered here are not the actual songs, but versions which are done “in the style of” to prevent any copyright issues. No real backing vocals are included either, so you will need to know at least how the songs sound before tackling it.
There is the option to sing to a song that you’ve imported to the Xbox hard drive, and the technology here strips out the vocals to let you sing along. No words are displayed so you need to be an expert in the song to make this work. The stripping works quite well, but a fair portion of the audio is also removed from the song so you get a different sounding song. So if you expect to flow like Eminem with all the bells and whistles his songs have, expect them to sound a little different.
Conclusion:
For those who view gathering with friends and family and singing poorly to music as a good time, I suggest that you grab this fun little device and let loose. The limited option for songs initially is a little disappointing, but with the abundant downloads available on Live or on the karaoke web site, you can be entertained for a very long time, with a slight additional cost.
The group of people who thought about grabbing this to aid in the transfer of their MP3 collection to their Xbox might be a little disappointed as the time it takes to convert the imported sound to game ready soundtracks doesn’t save much time over what you’ve been doing before, ripping the CD directly to the hard drive.
Gameplay:
When first booting this peripheral up you will notice that it offers more than just karaoke, you also get a Slide Show option, a Rave Mode, a music player and some nifty visualizations; most of which you’ve already seen as part of the Windows Media Player. Also included in the package is a microphone for use while singing and dancing with your bad self. To connect the mic, a Mad Catz adapter is included which slips into one of the adapter slots on the Xbox controller. The quality of the microphone seems to be quite high, it feels solid in the hand and the cord is long enough that you can move around the living room without being tied to the controller.
Karaoke with this machine is actually pretty fun, a small selection of songs are available on the disc ranging from the standard I Will Survive to the summer favorite Steal My Sunshine. Additional songs are available for download from Xbox Karaoke or through Xbox Live. The main reason I could see for using the web site to download songs is if you do not have a Live connection, or if you want to customize which songs you are downloading as it is much easier to do with a mouse than the Xbox controller.
Unfortunately at this time, if you’ve got your own karaoke collection at home, the disc will not work correctly on the Xbox. The music will play, but the lyrics will not be displayed. Hopefully Microsoft will be adding this support as I think it would help convert more people to using this device. As mentioned, additional songs are available for download, but the price might be a little prohibitive; single songs cost $1.99, and packages of five songs are priced at $9.95. If you have a group of friends over, then everyone throwing in a buck or so for a good time shouldn’t matter, but for the frugal, this might be a down side.
Transferring songs from your PC to your Xbox was one of the features that had me excited with this program. Sadly, a large portion of people will not be able to take advantage of this option because of the restrictions imposed. You need to have Windows XP installed along with the latest version of the Windows Media Player. A small program also needs to be installed on your PC to make the transition go smoothly, and even then some people have been reporting issues with firewalls and other issues getting in the way. I did experience a slight delay in getting the operation to work correctly, and I followed the instructions on the Xbox web site, instead I did what I thought I should do and the program worked correctly. To start a transfer of either music (MP3, WMA) or photos, you select them with the helper program installed on your PC and it then performs a conversion on them. This operation takes a fair amount of time but the end result is worth it, when the actual transfer of files takes place, it is lightening quick. I transferred an entire CD from the PC to Xbox in seconds, and I even did this operation multiple times to prove that I wasn’t dreaming.
A downside to this is the soundtracks you bring over using the Mixer can only be used by the Mixer, until you do a conversion on them. In order to use the imported soundtracks in games you need to select the group of songs and using the clunky interface find the right option to make them readily available in games. This operation takes MUCH longer than expected, almost as long as ripping a CD to the Xbox hard drive which is disappointing because the audio files are already on the system.
Graphics:
The interface of the Music Mixer is a strange thing to behold, one would think that the color scheme and layout would match the integrated Dashboard for continuity, but Wild Tangent (Developers) went with something that comes right out of Willy Wonka’s factory with a strange pastel palette. Navigating the interface is somewhat awkward and not intuitive. To get to an option that I want to tweak, be it changing songs or changing the visuals, it usually took me three tries to get it right.
As mentioned, the visualizations seem to be ripped from the Windows Media Player, and don’t really offer much in terms of coolness. However, there are additional ones to download from Live for free.
Audio:
The karaoke tunes that are offered here are not the actual songs, but versions which are done “in the style of
There is the option to sing to a song that you’ve imported to the Xbox hard drive, and the technology here strips out the vocals to let you sing along. No words are displayed so you need to be an expert in the song to make this work. The stripping works quite well, but a fair portion of the audio is also removed from the song so you get a different sounding song. So if you expect to flow like Eminem with all the bells and whistles his songs have, expect them to sound a little different.
Conclusion:
For those who view gathering with friends and family and singing poorly to music as a good time, I suggest that you grab this fun little device and let loose. The limited option for songs initially is a little disappointing, but with the abundant downloads available on Live or on the karaoke web site, you can be entertained for a very long time, with a slight additional cost.
The group of people who thought about grabbing this to aid in the transfer of their MP3 collection to their Xbox might be a little disappointed as the time it takes to convert the imported sound to game ready soundtracks doesn’t save much time over what you’ve been doing before, ripping the CD directly to the hard drive.