Mr. Drumstix Music Studio 2.0

Description:

Mr. Drumstix Music Studio 2.0 allows children to sing along to a variety of kids' tunes karaoke-style, compose their own music, play on-screen instruments, and enjoy music learning games. Howler, the animated drum-playing dog, performs any songs containing drums! In the Song Window, kids can simply select a song or opt to click on buttons to randomize the instruments and songs. They can even play and edit individual parts of the songs or experiment with tempo. Composing music involves selecting instruments and notes and placing them on a grid. Musical compositions can be played back, looped, and even dragged to the drum window, the keyboard, or the song window to change an existing song. The learning games involve such things as listening to melodies and choosing the higher/lower notes, counting the number of notes played, and identifying the instrument used. They are designed to test pitch and timbre discrimination, sound and memory skills, and knowledge of basic chord types.

This version is a CD-ROM version that includes 4 extra song packs. The full version without the song packs costs $9.95 US, and additional song packs (containing 10 songs each) are $4.95 each. The personalization feature (which involves replacing Howler's face with a custom photo of your child) is NOT included in the price, and can be ordered for an additional $14.95.

Features:

• Karaoke-style sing-along songs
• JukeBox mode allows continuous automatic play
• Playable on-screen instruments: guitar, piano, drums
• Educational games that teach important music concepts
• Drums and melodies can be played "live" on the computer keyboard
• Songs can be exported to MIDI file
• 3 difficulty levels

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

On first entering the program, my 11 year old relative and my almost 8 year old son were not hugely impressed by the simple graphics. In fact, they started off with a rather negative attitude. However, once we really explored the program together they changed their "tune", so to speak. They ended up having great fun with this program! In fact, the whole family (including 4 kids ranging from 2 to 11) spent a good part of the afternoon playing and singing along to the songs.

There is a lot more to the program than first meets the eye -- many program options are not apparent without reading the "help" files, as some require the use of the right mouse button and the Shift button on the computer keyboard. The "help" files also contain valuable hints. Once we learned HOW to use the program to its fullest potential, we found it to be quite valuable. Some nice options include the ability to turn the games' "losing" sound effects OFF (for younger kids) and the choice of using the computer keyboard to play the drums and melodies. The musical composition activity is especially versatile because of the ability to combine a number of different instruments at once. Personally, I find the customization feature pricey and would expect that, for many kids, the novelty could wear thin quite fast. Mr. Drumstix Music Studio 2.0 would probably be most useful for children learning one of the featured instruments (piano, guitar, or drums) and used for at-home practice. Although it is somewhat lacking in the "bells and whistles" department, this program is really quite versatile and educational.