Over the course of the past
few years, 99% of the things that I’ve purchased for my PS2 and PC have been
video games and game peripherals. How does it come up to only 99% you ask? Well,
if you remember, MTV released a fun little CD a while back for PSX called the
Music Generator … and since I used to play bass guitar in a band (my fellow
reviewer and partner – in – crime Aceinet was the lead guitar player) I enjoyed
writing and messing around with music and had a blast playing with it. Anyways,
I also had fun with the 2nd one that was released for PS2, but lately
haven’t done much with console or PC music makers since there haven’t really
been any new ones out that have caught my attention. That has recently changed …
Now out on PC is a program
entitled Hip Hop eJay 4, which allows any aspiring Hip Hop MC or DJ who can
simply work a computer and a mouse to throw down radio and CD quality tracks
complete with effects, drum loops, guitars, keyboards, and even recorded voices
to mess around with. In addition, it also contains a graffiti tag creator, a way
to make your own scratches on a virtual turntable, and you can even plug in a
mike and rap or sing over the music tracks that you just came up with. I know, I
know … since there’s a bunch of stuff here that you can do, it sounds kind of
complicated right? Wrong.
The biggest plus to the Hip
Hop eJay 4 is that it is so simple to use that even my 9 year old was able to
put together a 4 minute track that sounded really, really cool after taking only
about 5 minutes to figure it out. Basically, you have a bunch of numbered lines
patterned downwards vertically on the screen, each divided into virtual bars
horizontally to keep time. All sounds, effects, etc. are represented by blocks
that can be half a bar, a full bar, or some over two bars that are left clicked
and dragged into these lines and stacked vertically on top of each other. For
example, you can place a drum loop in the first line, then a keyboard tune in
the second line, then a scratch on the third line, and then when you hit play
all three will play at the same time and viola … you have the beginnings of your
very own hip hop song.
Once you get the basics
down, you can move into more complicated (but still easy to use) things that can
add to your song and make it that much better. Things like your own scratching
sounds (the virtual turntables come complete with crossfader and auto – scratch
abilities to really get some professional sounding quality out of them), a
graffiti tag to go ahead and start working on your group of solo album cover if
you wish, and recording your very own lyrics over the music tracks that you just
designed. While you are recording, the computer will play your music behind it
so that you don’t miss a beat or get lost trying to figure out where you are.
Now, for all you musicians who have some experience
playing with creating your own music, don’t worry about whether or not the eJay
provides everything you need to maximize your sounds … it’s in there. Everything
from individual muting and volume control, pitch, and time stretching in a 48
track arranger is included to allow you to bring out and emphasize certain areas
(like in the break), you can download your own WAV or MP3’s to save as samples,
and you can even put together your own drum, bass, and key tracks in a creator
that allows you to do whatever you wish, but like the rest of the program is
just “oh so simple” to figure out and use. Even you decide that this is a little
out of your creativity range don’t worry … there are over 4000 unlicensed beats
included in the game for you to use and experiment with, so you can do this for
a long, long time to come.
Whether you are a beginner
or an advanced musician in the Hip Hop industry, the eJay provides a great tool
to help individuals or friends get together to work on their writing and test
out new tracks to use. Even if you aren’t planning to get into the industry but
enjoy being creative and writing your own stuff, this could be a good thing for
you since you can create and save professional sounding tracks to make your
friends say things like “Really? You wrote this?” Great stuff.
Gameplay: 8.9
While the sheer amount of stuff included can sound like a
daunting experience, the developers got this thing down pat enough to provide a
way to make and create complex sounding tracks and riffs with a learning curve
of about 5 minutes. Everything that you will need to make songs, control time
and volume, and do just about anything else is included and simple to figure
out. I would have liked to have a way to cut and modify some of my MP3’s to use
in my songs, but with everything else you get that is a minor thing.
Graphics: 5.0
In these kinds of
programs or “games” if you want to call it that, the score is not a reflection
of being bad, there’s just not really anything to it. The graffiti tag is neat
though, and you can let your creative juices flow without messing up public
areas or risking getting arrested.
Sound: 9.0
Everything from
the in game samples that were included to the stuff that you can make and create
on your own sounds fantastic, and all of them (from a time perspective) just fit
together and run as they are supposed to, even if some of the chords don’t go
together (which is going to happen with 4000 different ones to choose from).
What sounds better is up to you.
Difficulty: Easy
This is one of
those things that you can sit down and get into in minutes, but constantly push
and develop your creativity further for a long time to come. Since you can even
use stuff from other eJay software (like Dance), getting additional programs
just increases your creativity.
Concept: 8.9
While this isn’t
the first home music maker on the market, it is definitely one of the better
ones available. Even though a lot of complex style things were added, some of
which that WILL be complex to the beginner, time and practice will soon have you
throwing down like a pro.
Overall: 8.6
Like I stated
before, this is a good way to either look to hone your DJ and MC skills or just
be creative. Whether you are a beginner or a professional, you will be up and
running and designing your own stuff in minutes. As a quick note to parents,
there is a Parental Advisory due to the fact that some of the vocals contain a
few choice four letter words, but as long as you are there to monitor and make
sure that your kids use the music only it is a fun way for them to put their own
things together.
