Tests & Awards

“A fun and easy to use program that helps you create your own music”.

"Award: Computer Shopper Best Buy"
"5/5 stars"

"This package includes everything you need to capture your old recordings and tapes to digital formats such as audio CD or MP3 files"

"4/5 stars"

"+ Lots of capture settings"
"+ Scart adaptor included"

"If you want an easier start to creating music on your computer, Music Maker 15 is a good bet. This popular application includes thousands of sounds, effects and a mixer, in an easy-to-use package to help you build your own audio."

"Award: PC Utilities Recommended"

"Rating: 88%"

"With an excellent range of features, a bumper crop of bonus utilities and a user-friendly interface, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 15 PLUS has a lot to recommend it. Budding movie producers should find this a great help in getting their productions looking best".

“MAGIX Xtreme Photostory on CD & DVD 8 certainly provides an excellent and simple way of enhancing and publishing still images and as such the price of £29.99 is very reasonable.”



 

"Quality: 9/10"
"Value: 8/10"
"Overall: 8/10"

"Create an entertaining slideshow in seconds"
"Undeniably good at what it does, Xtreme PhotoStory is certainly worth investing in ... Xtreme PhotoStory won't turn you into a multimedia editing genius, but it might just ensure that your guests don't start nodding off next time the holiday pics get brought out".



 

“Although it doesn't really offer anything substantially different from the competition, Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 Plus is a fine piece of software enabling home users to create a well-crafted video and clever edits with minimum fuss. To call it ‘Pro' software is a bit of an overstatement, but there's no denying it offers up plenty of scope for producing head-turning movies at a reasonable price. Some of the extra bits of software aren't vital to this package and the installation process was spoilt a little by having unwanted extras force-fed. It's a good and cheaper alternative to Adobe Premiere Elements, though, especially if you think you'll appreciate the extra photo editing and managing software.”

“..this software is really getting the stage where it can rival packages costing 10 times it’s price, with colour correction quick and easy to apply, as well as much closer control over frames, thanks to MAGIX incorporating the one thing I felt was missing before - a jog shuttle navigation system”.

 

“And when I’d finished impressing myself with the pans and zooms I’d achieved on your photos, all that was left to do is put a soundtrack to it and make a super sleek (but incredibly easy to implement) DVD menu to make it easy for friends and family to view my photos at their leisure. Now why can’t all software be as easy to use.”
 



 

"Quality: 8/10"
"Value: 8/10"
“Overall Ratings: 8/10”

"Another box full of goodies from Magix for the video enthusiasts".
 

"Thanks to Rescue Your Vinyl & Tapes you can pluf a record player or cassette deck into your PC using the included phono pre-amp and digitally convert your music. The software enables you to edit and restore your music, and you can then add your music collection to your MP3 player or listen to it on your PC."

"Cleaning Lab 15 is just what you need for cleaning-up old vinyl recordings or removing unwanted noises from home videos. When you consider the price tag, it really is excellent value for money. It is very easy to use too. I like the three ways to clean up you files, automatic, assisted or manual, giving you as much control as you need over the clean-up functions, while keeping things as simple as possible. I recommend MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 15 deluxe to bring new life to your old recordings, and new life to old memories".
 

“Overall, we think this programme gives very good value for money, offers sustained interest value with a wide range of facilities and the tracks created integrate well with other media”.

"...It’s absolutely perfect for the home user and there’s a huge range of programs that cover web design, photo editing, music maker and of course movie editing. Most of the programs have a novice user edition with plenty of online help."

"Video Pro X makes real the hope that pro level editing can be simple."; "One of the biggest strong points of Video Pro X is the multi-cam option, which essentially turns the cut-by-cut post-production process into a live, technical directing process. We liked the idea of beginning a live edit by simply lining up our shots together and clicking the multi-cam tab. This is a huge time saver - we think all editing programs should come with this option, especially those designed to satisfy the professional crowd."; "The Verdict: MAGIX Video Pro X is a good program. It takes beginners up to the next step and applies that same user-friendly workspace so that they don't get confused in the process. The new features offer an impressive reason to purchase the program, and, at $299, it is definitely worth it."
 

“MAGIX Website Maker 3 really is a fantastic tool for introducing amateurs to website design and really simplifies the whole process, providing huge amounts of templates and objects to produce a great website.  The included manual even runs throught the basics of web design, marketing etc.  The only slight drawbacks that we could see was the inability to totally export sites and the fact that everything is tied to the MAGIX webhosting service, which after 12 months requires a paid subscription.  However as a starting point to learn the ropes of web design MAGIX Website Maker 3 is the best we have seen for a long while”.

"For the price, Magix Music Maker 15 offers some impressive tools for putting together professional sounding tracks without getting too bogged down in technical editing. The introduction of an ‘Easy Mode' means it is possible for those with limited music production talent to put together a toe-tapping tune from scratch, master sound dynamics and edit out a good quality MP3 in a matter of minutes. The Soundpools included with the software all sway towards dance/hip-hop genres with the obligatory rock guitar riff and a few opera-style vocals, but with scope for importing your own files you can delve a little deeper and get more creative if you wish."

"Rating: 4/5"

"Verdict: A decent kit if you have lots of records to copy to the computer"

"There's a set of audio cables included with the pre-amp, and the company provided a good introductory video tutorial on the disc that explains the main features of the Cleaning Lab program."

"MAGIX 3D Maker does what you want. It IS easy to come up with impressive results after just playing around for a little while. The process is uncomplicated: you take any TrueType font on your PC and some included graphics templates, to create superb 3D logos, banners, movie titles, advertising graphics, photo captions, decorative email messages, MySpace and eBay pages, and much more."

"Overall Rating: 4/5 stars"

"Verdict: A decent kit if you have lots of records to
copy to the computer"

"... the kit’s easy-to-userecording and cleaning features make it a worthwhile investment for anyone witha large collection of old records or tapes ready to transfer to a computer."

"Award: Computer Shopper Best Buy"

"5/5 stars"

"This is a great piece of software for archiving or giving fresh lease of life to your old recordings. However, it's also capable of doing a lot more thanks to a good set of basic editing tools and audio processing tools. These could be handy if you're looking to put together mix CDs for friends and family. Best of all is just how easy it is to get good sounding results with no knowledge or prior experience."

"Magix Music Maker Helps You Make Magical Music"

"It was quite easy, and a lot of fun."

"Music Maker 14 is where the musical rubber meets the virtual road, so to speak - at least so far as really creating that musical masterpiece is concerned."



 

"Overall: 8/10"

"Quality: 8/10"

"Value: 9/10"

"Another good value product from Magix ... recommended"

"Award: Recommended by ITreviews"

"Given that the product is sold for a specific purpose, it's refreshing to report that not only does it match its claims, but it also includes, in Audio Cleaning Lab, an application that would easily warrant further exploration. There are plenty of features awaiting investigation - which, for a £50 asking price, you really should take a look at - but in true Ronseal fashion, this is a product that does what it says on the tin."

"If your audio equipment outputs the appropriate connections, then this is a fine way to get your old analogue recordings over into the digital age. A very good package and an easy recommendation."

"Features: 5/5"

"Performance: 5/5"

"Ease of Use: 4/5"

"Value for Money: 4/5"

"Overall: 4/5"

"Verdict: 4/5"

"Those with musical ability can create backing or accompaniment with ease, while beginners can start making listenable sounds with minimum skills."

"Summary: Great package to save old and dying formats! Makes it easy, and it is fun too."

"Overall, MAGIX Rescue Your Videotapes! is a great all-around package for doing just that - saving old and dying formats. It's easy to use, quick to pick up and fun to work with. Videotape may be gone forever soon, and now is the time to save those memories."


 

"Features: 4/5"; "Performance 4/5"; "Value: 4/5"; "Ease of Use: 4/5"; "Design: 4/5"; "Overall: 4/5"; "Storing your music collection in MP3 format is just the first stage as you let your creativity take over with help from ...Magix."

"Everything that a basic user needs to optimise their photos. At this price point, it will serve amateur photographers very well and is a viable alternative to the mighty Photoshop.”

"Award: PC Utilities Recommended”

"Verdict: 84%"

"An excellent package for anyone looking to update their vinyl or tapes to digital format"

"... three easy steps walk you through the process of capturing, recording and outputting your audio files."

"Priced very aggressively at £39.99, Magix Xtreme Photo & Graphic Designer 2 is well worth considering. It has wide ranging functionality with regards to the management, editing and use of digital images."

"Award: Good Buy";

"Features: 4/5"; "Performance: 5/5"; "Value: 4/5"; "Overall: 4/5"; "A simple, flexible video transfer solution at a fair price"; "We were impressed with the speed, user friendliness and flexibility of the software and with the high quality of the resulting DVD. Rescue Your Videotapes is a great way to revive those precious (if sometimes embarrassing) home videos."

"Features: 4/5"; "Performance 4/5"; "Value: 4/5"; "Ease of Use: 4/5"; "Design: 4/5"; "Overall: 4/5"; "Storing your music collection in MP3 format is just the first stage as you let your creativity take over with help from ...Magix."

"Award: PC Plus - Value Award";

"PC Plus Verdict: 4/5"; "Magix Xtreme Photo & Graphic Designer 2: A fast bitmap trace can turn photos into vector objects for quick and easy special effects."

"Features: 5/5"; "Performance: 4/5"; "Value: 4/5"; "Ease of Use: 3/5"; "Overall: 4/5";

"A good, efficient and friendly way to optimise your media ... worth checking out"

"Features: 4/5“; "Performances: 4/5“; "Value: 4/5“; "Ease of Use: 3/5“; "Overall: 4/5“;

"Not only is the content stored on videotapes at risk from this move from analogue to digital but from the effects of deterioration caused by influences such as moisture and geomagnetism. Rather than take the risk of loosing this content, which hold valuable and irreplaceable memories, you could opt to use a product such as Rescue Your Videotapes! from Magix."

"... the real benefit of this suite comes in form of its additional graphics editing and creation tools. The Graphic Designer component makes it easy to create colourful shapes and designs you could incorporate into your scrapbook designs. It's excellent for creating custom lettering too."

"Features: 4/5"; "Performance: 4/5"; "Value: 4/5"; "Ease of Use: 4/5"; "Overall: 4/5"; "Having built up a collection of digital images,  why not put them to productive use and create eye-catching slideshows"

"Overall: 4/5"; "Good points: Good optimisation tools; modest system requirements; supports lots of video sources"; "Revive home videos on your PC"

Award: "Personal Computer World Recommended“

"Features: 4/5“; "Ease of Use: 5/5"; "Value for Money: 5/5"; "Overall: A great graphics package for all levels of user."

Build Quality: 3/5"; "Features: 4/5"; "Value for Money: 4/5"; "Overall: 4/5"; "... there are enough automated editing and DVD front-end functions to make a professional conversions easy and quick.”

Award: PC Utilities Recommended

"Verdict: 85%"; "One-box solution for saving your old videos ...".

„Quality: 8/10"; „Value: 8/10"; „Overall: 8/10"; „A one-stop solution for preserving video tapes memories"

"Overall Rating: 4/5“; „Overall: A very good value package with lightening fast editing of drawings and photos"

"Award: Personal Computer World Recommended";

"Features: 4/5"; "Ease of Use: 5/5"; "Value for Money: 5/5"; "Overall: 5/5"; "Verdict: A great graphics package for all levels of users"

Award: "PC Advisor Gold Award"

"Usability: 4.5/5"; "Features: 4.5/5"; "Value: 4.5/5"; "Overall: 4.5/5"; "Verdict: Fast and inexpensive, Xara is a great choice for designers on a budget or a deadline"

"Keep your precious home videos safe by converting them to digital, saving on your PC and burning to DVD, using the great Rescue Your Videotapes software from Magix."

“Overall Rating: 4/5”

"Overall: Great music software for beginners, with enough potenzial to grow with them"

"Overall Score: 4/5"; "Verdict: Consumer-priced package with professional applications. Take it as far as you want with more advanced editing techniques.”

„Verdict: 4/5“ „The bottom line ... An impressive package that mean you're never overwhelmed, and you can make drastic improvements with just a few clicks“; „All in all, Magix Xtreme Photo & Graphic Designer 2 is as versatile as it is easy to use“

"However, if you still have a working VHS deck, there are cheaper alternatives for capturing, including Magix's Rescue Your Videotapes! package."

"Xtreme is ahead of the competition thanks to a cleverly designed interface and incredibly fast, continuously updating previews. With its unparalleled ease and speed of use and versatile export options, it's hard to imagine a design task for which Xara's Xtreme isn't perfectly suited. Whether you go for the standard or Pro version, it's fantastic value."

„Award: Which? Best Buy“;

„We like: This programm comes with lots of special effects – you can even add sunglasses to people's faces.“

“Overall: 4/5”; "Overall: Easy to use yet still provides enough flexibility to be creative".

Award: Personal Computer World Recommended

„Features: 4/5"; „Ease of Use: 4/5"; „Value for Money: 3/5"; „Overall: 4/5"; „Pros: Plays all formats; DJ Console and Mufin are great extras; print studio for inlays"; „Overall: A selection of useful tools ..."; „MP3 Maker is loaded with features ..."; „... the Mufin track-generation tool would suit anybone with a large, and mostly forgotten, music collection."

„Features: 4/5"; „Performances: 5/5"; „Ease of Use: 3/5"; „Value for Money: 4/5"; „Verdict: 4/5"; „Very powerful software ..."; „Excellent software for the price"

„Features: 4/5"; „Performances: 5/5"; „Ease of Use: 3/5"; „Value for Money: 4/5"; „Verdict: 4/5"; „Very powerful software ..."; „Excellent software for the price"

"Quality: 8 / 10"; "Value: 9 / 10"; "Verdict: Plenty of functionality provided at a price that will not over-burden the budget"; "With a wide-ranging feature list, and non-destructive techniques - with real-time editing - this software is easy to use, fast and certainly capable of producing eye-catching results after a little bit of use."

"It's incredibly intuitive and easy to use and whilst it's very quick to create a great slideshow if you're anything like me you'll become so addicted to it you'll still be playing on it hours later."

„The kit comprises a USB converter and software package - just plug your video into one end and your PC into the other and you can rip your stuff straight onto the PC, from where you can burn it to disc as either DVD, VCD and even Blu-ray."

"Rating: 8/10"; "A powerful, feature-packed program will take a while to master but is worth every penny."

Award: PC Utilities Recommended

"Rating: 84%"; "Verdict: A smooth interface and flexible features make this one of the best budget website builders currently available."

„Overall rating: 4/5"; „Features: 4/5"; „Value for money: 4/5"; „Overall: A powerful and affordable video editor ..."

„Overall: 4.5/5"; „Features: 5/5"; „Ease of Use: 4.5/5"; „Value for Money: 4/5"; „If you demand high standards from your slide-shows then this unique little program could be just what you are looking for."

„Rating: 76%"; „Verdict: "An easy way to turn your photos into movies but rather pricey"

"An excellent application offering great value for money, with some excellent features ... the inclusion of CrazyTalk 4.0 from Reallusion is an excellent offer, working hand in glove as far as video and photo slideshows are concerned. Magix offer great value for money making this a must have package."

"Magix Photostory on CD & DVD 7 provides all the tools needed to get your photos onto discs ready for viewing on a TV. The easy to use and intuitive interface allows users to arrange photos, create DVD menus, add 3D animations, add background soundtracks and save in a myriad of formats and burn to disc."

„This handy little kit comprises a USB converter and software package. Simply plug your video player in at one end (be it VHS, Video8, S-VHS, Hi9 or Betamax) and your PC at the other. Then get ripping."

„Summary: Samplitude 10 is a true one-box solution with the tools to tackle the entire process of recording, mixing and mastering music.“; „PROs: The automation now makes the included plug-ins even more valuable. Am-munition is an excellent dynamics mastering tool.“; „What is beginning to push Samplitude ahead of the large, unruly pack of DAWs that now offer complete in-the-box solutions for recording, mixing and mastering engineers is the usable quality of what actually comes in their boxes. Magix's decision to automate their plug-ins, and then add the excellent Am-munition to their roster, makes a strong case for Samplitude being quite the best DAW of its class.“

„Award: Personal Computer World Recommended“

„Overall rating: 4/5 stars“; „Features: 4/5 stars“; „Performance rating: 4/5 stars“; „Ease of Use: 5/5 stars“; „Verdict: A great way to make use of your digital music collection.“; „A playlist generator that doesn't need tags or even track names.“

„Magix call this technique Mufin Vision and it is based on work done at the world-famous Fraunhofer Institute. The good news is that it works fantastically well and is one reason alone for buying this product. The even better news is that it searches for similar music on the Internet as well. Goodbye Pandora, welcome Magix.“; „In conclusion then, I liked this program very much. Yes, Magix MP3 Maker is your one stop shop for all things audio. Excellent.“

„Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus works well and offers great value for money"

"This is a great piece of website creator that has made it easy for anyone to get their first website up and running and with such great design templates it’s going to be hard to convince someone you haven’t been doing it for years!"

"Magix Website Maker 2 is like your one stop shop giving you an unforgettable presence on the world wide web. It really is easy to use. You even get your own web address as well as a chance to order a custom domain name."

„Award: Computer Music Performance“

„Rating: 7/10“; „Verdict: ... Samplitude 10 is one hell DAW ...“

Gold Award

„Ease of Use: 4/5 stars"; „Features: 5/5", „Value for money: 4,5/5"; „Overall: 4.5/5"; „Verdict: Just £59 for access to this much power and performance is a price well worth paying. If ever you've wanted to get into home video editing then expect to be welcomed with open arms. Movie Edit Pro 14.0 Plus is exactly what you need, and often more so. It's a truly fantastic package."

"If you're after a great piece of software to edit your videos that isn't going to cost a fortune then Magix Movie Edit Pro is the software for you. This is an amazing piece of software that has won over 35 awards and the hearts of many users."

Award: Editors Choice

„Rate: 85%"; „Verdict: An accessible and powerful video editing package, which represents impressive value for money" 

„Features: 4/5"; „Performances: 5/5"; „Ease of Use: 3/5"; „Value for Money: 4/5"; „Verdict: 4/5"; „Very powerful software ..."; „Excellent software for the price"

„... you can use version 14 to produce a backing track to sing with or create instrumental tracks in other styles. The introduction of high quality MIDI voices, that can be used to record original loops from scratch, opens up many new creative possibilities.“

„Shoot, optimise, print, show – if you are a home user and want to do all of these things ... you will find Magix Xtreme Photo and Video Manager is the only program you need. Top value and recommended.“

„Rating 8/10“; „Overall, Audio Cleaning Lab 12 XXL represents pretty good value for money and offers a user-friendly solution to cleaning up your old cassettes and vinyl.“

„Audio Cleaning Lab remains a quality solution for those who wish to rescue their old tunes from vinyl and tape. The sleeker interface is welcome, and there's a decent wedge of new features here, along with a very reasonable price tag.“

„Overall rating: 4/5“; „Features: 4/5“; „Ease of Use: 3/5“; „Value for Money: 3/5“; „Overall: ... great for restoring old recordings whatever the source“; „Breathe new life into your old recordings.“

„I think Sequoia will be on a lot of lists. There aren't that many heavy weight DAWs on Windows, and Sequioa 10 is one fat app.“