Having fun while making music is the main idea, according to Czech developer Cinemax. If you can also save some money, even better. Cinemax has found both inspiration and ample room to develop music software from their home base in Prague, with the bulk of their applications focused on the Nintendo Switch and PC. Their newest offering, Rytmik Studio, offers the ability to create music in a simple and fun way on your home PC while saving your HDD, CPU and wallet from getting buried.
Rytmik Studio contains two main sections, the song editor and the clip editor. The clip editor is devoted to creating short clips and the song editor is for arranging entire songs with the material you make in clip mode. The clip editor has four channels where you can add different instruments in order to make clips in the step sequencer. If you aren’t familiar with step sequencers, it’s a method of creating musical patterns by inserting notes into empty fields, which is easily done with the click of a mouse. Rytmik Studio offers a variety of sounds no matter what kind of song you’re creating, from drums and basslines, to pads and leads.
There’s also a bevy of pre-set effects, both insert and global, which can cover and polish whatever instrument you’re using, and every clip you make can be duplicated, copied and edited, which is crucial to having good variety in your songs. Also, the step sequencer allows you to stretch or shorten notes, so you’re not stuck with just one type of note value. On the left side, you’ll find everything you need to properly mix your clip, with volume, pan and custom dynamic and envelope parameters. Everything is nicely supported by the GUI and it’s intuitive and easy to use. Rytmik Studio even has a wav editor, so you can make edits for factory and custom samples as well.
Every pattern and variation created in the clip editor is automatically added to the song editor’s clip library, so you can sort your clips by dragging and dropping them in the song editor in any order, however you want them to play. The song editor allows you to have four channels where you can lay down your clips, represented by small, easy to identify coloured squares, and there are a decent number of effect parameters, with reverbs, delays and even sidechain. By clicking on the desired effect button, you’ll be able to tweak your sound any way you want.
On the bottom left side of the song editor, you’ll find twelve buttons sorted in alphabetical order, representing the triggers for your mix automations, which can quickly and easily be adjusted to fit your needs.
Under the song menu, you can choose to import songs you’ve worked on previously within the software. During playback, you’ll see a small wave viewer which gives you the same real-time insight that the major DJ programs do.
This is just scratching the surface; if you want to dive in, there’s a lot more content here. Some additional sample packs are available, like a variety of rock guitar riffs and licks. Rytmik Studio is MIDI compatible, meaning you can plug in your MIDI keyboard and insert notes, control velocities, mix, pan, manipulate effects, and so on. You can record your own voice, instrument or sounds and once you’re finished, you can export your song as a Wav or mp3 file so you can listen to it on whatever device you’d like, or even connect to the sound cloud and share your stuff with the rest of the Rytmik Studio community.