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Acoustica Mixcraft 7 Review + Giveaway (WINNER ANNOUNCED)

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By // Updated on Reviews

After almost twenty years of ongoing development, the latest version of Acoustica’s Mixcraft Pro Studio has earned its place on the front lines of the digital audio workforce, and proved to be a serious contender in a gathering storm of fierce competition.

Building on the strengths of its award winning predecessors and focusing on the concerns addressed by their loyal consumer base, Acoustica’s Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 just might be the most intuitive audio production suite on the market, featuring full 32 and 64-bit compatibility, as well as internal bridging of 32-bit plugins within the 64-bit version.

The Review

The program has a clean, streamlined GUI that doesn’t feel overly cluttered or become an eyesore after hours of use. The learning curve is slight. The controls do what their labels clearly indicate. Things are exactly where you expect them to be, and they do what you expect them to do — and more!

The library is easy to navigate, with a massive index of thousands of royalty-free loops, samples and various sound effects, all of which can be downloaded on-demand from Acoustica’s servers.

A new step sequencer appears next to the piano roll editor under the “Sound” tab whenever a sound file or instrument clip is loaded in the main window. Plus, you can even write scores in traditional musical notation, which allows for close collaboration between electronic artists and classically trained musicians.

Another major selling point is a vast assortment of instrument plugins, including four exceptional virtual analogue synthesizers developed by Memorymoon, such as the ME-80: a faithful emulation of the legendary Yamaha CS-80 used by several notable artists.

Effect plugins are in no short supply, with Acoustica’s own factory bundle and several others, including their Pro Studio Reverb — one of the most natural sounding native reverbs I’ve ever heard — and some brilliant third-party plugins from Izotope, Pentode, G-Sonique and Tone Boosters.

But those are just the trimmings. One of the most exciting new features available in Mixcraft 7 is the “Performance Panel”, a highly innovative playback grid wherein lanes referred to as “Sets” can launch multiple sound files and/or instrument clips with a single mouse-click or external hardware midi controllers such as the Novation Launchpad, opening up a world of new possibilities for live applications.

Here's what the latest edition of Mixcraft Pro Studio looks like.

The latest edition of Mixcraft features a dark modern looking interface.

Included in the Performance Panel are controls for adding set locations and a “Solo” button that mutes clips in the main window for exclusive playback of audio and instrument clips within the performance grid only.

Warping is now possible within the audio clip editor under the Sound tab, featuring an “Autowarp” function with four allotted strength settings for desired accuracy and placement of each warp marker. Also, you can slice audio files in accordance with adjustable time-signature controls, warp markers or even detected transients and drop them in the Performance Panel using the “Slice To” button. Plus, you can slice to the current track or even to the Omni Sampler if you prefer.

Automation is a breeze with a toggle button that displays a collapsible column providing access to a potentially unlimited number of targets for quick and easy manipulation of individual parameters on the fly.

Also, Mixcraft 7 now features native hardware support for Mackie Control Universal, Frontier Design Group Tranzport, Novation Launchpad, and Acoustica’s Mixcraft Remote mobile app available for smart phones and tablets, saving you the hassle of assigning controls individually one by one.

The only substantial issues I feel a need to address are …

Sidechaining is not built into the program itself. Rather, a sidechain compressor effect is included for this purpose. Unfortunately, this limits sidechaining functionality strictly to the overall volume of a mixer channel. I often route a sidechain signal to a frequency band within an EQ, or perhaps to a filter frequency cutoff control. In future releases of Mixcraft, I would like the ability to route a sidechain signal to virtually any parameter within the native interface.

There are no point handles or Bézier curves available for automation clips. It would be nice to have more control over transitions without having to add several individual points. Of course, I’m not a huge fan of point handles. I find them overly fussy and they tend to restrict workflow. So, just a simple adjustable curve would be fine with me.

The Alpha Sampler could benefit from a few tweaks. A full ADSR envelope would certainly provide more control over the dynamic range instead of the Attack & Release envelope we currently have. Also, the “Speed” control for the mod wheel is a nice feature, but some of us don’t have a mod wheel, which means we can’t modulate the note pitch or filter frequency without automating it.

The Omni Sampler also has similar limitations. Of course, my biggest concern has more to do with routing. Unfortunately, you’re unable to send each individual sample to it’s own separate mixer channel, but I’m more than certain this feature will be included in future updates.

Other than that, I really can’t think of anything that Acoustica hasn’t thought of for me. Considering the huge improvements upon Version 6, I’m very excited for what future development has in store for Mixcraft users, and I am very happy and proud to be among them.

The Verdict

The good people at Acoustica have all worked very hard to bring us this new release, and they’ve managed to put together a shining example of a user-friendly workstation. Their slogan says it all: “Software should be easy to use”. If you’d rather spend time working on your tracks instead of browsing through technical manuals, Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 is the perfect blend of simplicity and sophistication.

Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 can be purchased for $164.95 via Acoustica.

Mixcraft 7.1 Update

As of June 21, 2015, v7.1 b279 was unleashed, with a long list of bug fixes, improvements to their high performance audio engine, plus several new loops and drums samples you can download directly from Acoustica’s servers in the factory library. New additional content includes nine loop kits produced by LA-based producer DJ Puzzle and 213 drum samples provided by Shock of LA-based electro swing band Red Light District. The result is over four hundred exciting new sounds spanning a wide range of musical genres just waiting to be dropped into your samplers and drum machines.

I could provide a more detailed list of bug fixes and performance tweaks (available here) but I’ll spare you the history lesson and just assure you that Acoustica’s flagship audio production suite is now more stable than ever. I’m actually very impressed by the crystal clear transparency; whatever they’ve done with the audio engine, they’ve done extraordinarily well. Mixcraft 7.1 has become my go-to recording software. It’s easy and fun to use, incredibly versatile, and also very affordable. I really can’t see a downside here. So, go check it out for yourself at Acoustica’s official website (linked above).

The Giveaway

Acoustica has kindly provided a free copy of Mixcraft 7 as a prize for one lucky BPB reader. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

How many DAWs have you changed since you first started producing music?

Only one comment per person is allowed. The winner will be announced on February 9th. We will announce the winner on this page and contact him via email with further instructions.

Good luck everyone and thanks for reading BPB! :)

The winner is FRANKIE (frankienukemusic on SoundCloud). Congratulations! :)

Acoustica will get in touch with the winner, with further information on how to claim the prize.

Thank you all for entering the giveaway and here’s another big thanks to Acoustica for providing such a cool prize for BPB readers.

Acoustica Mixcraft 7 Review

8.2 Awesome

If you'd rather spend time working on your tracks instead of browsing through technical manuals, Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 is the perfect blend of simplicity and sophistication.

  • Features 7
  • Workflow 9
  • Stability 9
  • Design 8
  • Pricing 8
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About Author

Bryan Lake is a sound designer and a musician. He publishes sound design tutorials and sound libraries on his website Sound Author.

51 Comments

  1. YANNLEBLANC

     on

    First was Bars and pipes on Amiga, yes it’s old.. then hardware seq, Fruity loops, Fl Studio, and all the big and pricey seq on the market, I stuck with Fl Studio and I’m on Mixcraft 7 demo since a couple of days..and I like it because my favorite VST KV331 Synthmaster work really really well with it, also impressed with some nice samples and vsts, the easy to use! ;-) Thx

    Reply
  3. DJ KALEAF on

    Ive personally changed from 3 DAWS and a Half. LOL. When I gave up my MPC 2000 a while back, I started on Logic Pro . I stayed on Logic for 2 years but one day my hard drive crashed and I installed Ableton Live just to see what the fuss was about and then I was hooked on using Ableton Live for 7 Years!!! But After Recording multiple artists and creating over 200 tracks on it as well as DJing on it, I grew very tired off the lack of extra features BUT IM STILL SO IN LOVE WITH THE WORKFLOW. Since I needed something with more of an all in one box feel, I transitioned to using Presonuse Studio one because it has a mastering suite and workflow short cuts. The transition was extremely so hard for me since I was used to using Ableton, so I went back to Logic Pro 10 when it came out but I noticed how many producers in my genre, hip hop, were using the same sounds and synths in all of their songs from Logic so I went back to Studio one where I am today. Im still having a ruff transition period but Id rather try to Re-Learn a workflow in hopes to get comfortable. Thats my Story. I hope this contest because this new daw update that you guys are giving away seems to perfectly fit my workflow.

    Reply

  5. Bryan

     on

    I have used 4 DAWs so far, FL Studio, Reaper, Audacity and now PreSonus Studio One. Right now I bounce between Reaper and FL Studio depending on what kind of music I am producing or mixing.

    Reply

  10. Marcel

     on

    Used the whole time Cubase. First Cubase 4 LE and now Cubase 5 – installed the free version of Studio One to test this DAW.. So at this point I used 3 different DAW’s

    Reply

  12. Felix

     on

    I’ve changed 3 times but it wasn’t a real change because I use Cubase, Pro Tools, Ableton and Logic at the same time for different tasks. They all have got their advantages and disadvantages and complete each other.

    Reply

  13. Zach Conley

     on

    I have switched DAWs quite a few times…I started with SunVox, then moved to LMMS, then over to DarkWave Studio for a bit, then BACK to LMMS, then to Reaper, then to FL Studio, before finally settling on BitWig. So I have switched SIX TIMES.

    Reply

  14. Dionel

     on

    I’ve used, FLStudio (demo), LMMS, MULAP (free). because even I do not have a budget to purchase a commercial license.
    but I would love, try this Daw. Mixcraft Pro Studio 7. Thanks. :)

    Reply

  15. Ewan Bellamy

     on

    I’ve used two extensively, reaper for the majority of my work, and renoise for drum and bass and glitchy work.
    I feel they are sufficiently different to justify using both at once.

    Reply

  16. Vincent Gorzeuw

     on

    I have used 3 so far; Pro tools (as a trial), Ableton (Lite version) and Reaper (which I use now and have paid for.)

    Reply

  17. cync

     on

    I started producing at around the same time I discovered BPB back in May 2012 (or was that 2011?). I stumbled upon this site and discovered that Ableton Live Lite was a free download until the end of the month. It has been my DAW ever since…

    Reply

  18. Mr T

     on

    I think I’ve used about 4 DAWs over the years. I remember my first one was Digital Orchestrator Pro which cost me $400 (AU) back in 1998. Last year I bought a Reaper license for $60 (US) and it has so much more functionality than Orchestrator!

    Reply

  24. Vladimir

     on

    I changed 4 DAW.

    Jammer 4 pro, Voyetra Digital Orchestrator Pro, Cubase (from Vst/32 to SX2), and Reaper now.
    [and Alesis MMT-8 (before the computer age)]

    Reply

  26. Bruno de Souza Lino

     on

    I’ve tried a few(SONAR, Cubase, FL Studio, Studio One), but not all of them, especially the dongle tied ones, like Pro Tools.

    Reply

  29. Stepaan

     on

    I have tried maybe every possible DAW from Cubase on Atari ST (it was called sequencer these days) to Bitwig. Now I use Ableton for composing and Reaper for mixing and (sort of) mastering.

    Reply

  41. Mike Benson

     on

    I changed DAWs/Sequencers 7 times over 25+ years… from Yamaha QX21, Sequencer Plus Gold, Powertracks Pro, Music Creator, Acid, Reaper, Sonar, Bitwig Studio… I’m done switching. Bitwig make music making so easy.

    Reply

  42. Andrulian

     on

    I started out using Energy XT that was bundled with Computer Music but never got on with it.

    I used Caustic on Android / Windows for a long time, now I’m using Ableton Live Lite 8 a lot more. I did try Reaper and Mulab but only for a quick tryout, sticking with Live Lite 8 for the time being, finding quite a few workarounds for the track / effects limitations.

    Reply

  44. Dan Barletta

     on

    The only DAW I’ve ever owned is Acoustica Mixcraft (5 and 6). I’ve fiddled around with Pro Tools and a few others but Mixcraft and I seem to have a certain chemistry that works for me.

    Reply

  49. Timothy

     on

    1st used Pro Tools in 1994. Stopped using Pro Tools in about 2006. Used Cubase from 1999 to 2001. HATED it (had to use it!) Switched to Tracktion around 2005. Tried about every possible DAW and tracker around from about 2007-2008 then settled on Reaper. Bought a Propellerhead Balance interface that came with Reason 7 full as a promo. Like it in conjunction with Reaper. Now considering revisiting Ableton Live for workflow purposed only. Wow – I move around a lot!

    Reply

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