As the version number suggests, Magix Music Maker 14 is a mature product and you might think there was little left to add to it... not so. Music Maker is a loop-based music editor, meaning it helps you use pre-recorded loops of music to build up a complete track. While you can generate tracks very quickly with this collage technique, up until now you've been limited to the loops supplied with the package, or in add-on packs using the same format.

Music Maker 14 introduces virtual MIDI instruments, so you can play your own sequences, record them and build them into arrangements, to fit in with the pre-recorded ones. This effectively leaves the program open-ended, as you can create the sounds needed for any given track. Although any of the instruments can be played with a mouse or PC keyboard, a MIDI keyboard is a good add-on if you intend to roll your own loops, and Magix includes a suitable one in the XXL edition, for £110.

Putting together a music track is as simple as selecting from the 1,500 supplied loops and positioning them in up to 64 separate channels, to play in parallel. As before, you can cut and fade each one and they can be stretched to change their tempos. They will also auto-sync to the beat, so it's hard to disturb a rhythm pattern unintentionally.

Within the main Music Maker application are no fewer than six synthesisers, including Drum 'n' Bass for... well, drum and bass sounds, and Atmos for natural background effects, like birdsong and running streams. They all have rather different interfaces, which means a longer learning curve for the complete suite, and their differing looks suggest they have been bought in from separate authors. However, the sounds you can get out of them are authentic to their own schools of music and can be combined to produce tracks which aren't tied into particular genres.

It's easy to navigate through the loop libraries supplied on the DVD and you can also incorporate and edit your own videos to complement the music you create, to produce a full multimedia package. The program incorporates CD and DVD writing, so you can burn the finished tracks and videos to disc.

There's good peer-to-peer support - if a bit ego-rich - offered via an online chat facility, and easy access to large libraries of extra loops, using a beta version of a site called catooh. Few of these are free, though.

Music Maker has always lent itself to particular types of dance music, such as techno and hip-hop, but with a bit of effort, 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.