Music has been made since cavemen hit sticks together, or indeed made rudimentary drum sounds by cracking each other with sticks on their thick foreheads. Then came the flute, apparently, with the oldest bone flute (no, that's not a euphemism) dating back something like 40,000 years. Today, music isn't just made by instruments, but also by computers.

If you hit them hard enough with sticks, they make some pretty impressive loud beeping noises, potentially followed by small explosions (Tchaikovsky eat your heart out). Alternatively, you could always buy a piece of composition software, such as the newly released version 3 of Magix's Hip Hop Music Maker (there are also dance and rock variants).

The basic interface remains the same as seen in Music Maker 15, with the main track window sitting atop the screen and an "easy" mode that hides the more complicated effects panels. Composing a piece is as simple as dragging and dropping samples from the sound pool into the 32-track window. That's really all there is to it, so even someone with little or no musical know-how can quickly make a basic and reasonably satisfying tune. The program automatically matches up BPMs and any fiddly bits like that.

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The samples that have been laid down into tracks are easily manipulated by pulling various sliders. You can stretch out a sample to repeat and cover a number of bars, flatten the sample box to make it quieter, or pull the sliders on either end to fade the sound in or out. There are nearly 500 samples to play with, and the majority are of a high quality (although some areas, such as the bass lines, are a rather mixed bag). While 500 isn't a huge amount, you can create all new sounds with the editing tools available once you've plucked up the courage to turn the easy mode off.

The pitch of a sample can be adjusted with a single click (between seven different settings), and the FX tab allows a range of modifiers to be applied. There are some pretty cool effects here, each tailored to specific instrument sounds. An ordinary bass line can have a distortion or chorus pedal added, or perhaps "space bass", a funky futuristic sound.

However, fiddling with the existing samples isn't the only option, as Music Maker's quartet of built-in synthesizers gives the user the ability to produce entirely new ones. Fire up Scratch Box, for example, and you're presented with a deck and a selection of backbeats. Choose a beat and tempo, then hit the record button and scratch away with your mouse to produce a custom piece for your tune. Very simple in theory, although scratching with the mouse can feel a little unintuitive.

The other synthesizers consist of SilverSynth Pro (based on the Roland TB-303) and a sophisticated drum synth called Beat Box 2. SilverSynth is definitely fun to play around with, and it's easy to create some pretty funky sounds with it, albeit more dance oriented affairs.

Beat Box is an impressive little drum machine, although it does require much more study and acclimatisation with its array of drop-down menus, controls and miscellaneous knobs. Luckily, if you don't want to get involved in the more technical stuff, Magix has provided a dead-easy-to-use drum machine called Livid, which will generate beats based on simple parameters you plug in.

Overall, there are some powerful sound manipulation tools here, and it's also possible to import tracks from MP3 or audio CD directly into the program. It's worth noting that the Magix online community is pretty useful too, with answers to common questions above and beyond the help file, and useful goodies such as links to websites with free music samples.

Music Maker Hip Hop is easy to get to grips with, yet there is certainly some depth in the more complex editing tools and synthesizers. The only snag is that the range of hip hop samples is quite compact, and slightly disappointing in some areas. So unless you're willing to make forays into the sound manipulation side of the program, you'll find it a bit limiting.