The Quickstart Music Suite (DVDs 1-4).

The Quickstart Music Suite (DVDs 1-4). Midisoft Music Software (24325 Crenshaw Blvd., 108, Los Angeles, CA 90505). Beginner to advanced.

The bundle of applications in The Quickstart Music Suite (DVDs 1-4) is tempting, given the scope of the offerings and the very low price of the set. In theory, a teacher just getting started with technology offerings could get a pretty well-rounded start in just one purchase: with notation/sequencing, history, a few games and an audio recorder, the only thing missing is a thorough theory tutor. Unfortunately, the specifications are a little too good to be true.

The "Music Mentor" is the most attractive unit in the set, which also can be purchased individually at a very low price. It is geared toward older beginners, with very dry text and sophisticated concepts. Musical examples are well-recorded in audio (as opposed to MIDI), and the range of composers and historical material is more comprehensive than other software-based music appreciation titles. The approach to theory, on the other hand, could be more sequential, but the linked "hot" text helps alleviate this problem. The "Noodler" section is the obligatory game/reward element of the title, with a premise of assembling musical parameters like historical period, instrumentation and so on, and "noodling" around with the primary chords on either the on-screen keyboard or a connected MIDI keyboard. It's very limited but can be rewarding for beginners.

The "Digital Recorder" is the kind of software you want if you're going to create your own CD or send audio recordings over the Internet. It's quite nice to have eight tracks and some arguably professional effects options (like variable reverb), but the interface is clunky and the operation is a little unstable. Something as basic as volume level turned out to be so tedious to adjust, it took the fun out of all those effects processors.

The best part of "Quickstart Piano" is the "practice" button, a simple but clever tool that guides the user through incremental bits of the music, analyzing and repeating each section as needed. It also has the handy option of viewing videos of someone's hands playing for you, but since they are only available from the CD-ROM, you may also hear the buzz of your CD drive as you listen. A most unfortunate flaw in the graphics caused most of the notes in the scores to appear a step higher than they should have been, so it turned out to be an exercise in modal transposition.

"Studio Composer" is a basic sequencing/notation program, which stands out among other low-cost notation programs because of a functional live-transcription option. Most of the editing functions are, again, a little too clunky to endure on a daily basis, but are ultimately functional.

Finally, all of these programs had quirky little problems, like shortcuts that went nowhere, text boxes with no text, and oddball error messages. The bottom line--buy this suite if you really want to get started on the cheap, or if you have a lot of adult beginners who can take advantage of the "Music Mentor." Otherwise, hold out for individual titles that do one or a few things well, instead of many things kind-of-okay. Reviewed by Shana Kirk, Denver, Colorado.

Editor's Note: This product was tested on an HP Pavillion Notebook running Windows XP, connected to a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-307.