Product Description

Remix and compose Dance style tracks with over 5,000 unique sound samples.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1133 in Software
• Brand: eJay
• Released on: 2007-07-30
• Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 98
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

Dance 7 has been completely re-designed from the ground up, with an all new interface and code base. Dance 7 features 99 true stereo tracks which have controls for pan and volume, as well as Performance Curves. Songs are now built from Sound Clips, which contain one real-time instrument from a selection of Sample Loop Player, Poly Synth, Bass Synth and Drum Machine, and up to 4 real-time effects per clip, allowing extreme flexibility and final production polish. Dance 7 sports a new Sample Studio, with enhanced editing features and the ability to process samples using any of the virtual effects. Other key features are integral CD Burning, File Manager and off-line HTML based Help & Tutorial Document.

Please Note:

By using the .wav export function in the previous eJay software you will be able to import samples or complete tracks into Dance 7 as Dance 7 has direct wav files support.

Song Arranger

Up to 99 channels and 999 barsSong Data Cut, Copy & PasteUser can save Virtual Instrument settings as a "Preset" Volume Performance Curve for each channelPan Performance Curve for each channelMute and Solo multiple channelsIndividual Volume & Pan setting for each channelZoom function allows zooming in or out of the Arranger screenV.U. meter shows the stereo output as the Song plays"Panic" mute to toggle volume on/off

Sample Studio

Sample new sounds into Dance 7Edit samples with cut, copy, paste and trimApply any number of effectsSave for later use or use in Sample Loop Player

Virtual Instruments

Sample Loop PlayerPlays back custom loops, samples or WAV filesEdit the aspects of a loop at a component levelSynthesizerBuilt in note sequencer allows the creation of any melodyVirtual Instrument allows almost infinite sound creation by parameter editingFully polyphonic, allowing chord pattern creationDrum MachineUse up to 8 drum sounds to create your own rhythmsEdit the volume, pan, filter and other parameters of each instance of each soundBass SynthBuilt in note sequencer allows the creation of any bass lineVirtual Instrument allows almost infinite sound creation by parameter editingMonophonic with Portamento for slide bass effects

Effects

Master Effects - Chose 4 Master Effects to modify your songReverb - Fully configurable to creation environments (hall, room, etc)Chorus - Fully editable to create gentle phasing, wide choral or pipe delay effectsEcho - Vary the echo time, stereo width and mix levels E.Q. - Fine tune with 10 frequency band controls

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Amazing value for money
I bought Ejay Dance and Dance 2 many, many, years ago and got a lot of pleasure from those items, so I came to Dance 7 VMS with interest.

The first thing to say is that this package is amazing value for money - it does a lot more than earlier versions and the developers have done a fantastic job.

The .pdx format is gone and instead .wav files are used and the audio-quality of the sounds is excellent.

There are a few instruments and effects [although they're not plug-ins in the sense of VST plug-ins, they do a reasonable job]. There's no midi of course and you wouldn't expect it for this price.

The interface is very impressive looking - much more slick than the earlier versions.

There is also a lot more versatility because you can import your own samples [actually I haven't worked out how to do this from my sample cds - I can load the wav files onto the sample palette in file manager, but they never show in song mode so I think I am doing something wrong here - but let's just say I didn't find that bit very intuitive. ]

OK - so what are my reservations? Well it is a less 'immediate' then the earlier versions. Although the audio quality is impressive, the loops themselves are - well a bit dull - I found it harder to build a pumping track than I did on the earlier versions. The interface does look really good, but it isn't that practical. So for example, when you have chosen your loops and are arranging them in the song, there are no text names on the loops themselves, just a sort of cool muted design. To see the names you, have to move your mouse over the loops, one by one, and this takes ages when you are just scanning the song area for the one you want. The rest of the interface is similar - even with the tool tips it isn't that easy to get around. The help files aren't great that great either.

The naming of the drum loops is, I'm afraid, a weakness. There are an impressive 192 house drum loops, [and 128 more trance loops] and they are quite varied, but they are named house drums 001, house drums 002.... house drums 192. Naming is hard I know, but can't you even give us a clue?! Its hard to remember which loop you want to go back to when it is just a number from 1 - 192. To be fair, you can rename them yourself though once you have got them on the palette, and when you rename a loop on the palette, all the instances in the song take on the same name - neat!

So would I recommend this? Well yes! - despite my reservations - it is still a worthwhile product and probably, unlike the earlier versions where you sort of exhausted them after a few weeks, I think this one will reward you because there is quite a lot of depth to what you can achieve, with patience. I would probably give this 3.5 stars if half stars are allowed. 4 is a bit generous, but 3 would be a bit stingy.

Be warned
I bought the new Dance Ejay 7, couldnt wait to start using this software as i am familiar with ejay and have always liked their products, BUT, it is not supported on laptops. The other ones use to work fine on my laptop,but, the new ejay 7 doesnt want to work with my vista laptop, So, before you buy ejay 7 make sure if you are using a laptop, it will be supported.

disappointing compared to earlier editions
Dance 4 really marked the high point of this series, versions 5, 6 and 7 have given way to the 3D affliction, replacing useability with the wow-factor of intriguing visuals. The entire presentation has taken a good few steps backwards, the samples are awkward to navigate and preview and will only snap to the bar - version 4 allowed you to snap to a sixteenth bar for added creativity. Here we have a product that is as basic as Lego, and presumably aimed at the same user age group too. The included soft-synths are clunky to use and fail to produce any sounds worth having. The drum kit is perhaps the saving grace as it is intelligently laid out, intuitive to get to grips with, and doesn't suffer from the rough edges of the rest of this edition. Considering you can now get a lot of music creation software absolutely free, it's bewildering that a charge should be made for this amateurish product.