I could see the Chrome Music Lab working well in middle years classrooms. I believe this was a design decision, as most of the tools (except the Song Maker) follow this format.

Another critique of Chrome Music Lab more broadly is that most of the tools demonstrate a very specific audio point, but don’t transfer well into music creation.

With only one instrument and one line of percussion, the opportunity for more complex musical experimentation is lacking. One drawback of the Song Maker is it’s limitations in the number of different tracks. It also has a voice recording option, where users can sing their melody into the program via a computer’s microphone.

It can also save in MIDI format, which allows the user to transfer their work into other Digital Audio Workstations, where other effects and edits can added. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles in this program, which is a positive, as sometimes extra features just cause extra confusion, yet it still has enough options to keep the user engaged long enough to create an artefact. I really like the simple layout of the Song Maker, and could see it being utilized in Arts Education, Science, and Numeracy. As mentioned before, a user is able to save or embed their creations with ease. The user can also change the tempo, key, and length in settings. There are 5 different piano sounds, and 4 different percussive sounds to choose from. The Song Maker tool provides a 16 beat loop that includes a piano roll, so users can create their own melodies as well as a percussive track. Screenshot of Song Maker by Chrome Music Lab It also allows users to easily share ideas with multiple export/download options, including embeddable links, and provides a wide range of uses. Sound Waves, which is a visualizer that accompanies the user’s note inputs), but there is also a Song Maker, that allows users to create, save, and share a 16 beat audio loop. Some of the experiments are more theoretical in nature (i.e. I decided to look at Chro me Music Lab, which is a collection of 14 open-source sound experiments that can be manipulated by the user, and is available on any device that can open the Google Chrome web browser.

Chrome music lab song links