Microsoft's Groove Music Maker is the coolest thing they didn't announce today

One of the most popular apps on OSX is GarageBand. It's a simple but powerful digital audio workstation exclusive to Apple's Mac computers, and Microsoft has never really had a competing solution. That could be set to change.

In the Windows 10 Creators Update trailer, a "Groove Music Maker" app was shown for a brief few seconds, complete with track layering, audio sampling, BPM controls and even mic recording.

Judging by the incredibly brief clips, it could be that this app simply isn't ready to be demonstrated on stage just yet. It's hard to speculate from the few frames available, but it does seem fairly simplistic when compared to the likes of GarageBand or even free Win32 solutions like Audacity.

If Microsoft is planning to bring music creation software to the platform, it needs to compete with the best and brightest digital workstations out there. GarageBand itself is more than likely the primary target for feature parity, as the software remains one of the most popular reasons for creative types to dive into the OSX ecosystem.

When (or if) we'll get this app is completely unknown, but its omission from today's event is a little mysterious, given the avalanche of filler Microsoft put between their biggest announcements. We can only hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as the forgotten Movie Creator app. Hopefully, we'll learn more sooner rather than later.

Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!