It feels like an understatement to call Fuser, the brand new music-mixing game from Rock Band developers Harmonix, just a ‘DJ simulator’. Yes, Fuser allows you to layer vocals and instrumentals from over 100 pop, rock, and rap classics, creating your own mixes in the process. And yes, the game even transposes melodies and sorts the beat-matching for you, making it ludicrously easy to churn tunes together.

But Fuser appears to be much more than that. No mere ‘DJ simulator’ would, in good conscience, allow you to layer 50 Cent‘s In Da Club over Tones And I‘s Dance Monkey.

Before we get to that particular mix, here’s a quick rundown.

Fuser was released overnight for PC, Nintendo Switch, and current and next-gen Xbox and PlayStation platforms, handing the basic tools for mash-up creation to millions of punters.

The game is obviously in its infancy, but reviewers and early adopters have already made use of its mix-exporting capabilities. Miraculously, Harmonix appears to have sorted out copyright clearances for each of those samples, meaning players are sharing their own cooked renditions with the world.

Take this, from online creative Andy Kelly, who had the sheer audacity to throw Kendrick Lamar and Smash Mouth together, before forcing Rick Astley and Billie Eilish to share the same sonic landscape.

How about Justin Timberlake and DMX? Why not:

Then we have this particular mix, which sees Fifty’s classic bars over the Dance Monkey instrumental:

For those of us who like to embrace chaos, Fuser will also allow you to combine Evanescence and Carly Rae Jepsen:

In its pre-release rundown, Kotaku praised Fuser for its customisation options, which let you pretend you’re about to demolish 100,000 gurning fans at Ultra, along with the game’s career mode, which presents players with a tight list of mix-related challenges.

But the game’s true appeal appears to be in its freeform mixing capabilities. After watching a few harrowing mixes, I don’t think Fuser will turn anyone into a topline DJ. I do think it’ll let you experience music through Neil Cicieraga‘s ears, though.

Anyway, Fuser is out now, and I’m going to take the afternoon to have a good, deep think about how I foolishly spent most of lockdowns trying to learn Ableton.

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