Making In game Music
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Making In game Music
| ||
| I want to make a catchy tune for my platform game. at least i hope it will be catchy! im not sure what software i should use to do this. i suppose i need some kind of sequencer where u can use audio-samples as instruments on different channels. i dont mind if i have to add a module to play a particular audio format, or even if i have to pay for the software as longs as its good. thank you for any help :) |
| ||
| The technical aspect is much easier (export\convert to OGG, load OGG in game, play). If you don't know music theory and composition, you're in for a pickle. It's very easy to make bad music (just as easy as badly making any other type of art, really). I can only say, try to listen to a lot of game tunes that sound the way you want yours to be, and try to understand what makes them catchy. Is it the rythm? the harmony? the melody(ies)? also, count the number of instruments used in each track to get you some reference. Then try to reproduce that, but giving your twist of course. Seek freeware or commercial sequencers and start gathering [good quality] samples and soundfonts. Remember to search for sources of information and articles regarding electronic\game music composition (or just simply "music composition". Composing for games is a specialization); there are a few good ones at Gamasutra, and there is a full forum section at GameDev.net reserved for Music and Sound effect development and discussion. Some people who frequent there have actual professional experience in the matter, and can give some nice advice. Remember that no matter the number of instruments used, it's their interaction that makes things sound great (all these tracks were sequenced by professionals for the N64). Seriously though, you can't just go and make something sound wonderful. If you don't study hard, it just won't come up. You can't draw if you never draw. You can't paint if you never paint. You can't compose if you never compose. It's a matter of lotsł of practice, rest, and carefully listening to professional works; rinse and repeat. Man, I should follow my own advice :( |
| ||
| haha its ok i am already responsible for one of the worst in-game tunes ever, this is mine (game and tune) lol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxMhtsU4VD4. one of my friends couldnt stop laughing when i showed it to him. i do think i can do a lot better now. i really like to do everything myself in games i make , i do enjoy making music (away from teh computer) and drawing graphics, even tho im not that great at it. thank you for all the advice, i have been listening to the mario main theme and the Sonic 1 main theme, if i can do something half as good i will be happy. i think thats very good advice you gave, esp about the rhythm. i will look at those links you gave what software can i use to make music?, and i will need some samples for the instruments. i havent made any game music since that Amiga one i did above. and that was just on a free 4 track sequencer with samples as instruments. i am planning on keeping it simple. |
| ||
| You can use a MOD\IT\S3M tracker like ModPlugTracker or many of those in this thread. At least MPlugTracker can export both MODs and render WAVs. You can also try sequencers like Cubase, Cakewalk or the one I recommend the most: Fruity Loops (actually, it's being called FLStudio now). For these you'll have to spend money. These work with patterns, piano rolls and you have much more control over mixing and plugin FX like flanging, phase, reverb etc. As for samples...I can only recommend you seek for General Midi soundfonts. These are SF2 files that contain the entire range of 128 MIDI instruments, but with stereo samples and [generally] high quality - these go from a piano to woods, brass, strings and pop instruments. IIRC, you can use these with the MOD\IT\S3M trackers (I use sfonts with FLStudio). With soundfonts, it generally goes by the rule that the bigger are better, although there are some 200 MB ones that sound like crap. You might want to google "best free GM soundfont" so you can view some forums where people have reviewed some of them. The good thing about soundfonts is that instead of having to worry about tons of separate samples, the samples are all embedded in a single file and the best ones usually have multiple velocities for each note. It's much easier to use. |
| ||
| @Rico Look up MadTracker |
| ||
| thank you very much guys for all the help. i have heard of fruity loops. i read that Jeff Minter used it for the music on Space Giraffe. i will prob want something quite simple for my game. i will look at all the links. thank you |
| ||
| I was just trying MadTracker, i made a test tune, i saved it. how can i play it in Blitz now? |
| ||
| Firstly, see if it can export to .WAV (usually most trackers can render the song). Then it's just a matter of loading it. If it doesn't, then you need to see if it exports to .MOD (in which case you can use the MaxMOD2 module, google that). |
| ||
| thank you, i just found an export option and you can choose OGG. |
   |