Starmade original music collaboration?

[OdraNoel]

so being a composer and with my new found love for starmade, i couldnt help but notice as other have before that the game really lacks some background music. iv started hearing weird hums and stuff in the current air sound loop that i know is just my brain messing with me from hearing it for so long. i did a quick search and found a few threads talking about this issue. one mentioned procedural music, but theres obviously many obstacles with that as discussed in the previous thread (ref 1)

then i found this thread by crusade (ref 2) and hes already made several songs which are great and would deff go well with starmade.

but since starmade is turning out to be such a vast game, obviously the more variety the better. as we all know good music can totally change the way one experiences something. just watch the 2001 space oddessy ship docking scenes with mute.....SNORE!

So in the spirit of the current space station competition i was wondering if maybe we could rally all forum composers and music makers to start making some music with the intention of the best or most fitting songs being "donated" (no copy right issues of any kind for starmades creators) to the actual game.

i know that i like Crusade, will be makeing some songs inspired from starmade regardless, as its one of the reasons i started playing the game (inspiration from a sublime setting) and i figure if some are any good, itd be a great community addition to the game.

So let me know what you guys think, and who else out there is a composer or musician. i think this would be a great and hassle free way to get starmade some music! and totally original music at that.

if your curious about my self you can find several of my songs in ref 3, altho none yet uploaded have been made with starmade in mind. and crusades songs can be found in his thread in ref 2

ref 1 : http://starmadedock.net/threads/ambient-music-in-starmade.804/

ref 2 : http://starmadedock.net/threads/crusades-starmade-inspired-music-thread.1118/

ref 3 : http://www.youtube.com/user/LeonardoZuccarelli

 

[ToyotaSupra]

I know you've given us a link to your YT channel but could you give us a demo track? Maybe what you think the main theme should be?

 

[OdraNoel]

well i have no idea really, this was more to see if there was any general interest in the idea. like there should be consensus on what styles of music, maybe what instruments and things like that. and to do it truly properly i think is more then a one man job. it can take me a week or three just to do one song sometimes, tho it varies. so i think it would be best to try and do it as a group effort with any fellow composers here. just testing the waters is all.

since you ask tho i have been working on a lil melody earlier today which is somewhat what inspired me to post this. i was coasting the void and felt like i wanted to go on a mission of some kind. then this melody poped in my head. obviously very rough and just a skeleton of an idea for now. mainly for fun.

http://www.filedropper.com/odranoel-starmadetheme1ideaskeleton

i gota head out now, ill be back later tonight tho. hope you enjoy.

 

[ToyotaSupra]

I like it, it reminds me a lot like old pokemon. What's the name/method of the repeating pattern in the start through out the song? I think it's called an apreggo or something.

 

[therimmer96]

I feel the music that goes into starmade should be orchestral, things like the new star trek music, it just fits so well with space flights, but yes, starmade really needs ambient music

Spoiler: examples

 

[NeonSturm]

please no orchestral :/

Do you know X2 - The Treat, X3 - Reunion? It really has good music.

 

[MrFURB]

Orchestral music, such as the soundtracks for Star Wars and Star Trek, are easy to tailor to a wide variety of moods, settings, and demographics. I sort of feel like they are a nice 'standard' for sci-fi for the exact same reason they're a nice standard for many other action-oriented genres; versatility.

If you're looking for something that's a bit more particular, I'd recommend looking at how Eve Online has handled their soundtrack. Eve's music is a slosh of spacey, ambient soundscapes occasionally dotted with something more upbeat. This fits it's game play, which is usually less visceral than other sci-fi games.

I think that Starmade could fit very well with a lot of different music due to Starmade playing very differently to different people. For some people fitting music would be epic, uplifting, music that motivates one to do great things and build an empire... Or a republic. For others something more appropriate would be exploratory ambiance or the steady upbeat tones of Crusade's musings to build by. Heck, some people that are into pirating might prefer to set the mood with something more edgy and sharp.

I'm of the opinion that the music of Starmade should either be left open enough to conform to what the player is doing or be relying on the player to populate it with music, perhaps an in-game jukebox that detects activity in the sector and chooses from a player-made soundtrack for that level of activity.

Not that having talented artists work together to create Starmade themed music is a bad idea- Music is likely going to be lacking developer focus for quite some time, and having music that is well known within the community for 'fitting the game' is always good even when it isn't official.

 

[OdraNoel]

What's the name/method of the repeating pattern in the start through out the song? I think it's called an apreggo or something.

an arpeggio is basically a melody alternating either randomly or sequentially between the notes of a chord. in my lil song what i did was just make some normal chords with a synth, and automate a filter on it to turn on and off rapidly (in 16T notes) so the effect could be confused with an arpeggio as it sort of has a similar rhythm. the melody was very slightly inspired from the 3 second "start level" melody to an old starship game called xevious.

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see, this is why i posted this. just to get a basic idea of what peoples opinions on this are. and naturally everyone has diffrent ideas. i personally lean towards a bigger variety of music. ambiance/classical for cruising exploring, more upbeat dramatic for fights, inspirational for building ect.

like, im a huge fan of battlestar galacticas OST. amazing sound track. but even so i think it lacked perhaps a bit of variety in terms of genera. but "only" that style wouldn't go well with starmade. also it being a video game makes me think there should be some gamey elements to some of the music as well. (hence a somewhat 8bit sounding synth for the meldoy i posted) but ultimately i agree with MrFURB. even if nothing we make ends up in the game, its the journey that counts! and i sorely needed something to motivate me back into making music regularly. and starmade has already done that for me

so ill go posting what i make over the weeks. and if anyone else here wants to do the same, i welcome it. and if your not a composer, tell us what you feel starmades music should be like. if anything this thread can serve as a reference for the devs later to kinda get an idea of what people want from the games music.

 

[Enduar]

I listened to your "Through the Event Horizon" track, and liked it- You've got a much cleaner quality than I do, and my tracks can't seem to get past about the 3-4 minute mark.

I've been working with FL Studio for a couple of years now, and composed on the piano for a long while before- I've considered submitting some of my own music here and seeing how the community reacts to it, if for nothing else but the feedback. I've had some mild success showing some of my older tracks in the Eve Online community, getting featured in a few podcasts and the like.
It's all been designed to have a scifi, dark sort of sound to it and it's certainly been my goal to emulate the sort of music you'd hear in a game.

All of my music is available for free at Enduar.bandcamp.com, if you're interested in hearing it or downloading it. I'd recommend the latest albums, of course- The earlier albums are far less refined. Other than the sci-fi stuff, the only thing I've written that's managed to garner any real attention is an ongoing Legend of Zelda remix project, specifically the Stone Tower Temple theme, which you can find here.

I've never collaborated with anyone so I have absolutely no idea if I'm even capable of doing a joint project with someone, but perhaps pooling our work here might help bring attention to the lack of music in this game. I've always had the opinion that a game like Starmade would benefit most from a soundtrack that's about as modular/randomly generated as the game itself- a good example being Portal 2's modular soundtrack, with shifting instruments and melody based on what the player is doing. Though that's an enormous leap to make in a game with as many options as this one.

Also might be good to take a look at FTL: Faster than Light's soundtrack as a similar, less work-intensive form of soundtrack that shifts depending on in-game activity.

 

[Crusade]

Greetings! I'd be happy to participate in some form of collaboration, I've been wanting to put together a proper soundtrack for Starmade for a while now, I feel that it should have a theme song...

 

[Byamarro]

Shema should hear about this.

 

[OdraNoel]

hey guys, sry i didnt see your posts earlier! i hadn't realized anyone else commented on this thread.

@Enduar to be honest the whole "sound quality" or clean sound thing is what iv been struggling the most with this last year. so thank you basically i have just been making music on my own by ear since i was little, so didn't have much of an idea what i was doing technically. well i started studying a couple years ago and have learned a lot. unfortunately, they taught me just about everything but mastering xD

so im always struggling with when to place an EQ or compressor and stuff like that. while iv learned how to get stuff sounding much cleaner then before (through the event horizon is one of my newer songs) im still not at where id like to be. but id be happy to pass along any info iv acquired. im very against the whole notion of keeping some techniques "secret" or anything like that, as i think it should be ones creativity that limits them, not their technical know how. so ask away. pm me if you want.

and i loved how portal 2 had the random little melodies associated with different locations items and actions. felt very synesthetic.

im listening to some of your stuff now. i like it. iv always liked music with a more dark and serious tone.

@Crusade im down to do a joint project if you wanna try. i use reason 5.0 and ableton live 8. let me know what you have in mind if any thing. im good at inventing simple melodies and stacking them, but i suck pretty bad at things like drums and rhythms, FX. which is why most of my music has lots of pianos and synths, and relatively simple drums. so we should think of what our strengths and weaknesses are. and try to complement each other in that sense. something that would represent the both of us, each adding our own flavor to the song.

 

[Enduar]

Yeah, I unfortunately have had no real education- I learned a bit watching my brother use FL Studio and from there's it's all been gleaned through experimentation. Been working with FL since about 2009 and gradually getting better at understanding it- I think my biggest issue is that I've never really taken the time to go look for new VSTs/plugins, or sample libraries.

Mostly I've been trying to work on subtlety and track length so that I can make things more suitable for actual background tracks than as more clearly melodic themes.

Edit: Really, If nothing else it would be great to find a proper theme song to represent Starmade as Schema and crew get closer to bigger official releases.

 

[Crusade]

@OdraNoel Add my skype whenever you can:
ninewave2

We will talk more there.

 

[Rasor1911]

So i hear people are making some musics?

i have one things i would like to recommend to the people taking on this task,
could you add in a nice pluck? like the one from mass effect?
the mellow sounds and the reverb really bring out the "bigness" of space and is quite good for calm situations & traveling

 

[Azurite]

This still a thing? Been working on some ambient spacy stuff lately. We should make this community collaboration effort a reality ASAP. :D

 

[Megacrafter127]

Since this thread is revived now anyways: http://starmadedock.net/content/musicmade.1522/

 

[Azurite]

Bump time!

Here are some things I've been working on these past few days. Based them off of Mass Effect. Went the ambient approach, as it will definitely fit the IP. Check em' out!

SEA OF STARS

ARRIVING ON THE PLANET