Elysian Shadows

thejahooli wrote:I know this topic is about music, but what do you use for making your own sound effects.

A lot of the time I'll default to using Dr. Petter's SFXR to generate sound effects, but that's also retro-esque sound stuffs, but pretty good if that's what you're needing.

Sometimes I get lazy and create sfx:
Lenxion sound effects -- Splodeybug death noise - keys jingling
Jumping noise -- me making sounds o.0
Lazor -- Gunshot noise from keyboard
Crystal pickup noise -- a few notes from keyboard

Since it hasn't been asked yet, what musical knowledge do you have, what chords and scales do you know? Learn every chord and scale you come across by heart, know how they work and what their purpose is, next find some sheet music, find out how the scales and chords are incorporated.

I did that with Dark Angel, Kamelot, and Death, and it helped my composition skills a ton.
For those who don't know great composers don't make music by just randomly hitting notes on a keyboard.

If you want to try that then study up, no atonal songs, and pay attention to rhythm while composing!

Pickzell wrote:Since it hasn't been asked yet, what musical knowledge do you have, what chords and scales do you know? Learn every chord and scale you come across by heart, know how they work and what their purpose is, next find some sheet music, find out how the scales and chords are incorporated.

I did that with Dark Angel, Kamelot, and Death, and it helped my composition skills a ton.
For those who don't know great composers don't make music by just randomly hitting notes on a keyboard.

If you want to try that then study up, no atonal songs, and pay attention to rhythm while composing!

My ear has been far more useful to my compositions than any scale or chord I've ever learned. I'm not saying it's useless to learn them but this approach is very ineffective. The best way to learn composing is to compose, heart > brain.

I use Ableton Live alot for producing electronic music and sampling, and it's awesome. It costs but hell, it's good.

I used to use Reason but after a while I felt I was being limited by it.

If you're into tracker music, then MilkyTracker is an awesome free tracker which is really fun to use.

This last one isn't really related to games, but if you're into mixing, Native Instruments' Traktor is the way to go.

In terms of hardware, Evolution make some really great cheap MIDI keyboards and controllers.

Pickzell wrote:Since it hasn't been asked yet, what musical knowledge do you have, what chords and scales do you know? Learn every chord and scale you come across by heart, know how they work and what their purpose is, next find some sheet music, find out how the scales and chords are incorporated.

I did that with Dark Angel, Kamelot, and Death, and it helped my composition skills a ton.
For those who don't know great composers don't make music by just randomly hitting notes on a keyboard.

If you want to try that then study up, no atonal songs, and pay attention to rhythm while composing!

K-bal actually had asked this question in an earlier post and I said that I do play piano & guitar and know quite a bit of theory. But I'll have to agree with his followup to this. Many great musicians didn't know shit about the circle of fifths, chord progressions, and all that other mumbo jumbo. The best music comes from within.

nardi11011 wrote:

aamesxdavid wrote:

screwtape wrote:For audio recording/MIDI sequencing, I'd recommend Cockos Reaper.
http://www.cockos.com/reaper

Haha, this was made for Rock Band.

You mean, as in "it's perfect for Rock Band"? Because it certainly wasn't made for Rock Band, it's been around for years. It's also a great program and my DAW of choice.

Right, sorry, it wasn't the origin of the program, but version 3 (and subsequent updates) has been tailored to making tracks for Rock Band Network by the consultation of the audio team at Harmonix.

Knowledge of DSP, music theory, sound synthesis and the MIDI protocol is good. As for my set-up... Well, I just got a Zoom H2 for foley and sound design. I use the Apogee Duet soundcard and Apple Logic Pro to sequence and a set of KRK RP-5 speakers. Of course, I own a ton of synths and samples by companies such as East/West and NI. No matter what MIDI sequencer you use, on-board sounds are a no-go IMO. For beginners I always say try Reason. It's really a synth powerhouse so you've got good sounds right out the box and it runs on PC and Mac.

ORIGINAL MUSIC!?

Can't be done.

I call your bluff, good sir...

indeed, I, knowing nothing about the way music for video games is made, know all about it, and how specialized AI write all music...

MilkyTracker is a free program for Linux, Windows and Mac. It's a tracker used for making chiptunes and other music. It's easy to use in my opinion. But you must make/import your samples.

FamiTracker is a tracker for making NES music. But I think it's only for Windows.

LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio) is an open source alternative to FL Studio and is for Linux and Windows. It has a lot of samples that come with the program.

JordanMaster22 wrote:LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio) is an open source alternative to FL Studio and is for Linux and Windows. It has a lot of samples that come with the program.

I recently discovered LMMS and I think it's great. However, the software did crash sometimes (using Windows XP, SP3), so remember to save often and you'll do fine. I would really recommend it to those of us who can't afford buying software like Fruity Loops. You will also be able to find many free VST-plugins ("instruments") out there if you're not satisfied with the It wouldn't hurt to try it out. It's awesome.. :D
Take a look at LMMS on YouTube
LMMS Homepage