Ototo - Creating MIDI music

[gumby]

Found this very interesting over at Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/905018498/ototo-make-music-from-anything

From what I can tell, this seems like this would be a great way to create original MIDI music for our games, without having to be classically trained.  I've seen similar devices before, but the variety of input sensors really grabbed me.

The project is already fully funded, and delivery is scheduled for this June.  I'm thinking about funding it; at a minimum it would be fun to with my kids to tinker with.

[Collector]

Amusing

[stateofpsychosis]

nah, just find someone to do the soundtrack

us soundtrack writers are hard up right now

there are thousands of us without work that'll do your game's soundtrack for free just for credit

just gotta find us

you should go for sciaudio though since the modern plugins us soundtrack writers use, typically use what are called keyswitch articulations... and if you tried to just export the midi from one of those songs, you'd be left with something that doesn't even sound the same. The technology has changed a lot since the days when we used to just write midi tracks and let the generic pc synthesizers do the work

still nothing beats having a real composer do it and it's easier to find us than you think

[MusicallyInspired]

Nothing will ever beat a real composer. However, it's fun sometimes to compose within the limitations of 1988 technology.

[Collector]

To make you feel like Ken Allen?

[MusicallyInspired]

To make me feel like part of Sierra in some small insignificant non-real way.

[stateofpsychosis]

yea i hear ya

although 8 bit midi can sometimes be hard on the ears
especially if you have one of those computers that won't let you turn down the internal speaker. lol

i had to install a generic driver just to get around that myself

[Collector]

If you are up to the challenge, do an MT-32 track.

[stateofpsychosis]

I don't know if I'd want to

I didn't spend over 10 grand on soundtrack plugins to go back to that.

I should go back to some of my old stuff that didn't use keyswitches though and bounce the midi so people can use it for stuff like this

only problem is that I gave up my license to use my old version of pro tools they are on to upgrade to the new version so i doubt i'd be able to.  sad face

[stateofpsychosis]

oh yea the sci midi doesn't work on dosbox either does it?
another reason to go with sciaudio since most people have to use dosbox to play them these days unless they're still on xp or have a virtual machine set up

[Collector]

MIDI works great in DOSBox as it just passes the MIDI signal to the host's MIDI hardware. The main limitation is from the SCI0 drivers, which predates GM. There is a fan made driver to add GM to SCI0. It should be included in the template game. You still have to convert the MIDI files to SCI SOUND resources to add to the game. Many have shied away from making proper SCI SOUND resources because of being intimidated by Soundbox.

sciAudio is a nice hack to use external audio files in your SCI0 game, but it does have some draw backs. It limits it to Windows and is harder to get precise control. It has a tendency to not exit when the game exits, so continues to play on after DOSBox has closed. I wrote a clumsy workaround that kills the sciAudio process when DOSBox closes. An imprecise and not exactly an elegant way to exit a program.

On a side note, you would have no sound with XP's NTVDM without an additional emulator. Besides NTVDM is not a very good DOS emulator.

[MusicallyInspired]

I didn't spend over 10 grand on soundtrack plugins to go back to that.

Hey don't knock the MT-32. It may be old but it is very unique. There are sounds on that thing and sounds that you can create that you won't get from any other synth. I still use it right alongside my modern plugins to compose with. If you really work in the music industry in some capacity you must appreciate the use of old and "outdated" equipment or software to get a certain sound. "Outdated" doesn't exist in this industry. Sure, a $50 microphone might be cheaply made and not as finely crafted as a $2500 U87 but it does capture a sound that that U87 can never get. Therefore it is invaluable.

[stateofpsychosis]

of course i do musicallyinspired

i didn't mean to knock it

I just personally wouldn't want to since I can do so much more in my genre with the new stuff and since I've invested so much into it.


yea I know sciaudio isn't perfect. I also heard using it too much can causes memory issues. I'd try to get around those by mostly putting effects and stuff on the same track as the music so long as they aren't the kind of effects that are triggered by some event. Also plan on just limiting how much music I put in a game just in case.  As for it continuing to play after it closes... it only does that for a minute for me. It's not a huge issue. just disconcerting.
I'm sure sciaudio's issues go into overdrive when you start trying to do stuff like add voice acting, but so far it's been working fine with just music.

[MusicallyInspired]

I honestly don't understand the point in using modern audio formats with SCI, other than ease of use, obviously, which to be fair is probably the main reason. But if you're going to go that route, why not just use AGS? It just seems a strange combination to use modern music styles with such an old interpreter. Doesn't feel authentic to me. It's not what I would do.

Of course, the process of creating music for SCI is quite involved and that scares people off, so I have a proposition. If anybody wants music in their game (and has some MIDI files already) I will convert it to SCI for MT-32, Adlib, PC Speaker, Tandy 3-voice support if you like.

[stateofpsychosis]

nah I don't find it doesn't feel authentic at all
I find a modern soundtrack makes the game feel more professional and commercial level.

it feels fine as long as the music fits the game

I think that's always the main thing when it comes to doing soundtracks

maybe it's a to each their own kind of thing I guess

I wouldn't say modern software is easier to use either. There's a lot more to it and it's also a lot easier to botch the job or run into major problems along the way with the high memory requirements and massive sample libraries.
My sample library is almost 2 terrabytes! :p
Also, even with 16 gigs of ram I often have to do one track at a time in order to avoid running into memory problems with some of the bigger plugins.
It can be downright brutal at times.

Good thing I know how to do audio restoration because that at least cuts the time I work on a song in half when I can do noise removal and spectral repairs on bad samples.


Yea, all in all I find it gets more and more convoluted as the software goes more modern but at the same time a lot more that you can do which makes it worth while.
this is why i'm glad i upgraded to pro tools 11. I used to have to deal with all of these issues in live bounces where I had to do hundreds of bounces to get one track with no glitches in it.
Now it only takes 1 or 2 tries with offline bounces. probably the one time a software update with pro tools actually made things easier

You also gotta do mastering when making the wav/mp3 which you don't do with midi files so that adds another layer of difficulty. especially when you're doing soundtracks which require a high level of dynamic range but everyone stills wants the tracks at the highest possible volumes even though it's a terrible decision to do that to soundtrack or classical. (damn volume wars! )
so we gotta find an even medium with that.

yea, I'd definitely say modern is harder. it's counter-intuitive but i've done both and it was a lot less stressful back in the day. It was even less stressful when I was only using a 4 track cassette recorder