New here

[PPH]

Hello! Like other people who lurk around here, I compose music in my spare time. Most of the music I compose is orchestral, so I guess my style is suitable for the game. Here's an example of what I've been up to:

http://www.scenesp.org/ftp/modulez/PPH/ ... meback.zip

Are there any current needs regarding music? Any particular piece that is lacking?

[Rain]

Hi there.

It's difficult to find specific pieces that need to be made so we just kind of tend to wing it around here. There is no guarantee that the music that we write for a specific purpose won't fulfill other musical obligations for the game as well. It's pretty safe to say we are always on the lookout for adding good battle music when and if it comes along.

Anyways, listened to the piece and while the composition seems to feature some good ideas, the way the sounds are utilized in many of the areas sound a bit too midi-ish and kind of distracts from these ideas. This might speak for the sample font you are currently using but it also sounds as if you haven't altered any of the velocities on some of the string parts, creating a 'machine gun' effect.

What sample font are you using?

[PPH]

Most instruments are from EWQL Silver and others are from a couple of orchestral soundfonts (the violin hits). I made some velocity changes, but not as much as I used to. I had just bought EWQL, and wasn't very used to it yet.

[doofus-01]

Are there any current needs regarding music? Any particular piece that is lacking?

PPH,

Two pieces that could stand to be replaced, in my opinion, are "northerners" and "loyalists." They have nice and useful elements, but they are not of the same quality or complexity as the more recent pieces.

I'm just throwing ideas here, that is not an official pronouncement.

[zookeeper]

Are there any current needs regarding music? Any particular piece that is lacking?

PPH,

Two pieces that could stand to be replaced, in my opinion, are "northerners" and "loyalists." They have nice and useful elements, but they are not of the same quality or complexity as the more recent pieces.

I'm just throwing ideas here, that is not an official pronouncement.

Yes, generally the greatest need is in replacing the remaining old tracks. Currently the old tracks fit approximately the following roles:

- northerners.ogg: used mostly when facing orcs or some other imminent danger. Lots of suspense.
- loyalists.ogg: used mostly when a human army is involved. Marching to battle, going on a noble errand, etc.
- frantic.ogg: used mostly as a hectic surprise piece. Running into an ambush, for instance. It would be nice to have perhaps even several surprise tracks (tragic revelation, dangerous panic ambush surprise, happy surprise?) to immediately play once when something happens and then reverting back to a playlist of "normal" tracks. That way, the surprise tracks could also be rather short (less than a minute) so they'd be easier to create.
- revelation.ogg: used mostly as storyline music. Neutral, calm, a little foreboding but nothing too dramatic, just background music when someone's telling a story.

So, new tracks which would fulfill approximately the same roles would be especially useful, because that'd allow us to actually get rid of the old ones.

[PPH]

Great! I'll listen to the tracks you guys mention, and see what I can do.

[West]

I'll have to second what Rain said. You have some really nice thematic ideas, but unfortunately the execution leaves a a thing or two to be desired. If I may give you one solid, crucial piece of advice when it comes to virtual orchestrations, it's this: don't quantize or enter notes with the mouse, especially not with grid snapping turned on. If you don't have a midi controller, get one. Then record every part by playing it on the keyboard. You don't have to be a skilled keyboard player to do this; fast/complex stuff can always be entered by recording at a slower tempo. The small differences in timing that this approach will yield will increase the realism of your pieces by leaps and bounds. If I could I would post this in huge red letters at the top of this forum section: PLAY EVERYTHING. DON'T QUANTIZE. So I'm not singling you out or anything; a lot of people make the same mistake of assuming that quantization will make your tune sound nice and tight when in reality, all it does is give it a tiring, machine-like quality.

Also, some other small remarks:

- Don't use orchestral percussion like it's a drum machine, i.e. having static rhythm patterns playing (almost) throughout the piece. I recommend using percussion for ornaments and accents. If you really really want repeating patterns, make sure to add lots of variation.

- Don't forget to add breathing rests for brass and wind instruments!

- I think your sound would benefit greatly from a lusher reverb, alternatively a larger amount of the present one.

Other than that, I like what I hear. Like I said, you have some good ideas but I think you can do better than this

[PPH]

I'll take your comments into account. I have started working on some pieces already.