I'd like to contribute.

[saturn6]

Hello, I have been writing music for a while now, and I like making music for open source projects. I have also played this game for a while now, and I really like it. I've been thinking about contributing, but haven't made a concrete piece with Wesnoth in mind yet. I have a few examples of orchestral songs that I wrote -

http://alokinnollahwe.com/randommusic/m ... /examples/

These songs are actually previous contributions to other games, but I think they represent my current skill level, and musical style (with orchestras). I have several more examples, with lower production value, if you would like to hear some of those (and I can always make them sound better later).

Anyways, some feedback and critiques would be nice, and I will work on a piece specifically for Wesnoth.

Thanks!

[gmlion]

Welcome!
I've listened to your music, I think the best one is aznkewlness0: very well constructed and a good theme. The others are missing something, especially the first one that could be much better with some parallel motion and some variations to the theme.
The idea of birds in Reinassance Village is nice, but a bit overused.
My personal impression is that you should have the capacity to compose something suitable for Wesnoth, but I advise you that the music Lords will require the very best of you for inclusion
ciao
Gianmarco

[Polarina]

This is great. Just try to avoid MP3.

[saturn6]

I have been accepted to another pretty big project, which needs music pretty badly. I think I will train there to level up, and come back here with more experience Thanks for your comments!

[adaliabarclay]

This is Really great and as Polarina said try to avoid .mp3 , otherwise you done great job with it

[West]

Guys, will you lay off the mp3 whining? The music contributuion FAQ clearly states that it's fine to use mp3 files for demo purposes.

saturn6: You have some interesting musical ideas and good samples. What you definitely need to work on is making your music sound more alive and dynamic less 'programmed'. I recommend avoiding all forms of quantizing, step-writing and entering notes with the mouse. Always use a midi controller to *play* all parts. If that is what you're doing already, your velocity curves must be off or something because it sounds like all notes are playing back att full velocity.

Please note that I only listened to two of your tunes, OrchestralSample and RenaissanceVillage, as I'm getting abysmal download speeds from your server.

[Jetrel]

saturn6: I'd heed West's comments, but generally speaking, I think you're in fairly good standing to get work in. Good luck - I look forward to your first piece (I'm also curious as to what project you're doing work on in the meantime).

Guys, will you lay off the mp3 whining? The music contributuion FAQ clearly states that it's fine to use mp3 files for demo purposes.

No kidding. It's really distracting, and completely irrelevant for people to noise up these threads with that stuff. Don't be freetards and complain about file format in situations (like this) where it doesn't matter - it only matters when they're submitting a final file for inclusion, and even at that point, it's not earth-shatteringly important.

And if you're too dumb to realize or impatient to read that these aren't submissions for a final song, then please don't post on our forums at all. Seriously. It really damages constructive discussion.

[saturn6]

Hey, thanks for all the feedback. I actually am really bad at inputting notes with my keyboard, so I have to quantize positions and velocities, but I will find a way around this. One thing I was thinking of is recording with a real orchestra. I'd be willing to invest in this, but only if the piece I write is really good and already compositionally accepted.

I will probably write a few sample songs for this game this summer, but I have other projects that I am working on in order to become better compositionally. One of them, and possibly the most similar to this game, is The Mana World. I am making several sample tracks for them, and they really like some of them. If you would like to hear some of that stuff - http://alokinnollahwe.com/randommusic/m ... c/TMW/ogg/

Also, I recently started making music for a Wesnoth add-on, The War of Terrador - http://alokinnollahwe.com/randommusic/m ... /terrador/

I keep most of my stuff on this site - http://alokinongaku.com/soundtracks.html

Again, thanks for the feedback, I look forward to trying out some songs for this (very awesome) game!

[West]

saturn6, I listened to a couple of your longer tunes from The Mana World. As they're obviously sketches I'm not going to give you any in-depth feedback, but I like what I'm hearing. forestsketch1.2.2 is very tasty and mountainsketch1.2.1 is also good, if somewhat repetitive. You're good at chords and textures and you use the instruments in creative ways.

But as I'm sure you know, music is not just about playing the right notes at the right moment. How you play the notes is also a major part. That is why we simply can not accept any of your music in its present state. While your tunes certainly show promise in terms of arrangement, you need to put your heart and soul into the performance so that the music sounds alive and exciting. If you can't do this with a midi controller, I'm sorry to say that the only thing you can do is practice. Yes, it's possible to humanize things by hand (by moving notes around, changing velocities, using groove quantize etc) but believe me, this process is so time-consuming and unbelievably boring that it's hardly worth it. Besides, no matter how much time you spend on it will never be as good as a captured live performance. So learning to enter notes with a keyboard will be time well spent and it's not terribly hard to learn. Once you got the timing and basic finger dexterity down you're good to go; you don't have to be Jordan Rudess or anything because you should be entering all parts one monophonic line at a time.

One thing I was thinking of is recording with a real orchestra. I'd be willing to invest in this, but only if the piece I write is really good and already compositionally accepted.

Uhm, OK, I don't know what your financial situation is like but... do you have any idea what it costs to hire a professional orchestra? TBH, if you have that kind of money I recommend getting yourself some really high end samples like Vienna Symphonic Library and the hardware to run it instead. That would definitely be better value for money than hiring an orchestra.

[saturn6]

I've been using VSL for all those songs btw, and my hardware can support anything I throw at it. And a few composer friends and I have made a small (50 member) orchestra (out of college friends), and bought recording equipment, for other projects (and for fun).

Anyways, as I said, I have these other projects with which to level up on, and I'll be back when I have more exp. I will practice inputting notes the better way then, thanks for your feedback!

[West]

I've been using VSL for all those songs btw

Sorry to say this, but then you're not getting your money's worth out of the library. I would never have guessed that was VSL.

[saturn6]

I'm fine with that, I'm (obviously) new to the whole production thing. I use logic and kontakt 3 (with vsl). If you could give me advice/guidance to make my songs sound better, that would be awesome. I will certainly try to quantize less for starters.

[West]

I'm not really the right person to give you advice on VSL as I've never used it myself. But as a general rule of thumb, don't be afraid to use lots of different articulations and playing styles. I'm not saying you need to cram every variation of every instrument into each piece you write, just be attentive to what a particular part needs to sound its best. Don't just load a mf legato sample and play everything with it. Alternate smoothly between different playing styles, like a real player would. This plays a large part in making a virtual orchestration come alive and will help you move away from the rigid "synthiness" that comes from using a few select generic sample for playing everything.

Also, to my knowledge VSL is a very large and very advanced sample library. You need to explore and experiment until you figure out how to make the most of it. It doesn't happen overnight, so don't be put down if you make slow progress. This is true for all samples, really; it takes a long time and a lot of work before you learn how to use them optimally.

[Aleksi]

I use VSL... and the sounds you use don't sound as VSL sounds at all. Perhaps you have the Special Edition? Or maybe you just aren't using the potential of this library!

You need to use velocity and dynamics. Add more reverb... and please, humanize a bit the quantification, is sounds really stiff!

[saturn6]

West - yes, there are tons of playing styles, with which I use 3 at most, so I will definitely start using more, and being strategic about it.
Aleksi - this VSL came with Kontakt3 which came with Komplete5, if that helps you know what version I have.

I have been really more concerned with the actual compositions until now, but it is good that I am getting into production. I will make a sample piece with which I can get more feedback from you, and practice those various techniques. Thanks again for feedback.