A question

[Ballaw de Quincewold]

I know this is probably a stupid question, but just remember that it is coming from a person that knows very little about electronic music production.

What are the programs used for music in video games (more specifically, video games of the SNES, Playstation and GBA eras). It seems like every different game has it's own assortment of sounds and instruments and even if the same instrument is playing it never sounds the same on another game. Are they notational programs? They never sound as cheesy as the sounds on Finale or Sibelius. Please help me understand!

[chckn8r]

Originally Posted by Ballaw de Quincewold

What are the programs used for music in video games (more specifically, video games of the SNES, Playstation and GBA eras).

It's nothing in particular - in fact it could be anything - even a recording of a live orchestra. The games these days often demand (and pay) rates to composers comparable to A-Class Hollywood feature movies.

A game is scored using the same tools that film / TV composers use - except that they need to write their music to be able to react and morph to unpredictable user actions instead of a set script.

[Ballaw de Quincewold]

Originally Posted by chckn8r

A game is scored using the same tools that film / TV composers use - except that they need to write their music to be able to react and morph to unpredictable user actions instead of a set script.

Well, what are these tools? The computer generated sounds I hear in games don't sound anything like notation programs.

[chckn8r]

Typically, there's a DAW involved: Logic, Digital Performer, Sonar, CuBase ... you pick. Then in terms of sounds - it could be anything from hardware or software sythesizers to sampled orchestral libraries.

Here's an article from Keyboard Mag that might help:

http://www.keyboardmag.com/story.asp...torycode=15424

On the right, there are photos and a Logic screen shot of a score to picture session.

Typically, a game or film composer will start with themes and motifs at a piano, then do the majority of their work in a DAW as there are key and specific timing elements that need to be worked out in the composition and that's the easiest tool to work out those problems - at least it is these days. They'll most likely use pretty decent orchestral libraries to mock-up or even produce the score. Sibelius or Finale typically are not used to produce or "perform" the final piece - that's usually done in a DAW.

If it's to be played by a real orchestra, then the MIDI information will be transfered to a scoring program like Sibelius or Finale to be vetted out to parts and such.

Neither Sibelius or Finale have sufficient tools to synchronize music to video - at least not easily, so tempos, time signatures and all that good stuff is worked out before it gets to those kinds of programs.

Hope that answers your question.