Music and sound-for games.

[so_tough!]

I make music(experimental/abstract electronics), I'm quite interested in how music/sound works programming wise.For instance, can i make a track or sound effects and then just submit it to the programmer and they do the rest of the work? I'm aware different machines have different sound chips etc.But aside from that, i know *very very little*.

 

So how would i go about making music or sound effects for a game, do i need to be able to program? or i can i just share the files with the programmer and he/she can do the rest?

 

I'm sorry if this sounds awfully stupid.

[+karri]

I make music(experimental/abstract electronics), I'm quite interested in how music/sound works programming wise.For instance, can i make a track or sound effects and then just submit it to the programmer and they do the rest of the work? I'm aware different machines have different sound chips etc.But aside from that, i know *very very little*.

 

So how would i go about making music or sound effects for a game, do i need to be able to program? or i can i just share the files with the programmer and he/she can do the rest?

 

I'm sorry if this sounds awfully stupid.

 

For the Atari Lynx you are restricted to 4 sound generators. In the Lynx you have two interfaces available:

 

1) Output a previously generated waveform directly to the speaker

2) Allow a polynomic generator to run that outputs some generated waveform to the speaker

 

The version 2 uses no CPU and is the recommended way. To submit music for version 2 I usually want the music in midi format (4 simultaneous notes is max). Then I convert the midi tune to abcmusic notation and manually search for some cool instrument sounds that the Lynx could produce.

 

The real code fed to my music player looks like this:

#define TEMPO "T4"

//Piano Sonata no.1 mov.1
//Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
//Sequenced by Dan Szymborski
char moz1[] = {
//RH
STR_PIANO
TEMPO
"|2:c2c2c2C2z4c2B2d2c2e2d2f2e2g2f2a6z2g2f2e2d2cdB2c2e2d2f2B2d2"
"c2c2c2C2z4c2B2d2c2e2d2f2e2g2e2a6z2g2f2e2d2cdB2c2e2d2f2B2d2"
...

char moz2[] = {
//LH
STR_PIANO
TEMPO
"|2:C,2z2B,2z2C,3z4zz16F,6z8z2z4E,3zF,3zG,3z"
"C,2z2B,2z2C,2z6z16F,6z8z2z4E,3zF,3zG,3z"
...

 

The code |2: means repeat section twice. C,2 means lower octave C hold for 2 beats and so on.

 

Some other programmers use the interface 1 together with a mod-player. You have better control of what it sounds like but it eats much more memory and CPU resources.

 

--

Regards,

 

Karri

[so_tough!]

Thank you! Karri

 

but, i am even more confused now..how would i go about making sounds for a game? So i use music software and a synth to make my own music-but do i need specialized software to program or-i know i know NOTHING

[freehabitat]

Hi,

 

do you have some of your music in internet? I am just interested in that genre of electronic music,..

 

bye

Tom

Edited November 9, 2007 by freehabitat

[so_tough!]

I sent you a link, but i decided to take the tracks down, because they are all in the works(it would not be an accurate description of where the music is going), I'm trying to mix more experimental electronics with more song orientated material..its coming along just fine.

Edited November 9, 2007 by so_tough!

[+karri]

Thank you! Karri

 

but, i am even more confused now..how would i go about making sounds for a game? So i use music software and a synth to make my own music-but do i need specialized software to program or-i know i know NOTHING

 

Well. The Lynx music hardware is basically a synth that costs around 22 cents. So don't expect it to be able to say anything more complex than a "beep". If you want to experiment in the Lynx synth settings you can produce 6150 different waveforms by setting bits in the sound registers. All these "waveforms" are square wave sequences like 1000101010 or so.

 

Then there is an integrator and a volume register. If you set the volume register to 2 then each '1' bit will add 2 to the output and each '0' will subtract 2 from the output. So a sequence 11011 becomes 2 4 2 4 6. This waveform is repeated over and over again like 2 4 2 4 6 8 10 8 10 12 14 16 14 16 18 .... until the waveform eventually clips when it reaches the limit that a byte can hold.

 

I have a sound experimenters kit included in MegaPak that should see the light from Songbird during this year. It can be used for developing sounds that the Lynx can produce.

 

--

Karri

[so_tough!]

Thanks for that, although i am still confused. What software is needed for someone to make sounds (or music) for 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar etc? lets pretend there is a game finished, with all but sound done. Its my task, as i am experienced with making experimental electronic music, it should be easy. But, I know nothing So, where do i start?

[danwinslow]

Well, you could buy a book on computer music making, and then read it.

[so_tough!]

hehe no i don't need that As i use music software! Sorry, I'm probably not making myself very clear. Hmm, I know how to make music-but the whole sound chips and blah confuses me Thats the bit that I am getting all confused over. I have no problem with being able to make music, sound effects-just how they would *fit with the systems hardware, sound chip etc*. Man, I must be confusing

[danwinslow]

You aren't confusing. You didn't understand what I meant; I meant a book on "*fit with the systems hardware, sound chip etc*", not a book on how to make music. The answer to your question is not a simple one; we can't just say "oh, use this". There are a huge number of available things, depending on what your target system is; and they will likely differ between different systems. I am not super familiar with sound programs for the Atari line, but I do recall some software that would let you design a sound and then would spit it out as a series of BASIC statements and/or assembler that you could include in your program. So maybe google for 'atari sound design software' or something. The Polish Atari geniuses I think have something called RMT ( Raster Music Tracker? ), and I think that's a full fledged sound production tool.

[so_tough!]

Oh sorry, my mistake

 

Thanks for the info

Edited November 30, 2007 by so_tough!