Skip to main content

User login

What is OpenID?
  • Log in using OpenID
  • Cancel OpenID login
  • Create new account
  • Request new password
Register
  • Home
  • Browse
    • 2D Art
    • 3D Art
    • Concept Art
    • Textures
    • Music
    • Sound Effects
    • Documents
    • Featured Tutorials
  • Submit Art
  • Collect
    • My Collections
    • Art Collections
  • Forums
  • FAQ
  • Leaderboards
    • All Time
      • Total Points
      • Comments
      • Favorites (All)
      • Favorites (2D)
      • Favorites (3D)
      • Favorites (Concept Art)
      • Favorites (Music)
      • Favorites (Sound)
      • Favorites (Textures)
    • Weekly
      • Total Points
      • Comments
      • Favorites (All)
      • Favorites (2D)
      • Favorites (3D)
      • Favorites (Concept Art)
      • Favorites (Music)
      • Favorites (Sound)
      • Favorites (Textures)
  • ❤ Donate
Audio

Getting Started on Music

RevealingFortune
Monday, December 7, 2015 - 11:21

I'm looking to kick off on making music for my games, but I don't have a clue of where to begin. Can I get some references to some software and tutorials on getting started on music development of any type, from 8-bit music to orchestral and the likes.

  • Log in or register to post comments
withthelove
joined 11 years 4 months ago
Monday, December 7, 2015 - 12:04
withthelove's picture

 

No musician here so I'm probably not too much help, but for what it's worth, I've used FruityLoops to make some game music in the past and enjoyed it.

https://withthelove.itch.io/

  • Log in or register to post comments
DezrasDragons
joined 10 years 4 months ago
Monday, December 7, 2015 - 13:05
DezrasDragons's picture

I have used lmms to compose music. It comes with some built-in instruments, but I find that there are much higher quality ones available elsewhere for free. In particular, I have enjoyed GeneralUser GS, Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra (here is a more user-friendly file format), and DSK Music plugins.

There are two main file formats I deal with here for instruments: SF2 and VST. I find that lmms generally has more trouble with VST instruments, though I think it works better on Windows machines.

Good luck!

  • Log in or register to post comments
marcelofg55
joined 10 years 5 months ago
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - 14:33
marcelofg55's picture

Hi, there are several books worth reading out there that speak about making music for games, for example "The Game Audio Tutorial", it's a good starting point.

For 8bit music I would recommend two free plugins that are really great, "Chip32" and "Magical 8bit Plug".

For other styles also free plugins are a great starting point, the Sonatina Symphonic Ochestra that mentined DezrasDragons is pretty good.

It's a good idea to first start doing mockups of your favourite game music, it's a good exercise before writing your music.

---

http://www.marcelofernandezmusic.com

https://soundcloud.com/marcelofernandezmusic

  • Log in or register to post comments
marko
joined 13 years 11 months ago
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 - 14:51

Also see https://musescore.org/en/handbook/soundfont for some handy links to various Soundfonts (SF2).

 

  • Log in or register to post comments
DezrasDragons
joined 10 years 4 months ago
Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 04:55
DezrasDragons's picture

@mdwh - That Musescore soundfont list is pretty great, thanks for sharing!

I'd be careful before using some of it's plugins though. It mentions the Arachno SoundFont, but previously I had found on the documentation page for that soundfont, it explicitly states that:

But, please be aware that this bank is primarily distributed for private, non-commercial purposes only, as it uses portions from other authors

I don't know about the others, but I guess in general it's a good idea to look up licensing information for any plugins you use before using getting too invested in it.

I know that Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra is CC-SAMPLING+-1.0. DSK doesn't specifically mention a license (that I could find), but the website says it is 100% free for private and commercial work. GeneralUser has it's own custom license, but basically is CC0.

  • Log in or register to post comments
DezrasDragons
joined 10 years 4 months ago
Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 07:22
DezrasDragons's picture

Though now that I read the GeneralUser license more carefully I see this:

Many of the samples are original, but some were taken from other banks freely (and legally) available on the Internet from various SoundFont websites.  Because GeneralUser GS originated as a personal project with no intention for publication, I cannot be 100% sure where all of the samples originated, although I do know that none of them came from commercially published SoundFont packages or sample CDs.  Regardless, many "free" SoundFonts available on the web may indeed contain samples of questionable origin.

...

This uncertainty may concern you if you intend to use GeneralUser GS in a commercial software product.

Just more cause to be careful I suppose. It does go on to mention that there have been no documented infringement claims made against composers using GeneralUser over the last 15 years.

  • Log in or register to post comments