Looking for composition software advice

#21 Wysardry, when you create a concept demo your goal is to amaze people seeing it. So you must absolutely do the best to create a stunning demo.

Audio is used to create feelings and excite people seeing your demo. I suggest you really consider the idea to hire a musician, or a recording studio. I own a recording studio, but I don't like to accept works when I am the one who suggest to hire a professional.

So, well, in this thread I see many professional musicians... why don't you ask them to help you?

#22 I wouldn't bother using Modplug or any tracker for that matter unless you're intending to create games for use with the PSP, it would just be a waste of time. I am not familiar with Pro Tools although I do use some of the others mentioned here like FL Studio, Cubase SX and Reason, I tend to use all of those in conjunction with each other for various tracks as each piece of software is better than others at particular things like EQ or FX....although if you could only afford to go with one of those options I definately say FL Studio. It's great for beginners and professionals alike but with anything you choose I would say it's best to get some virtual instruments or something other than just samples....

As mentioned by Chagall, Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is a brilliant sequencer also....I originally started out with the very first Cubase sequencer but then became part of the Cakewalk crew, Pro Audio 9 is definately my favourite sequencer that i've ever used. I'm part of the Cubase SX crew thesedays though...

#23 I recommend that you get a composer/musician to help you out. It's unrealistic to assume that you will be able to produce compelling, great sounding music without previous music-making experience, and as others have pointed out, there are plenty of musicians around who could help.

A couple of not-horribly-expensive pieces of software I would recommend are Acid and Live, if you want to do it yourself. Ableton's Live has a nice demo option, where you can download the software and use it for as long as you want in demo mode.

#24 Manuel, my main reasons for creating a concept demo are to show/prove that the idea is practical, to learn more about each aspect of the process and as an aid in recruiting others for the full game(s).

As the first game will likely be free and I have already spent more than I originally planned, I am very reluctant to spend much more on software, equipment or people.

I would also like to have a basic understanding of each process, which means at least making an attempt myself even if someone else takes over the task later.


Robert, forgive my ignorance, but why would a tracker be unsuitable if the output can be converted to .ogg format? Also, what is the difference between virtual instruments and samples?


Kevin, for the purposes of the demo, I was planning to work from public domain sheet music. As it will be set in a fantasy world with a lower tech level than ours, classical music should work quite well.

The end result wouldn't have to be perfect, as any flaws would make it more obvious that help will be needed in that area.

#25 It may just be due to my own experiences with trackers, but I feel that you'd be putting yourself in something much more deeper and probably more trouble than it would be worth....the other pieces of software that have been mentioned would be a lot more user friendly you and you'd get the job done a lot quicker I think; and most likely with a better all round end product.

Samples and virtual instruments are in essence pretty much the same thing, basically samples are you own individual sounds that you want to have in the game...maybe a sound that you can't actually find in a piece of software and you're wanting to fiddle around with it a bit.A virtual instrument is an exact digital representation of an instrument and is made up of lots of samples.....in example lets say the 'Atmosphere' virtual instrument by spectrasonics, it is a piece of software that you use within a sequencer (Cubase, Fruity, Reason, etc.) and acts exactly like it's original hardware version.
(ie. the original Dr.Who TV theme synth sound was created using the original hardware version of atmosphere, i'm willing the bet that the new Dr.Who series made use of the virtual instrument to re-create that sound)

I think it's probably best to show you:

Original Dr. Who - http://web.media.mit.edu/~joep/pics/Big_Synth.jpg
New Dr. Who - http://www.spectrasonics.net/instruments/buttons/atmosphere_final.jpg


Basically with virtual instruments you've got a whole range of sounds there at your disposal....

#26 It has been a few years since I have made a serious attempt to create music on a computer, but I didn't find tracker software to be much more complex than a sequencer. The main drawbacks to the former were a lack of score editing and the difficulty in finding suitable samples (at the time).

This was about 10 years or so ago though.

Virtual instruments sound like overkill for my needs, and if I did have access to them I'd likely get distracted by all the possible settings. I think it best to keep things simple.

If TGE supported MIDI files, I'd probably blow the dust off Cubasis and use that, as most people have wavetable capable sound cards these days.

#27 Hi,

I need to find software that will allow me to take my songs from ACID (like Fruityloops) and convert them into sheet music. Is there anything like this available/existent?

Please let me know. Thank you.

#28 From ACID to sheet music? That would be a very complicated process involving note detection and beat detection, among other things. In other words: nearly impossible, unless you have millions of dollars at your disposal. ACID is a loop based program, using pre-recorded bits of music. There is no musical notation to speak of in that program, so nothing to convert (easily anyways).

#29 I am presently using Harmony Assistant is a great software for computer-assisted music composition and editing at the following Web Site (http://www.myriad-online.com/en/index.htm). As a part time programmer, a part time artist and a part time composer, I need all the help I can find. For the price, Harmony Assistant can load and save in many formats like (MIDI, WAV, AIFF, MP3, OGG, TAB, ABC...). I prefer to compose in midi and playback instantly to hear my composition. The license for Harmony Assistant is US$ 70 (or 70 euros). The medium quality sound database, called GMSEBase, is available for free and it is the one I presently use. I have studied music one semester with the piano but I find it simpler just to compose on Harmony Assiatant and save the files for Torque. This is great software and very CHEAP - great for a beginner.

Jesse.