MIDI in games?
Author
Hi!
How common is the use of MIDI in games compared digital audio?
Regards,
/Michael
In retail games, VERY uncommon. Actually non-existant. There''s no excuse for a game company to not use digital, professional music now. MIDI in amateur dev projects like the ones you find in this place is still usable, but even here, it''s sub-par.
***
Looking for a music composer for your game? Go to my page to listen to samples of my orchestral pieces and find info on how to contact me.
***
Looking for a music composer for your game? Go to my page to listen to samples of my orchestral pieces and find info on how to contact me.
Midi is good for small games, and for people without large budgets.
-~-The Cow of Darkness-~-
-~-The Cow of Darkness-~-
quote:Original post by Vaevictis_A
In retail games, VERY uncommon. Actually non-existant. There''s no excuse for a game company to not use digital, professional music now. MIDI in amateur dev projects like the ones you find in this place is still usable, but even here, it''s sub-par.
***
Looking for a music composer for your game? Go to my page to listen to samples of my orchestral pieces and find info on how to contact me.
How can you say it''s sub-par? Most of the ppl here are programmers, not music composers like yourself. In my experience it is much easier to find freeware midi composing software than digital. Not very many hobbyists want to shell out the money to buy software to compose music for their games. I could be wrong though...
Actually it is used more often than you''d think. Zelda: The Wind Waker was completely midi if I''m not mistaken, and I think the in game music in Metroid Prime is midi (those are pretty big budget projects). The only difference is carefully selected sound banks to trigger from. We''re not talking GM here. I don''t like the sound as well as a nicely engineered, and mastered audio track though.
If you''ll notice many Gamecube games use midi much like the N64 did. I think it might be to do with the 1.5 gig they have to deal with vs Sony and XBox''s 4+ gig per disc. They like to make it as pretty as possible, but think of the music as a necessary evil so to speak.
-Aaron
If you''ll notice many Gamecube games use midi much like the N64 did. I think it might be to do with the 1.5 gig they have to deal with vs Sony and XBox''s 4+ gig per disc. They like to make it as pretty as possible, but think of the music as a necessary evil so to speak.
-Aaron
Noct: yhea that´s true dude!^^
They use the the sounds from the GC soundcard using midi.
I dont like that much!
But it has some advanteges, Its easier to swich beetwen songs and so on..
They use the the sounds from the GC soundcard using midi.
I dont like that much!
But it has some advanteges, Its easier to swich beetwen songs and so on..
Dynamic sountracks require MIDI, don''t they? If you want a game to remix music in realtime, like some Lucasarts people were talking about, you''d need it to be in a format that at least resembles MIDI.
Is there something better out there? I know that a recorded track SOUNDS better, but it lacks the versatility that can be had. MIDI lets you write code to blend themes, set tones, tempos, keys, and any number of other variables. Is there a music format around that lets you do all that without sounding like an ice cream truck?
Is there something better out there? I know that a recorded track SOUNDS better, but it lacks the versatility that can be had. MIDI lets you write code to blend themes, set tones, tempos, keys, and any number of other variables. Is there a music format around that lets you do all that without sounding like an ice cream truck?
quote:Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
Dynamic sountracks require MIDI, don''t they? If you want a game to remix music in realtime, like some Lucasarts people were talking about, you''d need it to be in a format that at least resembles MIDI.
Is there something better out there? I know that a recorded track SOUNDS better, but it lacks the versatility that can be had. MIDI lets you write code to blend themes, set tones, tempos, keys, and any number of other variables. Is there a music format around that lets you do all that without sounding like an ice cream truck?
There are MODs, and I think these could work for dynamic soundtracks as well.
Also, MIDIs can sound great if you play them with DirectMusic.
digital radiation
Spare the 56k''ers out there! use midi or its like whenever possible... 
Smaller games are more likely to be downloaded.(look at a 1 meg project compared to a 10 meg project) All the digial stuff adds a lot of megabytes to your download.
The shrink wrapped games avoid midi whenever they can, but since the web is the best way for independant games to be distrubuted, giving the user a choice between high end sound, and midi is a good business decision.
Smaller games are more likely to be downloaded.(look at a 1 meg project compared to a 10 meg project) All the digial stuff adds a lot of megabytes to your download.
The shrink wrapped games avoid midi whenever they can, but since the web is the best way for independant games to be distrubuted, giving the user a choice between high end sound, and midi is a good business decision.
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