Questions about da music 'n sounds

[paolo]

I assume that using copyrighted music  is also a bit lame, of course if it isn't obviously necessary to use a melody like that in your game.
[snip]

Just a point about copyright that is often misunderstood (and note that I am not a lawyer) - if you produce an original piece of work (be it music, a novel, an article or anything else) you own the copyright automatically. There is no registration process to follow (unlike patenting an invention). So if someone composes some music for your game, it is copyrighted, so saying "using copyrighted material is lame" makes no sense, because all music is copyrighted, unless the copyright has lapsed (usually so many years after the composer's death - at least, this is how it works for novels, which is why you can download the works of Shakespeare from the Internet for free).

Copyright means that people are restricted in how they can use that music unless they have been given explicit permission by the author. Of course, you have agreed with the composer that they are composing the music specifically to be used your game, which means they are giving you the right to use it. If they had written it for someone else or for themselves or to be released as a single and you took it and used it in your game without their permission, they could sue you for breach of copyright.

I do understand what you meant when you said "copyrighted music", though. You meant music made by a professional recording artist, but original music made by anyone else is copyrighted as well once it is in written form. Once again, I am not a lawyer.

Like you say, the best option all round for a clear conscience is to have some bespoke music made for your game. And the thing is, because the music is made especially for the game, the game will be better than it would have been with some music you acquired by more legally dubious means. So go for it - find a composer (there are plenty on this site) and ask them to compose some fresh, original, exciting music for your game!

[Oliwerko]

Yes yes, you are absolutely right about that copyright.

It still might be a challenge to try composing myself....

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

ProgZmax - thanks for info, that one looks somewhat complicated! Did you buy it?

A friend of mine, who just recently decided he wanted to take music theory, got it for me since it's what he's been using.  Up until then I'd used SKALE and was not happy with the poor vst support.  Renoise, however, has excellent vsti support which makes an incredible difference in fidelity and overall sound quality (depending on the quality of the vst's of course).  It's not really that difficult to use compared to a sequencer, and you can basically just start it up and start pushing keys and making sounds . 

Ha, I have some tunes on modarchive ^_^!

[Oliwerko]

Well, I like that tracking software, it seems challenging, but not impossible...
Do you also make your own samples?
And how did you learn to track?

[PixelPerfect]

You should definitely try out some more robust programs aswell if you start to get involved with making music. Trackers are fine but they are limited in functionality. Also they can be more confusing to the first timer than simple sequencers. Try the trial version of FL Studio. It's one of the easiest sequencers there is.