What do the composers here use to compose music for their games?

[MRollins]

I'm pretty new to the forums and I'm working on my first game. I'm a musician and I was just curious as to what kind of gear/equipment setup people use to compose music for AGS games. Any info as to process or gear would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Nikolas]

Cubase SL3
Finale 2000
EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold, Gold xp pro
EWQL Symphonic Choirs
Pianoteq v.2
Synthogy Ivory
Bela D. Media DIVA
Manybass
Manytone Upright bass
EWQL VApor
EWQL Adrenaline
Toontrack DFH superior

and various smaller libraries...

A simple P4 2.8 GHz, single core (3 1/2 years old actually), 2 GB RAM. Keyboard is Casio PX 110. Headphones are Sennheiser HD600.

That's all

[m0ds]

For MIDI I'm still using Cakewalk 3.1 as I'm a retrospective person :p constantly developing my technique. On the rare occasions that I do not compose MIDI I use Cubase.

Good luck with your music!

[DoorKnobHandle]

Software:

Cool Edit Pro
Fruity Loops Studio 5

That and a Shure SM57 mic to record real instruments (guitars, bass mainly).

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Renoise.  Formerly I used SKALE tracker and before that Fast Tracker 2.

[ManicMatt]

"Secrets" had music I made with Music 3000 on the ps2, and on-hold game  "Limbo" has music made using Fruity Loops and a load of plug ins.

[LimpingFish]

That's all

That's all?! You're a one man symphony orchestra!

For the record, I use:

Cubase LE (that came bundled with...).
...An Alesis Photon25.
Various VSTs and SoundFonts. All non-commercial.

Hooray!

[Bluesman]

Surprised nobody seems to use Reason. Great suite!

[Buckethead]

question from an ignorant person here: Are these programs easy in use? for example if I would get them (or atleast one) can I make music for my games then even though I have no musical experience?

[DoorKnobHandle]

You won't be able to make music without knowing how to do it. Well, you could hammer in random notes, but the product would most, most likely suck teh big one. It's like using Photoshop, it's a great tool, but somebody who has NO IDEA of art (how to shade, how shadows work, how to dither, how to outline etc.) won't be able to make good art with it.

[m0ds]

You could buy Dance Ejay! Or you could just plug in a microphone and record an instrument, plug in a keyboard etc.

[radiowaves]

Ejay is not a proper composing program, its more like kindergarten toy. If you like to mess with loops, at least use Acid Pro, which is decent and very easy to leearn.

[mouthuvmine]

I actually still use acid pro, and I have a full recording studio running. It's a good way to learn to, if not WRITE, at least compose (well, throw together) music. But it's a fairly powerful tool if you spend enough time with it, and get enough third party plugins. They have a trial you can download from the site.

[Bluesman]

A suggestion (also a reference to my earlier post)... Propellerhead's Reason 3, together with its various plugins, is very difficult to beat as a composition and production program if one is to use MIDI surfaces as input devices.

The use of that, in conjunction with a powerful mixing and production suite like Steinberg's Cubase 3 or the latest version of Adobe Audition, really ups your chances of producing professional, studio-quality sound for your game.

-- Suggestion: electric guitarists - if you're going to record, my tried and tested best method is to sling a mic over the amp (most decent mics will work, since a guitar's frequency range will generally be captured effectively by anything from a Samson Q7 live mic to a Shure condenser); route said mic through a PA system and line out the PA into the computer. I strongly recommend against lining an amplifier out directly into your computer, as this will cause freq clips and will also produce a less true sound than the former method. Just a tidbit of info intended to help the six-stringers among us. --

EDIT

Here's a short piano riff loop I made entirely in Reason, using sampled sounds exclusively from the program's two sound banks.

...Simple Piano Riff Loop...

You are most welcome to use it in any of your games, gratis, if you deem it worthy... only please tell me before you do so I can get a good play in when your completed game's online.

[Vel]

SONAR is splendid.

[Tuomas]

SONAR is splendid.

[ManicMatt]

If you have a playstation 2, then Music 3000 has a learning curve of sorts. When I first had that program, years ago, I'd use mostly pre-made loops for my songs. Where as the last time I used it to make an album, I just used pure samples of music in the program and composed my own tunes. It was quite flexible too, in the way that it advertised it could be used to make pop, dance, indie and rap music, and I made an industrial album. I then moved on to Fruity loops, made a crap album, then made a great album. (IMO obviously)

[auriond]

My brother (who has had no formal music training) uses Fruity Loops too, and he's encouraged me to try it out myself. The formally-trained me simply couldn't wrap my brain around it though. The one tune I did compose myself for my game was done in NoteWorthy Composer, in front of my piano, painstakingly typing it out note by note. So, I guess FruityLoops is supposedly easier for people with no musical theory knowledge, although I can't say for sure since I never got the hang of it.

[Stupot]

I'm not a musician by any means so I can be forgiven for not having all this fancy software.  I started getting to grips with Anvil Studio, a fairly simple, but useful MIDI composer, and I'm content to stick with that, when I get round to restarting my project(s).

I can make some passable tunes with it that won't destroy the gameplay, so that's good enough for me.

[Edit]
How are you getting on with The Marionette, Auriond?  No pressure...

[Sylvr]

I like NoteWorthy composer.