I've been playing around with Fruity Loops, and the LSD plug-in. I wanted to keep the midi type sound, but enhance it a little bit.
http://maddoxic.com/gamemusic/Maddoxic-STARMAtheme.mp3 (http://maddoxic.com/gamemusic/Maddoxic-STARMAtheme.mp3)
Would this defeat the purpose of simply not using midi? I know that a few people have soundcards that don't support midi.
EDIT: Added another song http://maddoxic.com/gamemusic/Maddoxic-Untitled.mp3 (http://maddoxic.com/gamemusic/Maddoxic-Untitled.mp3)
I think it is absolutely fine to go for that style, it really doesn't sound that much like MIDI so I wouldn't worry about it defeating the purpose of not using midi.
I need to check out that LSD plugin from the looks of it, haven't heard of it so far!
Thanks!
The LSD plugin comes with it, I believe. I just put it in the mixer and set the ports the same as the midi outs in the pattern editor. It sounds the same as general midi, but you can add effects underneath the LSD plugin, and export midi to wav, or what ever you want.
I've always liked the midi sound, but I also like the use of compressors. And this little diddy is what came out of it.
1st song: Snare drum stands out too much. Otherwise it's pretty cool. I'd use electric toms somewhere to have even more of that 80's tv-show-theme feel
2nd song: Bassline would benefit from some more notes, higher volume and more/faster technoish flow. It feels pretty much like something you'd use in spy movie. Also, cymbal crashes too often. Maybe increase whole tempo by dozen bpm or so
I listened to them both and I can`t find anything that bothered me. They sound pretty awesome. ;)
The first one made me think of playing megaman or sonic.
However, I could not really hear anything that that couldn`t be done as a normal midi. The only thing that I noticed was that you added some reverb to the instruments, but that could also be done in a midi.