Music Formats

Mr Flibble · Sat 15/05/2004 14:14:56

I hope this is in the right place-it is AGS related, but not technical)
I'm making a game, and I read in the manual that I should compress my music with ogg, instead of mp3 (it may apply to .mid, .midi as well, I'm not sure).

The question is - Why?
Any songs in .mp3 will be most likely copyrighted anyway, so converting them to ogg won't make any difference.

I remember something about legal issues, but its not like I'm going to be charging for my game or anything.
I don't want to get my ass sued, so I'm asking now.

BOYD1981 · Sat 15/05/2004 14:21:22

well, not all mp3s are just ripped from CDs, some people make their own, you only have to make them OGG if you intend on selling your game UNLESS you wanna pay the people that own mp3 compression thingamydoodas...
but if your game music is midi then you might aswell leave it as midi...

Ghormak · Sat 15/05/2004 14:33:02

Usually you don't want to convert an MP3 to OGG, because you're going from one lossy format to another. But if you have a raw wav file or a cd track, you might want to convert it to OGG instead of MP3, because from my experience OGG produces a slightly better quality to size ratio than MP3 does.

If you're not going to sell your game, there are no problems with using MP3.

Midi is a completely different kind of music format, and should preferrably be used as it is.

Mr Flibble · Sat 15/05/2004 14:40:19

Thanks.
Speaking if making my own mp3 files, is there any multi instrumental music synthesiser I could download?

Someone recommended FruityLoops, but its a huge download.

Ishmael · Sat 15/05/2004 15:48:48

Guitar Pro, if you have any clue about how to play keyboard or guitar, is my suggestion...

Ben · Sat 15/05/2004 17:03:41

I use Skale Tracker. It's free. But it's still in beta, and has a weird GUI that's hard to learn..

Mr Flibble · Sat 15/05/2004 17:48:39

Idealy, I like something that has lots of instruments, and can play more than 1 at once.
For example, if I wanted to lay down a few repeating bars as a bass, then lay different bars on top as a main tune.
If that makes sense.
(Kinda like a real recording studio actually)

Ishmael · Sat 15/05/2004 17:56:58

Quote from: TK on Sat 15/05/2004 15:48:48
Guitar Pro, if you have any clue about how to play keyboard or guitar, is my suggestion...

...or/and find NoteWorthy Composer. It is a midi composer, you can make loopings etc. Just make a midi with it, copy the notes to Guitar Pro, and export it as a .wav. (I recall it having the feature... not sure though!)

Mr Flibble · Sat 15/05/2004 18:14:46

Okay, what instruments can NoteWorthy/Guitar Pro synthesise? Just guitar?

prowler · Sat 15/05/2004 21:44:07

guitar pro is very useful as a composer, i use it for all instruments (including drums).

i'm not sure how good it would be as a synthesizer though, it uses midi. if you're not looking for anything fancier than midi, it does the job. it works for me, at least

Ishmael · Sat 15/05/2004 21:45:49

All midi instruments. They're midi synthesizers after all.

Mr Flibble · Sat 15/05/2004 22:06:23

Sorry, I'm new to this.
I'll go download them both + tinker around.

Is there maybe an mp3 composer like this? (mp3 and AGS compatibles of course)

auhsor · Sat 15/05/2004 23:17:11

Yeah I use Guitar Pro too. Its very good if you can play guitar and want to make songs in midi. I recommend it.

EDIT: Oh wow, I just realised this is my 500th post. Thats pretty cool. Its pretty exciting I guess, in a way. Yeah, well hmm.

BOYD1981 · Sun 16/05/2004 03:48:38

Quote from: Ben on Sat 15/05/2004 17:03:41
I use Skale Tracker. It's free. But it's still in beta, and has a weird GUI that's hard to learn..

if you want something that's a bit easier but looks near enough the same as Skale, AND you can run DOS apps, then try Fasttracker2 (it saves .mod and .xm), Skale is actually based on FT2.
i think you might still be able to get FT2 from www.starbreeze.com or they might still have it in the oldies or whatever it is section at www.maz-sound.com
but that's really only if you want to create MOD or XM music, last time i used Skale it couldn't create midi files, but that was a while ago, so if it does and that's what you're making, ignore everything i just said...

xenogia · Fri 04/06/2004 03:40:38

You can try and use Cubase SX, this program is extremely powerful and is used by commercial acts. You can easily find it on suprnova.org or the mirc efnet server on #audio0day.

Then you can add in Virtual Instruments (VSTS), where you can get awesome piano, guitar, drums, synths anything you can think of, it supports both midi and mp3/ogg formats.

Mr Flibble · Fri 04/06/2004 18:25:14

At the moment, I'm using NoteWorthy composer for my Midis, its great for two reasons.
1. It has a real staff.
2. Guitar Pro causes my computer to freeze up.
I'll try Cubase when I need mp3's, it sounds awesome. Thanks for your help!