Is all the music in planeshift going to be midi?

[zanzibar]

Does the music in planeshift necessarily have to be midi, or is it just the way things have been done so far?

[miadon]

what?? music in planeshift isn\'t midi format its ogg format.

[zanzibar]

Hmm.  Tell me about this \"ogg\" format you speak of.

[miadon]

From Wikipedia:

Ogg is a patent-free, fully open multimedia bitstream container format designed for efficient streaming and file compression (storage).

The name \"Ogg\" hence refers to the file format which includes a number of separate independent open source codecs for audio, video and text (e.g. subtitles). Files ending in the .ogg extension may be of any Ogg media filetype, and because the format is free, Ogg\'s various codecs have been incorporated into a number of different free and commercial media players.

The term \"ogg\" often refers to the audio file format Ogg Vorbis, that is, Vorbis-encoded audio in an Ogg container. Other prominent components of Ogg are its video codec Theora, and the human speech audio compression format, Speex.


---------

In simpler terms think of it like an MP3 file but where the coding and stuff behind it is more open and free (as in freedom)

[zanzibar]

Wikipedia leaves a bad taste in my mouth.


Anyway, I\'m not a computer wiz but I think I understand the gist of it.

[Xordan]

PS music/sound is all in ogg and wav format. Nothing is in midi.

[Pestilence]

thankfully. I was scared for a few moments when I read the title.

[zanzibar]

So basically, if you recorded a symphony orchestra and had the rights to it and wanted to use that recording in Planeshift, it would work?

[dfryer]

Yeah.

Or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, the more tormented sections of the death realm could be accompanied by me wailing \"I shot the sheriff\" into the mic built in to my computer.

[zanzibar]

*shrug*  I guess it just surprises me that the music is entirely synthesized when whoever the composer is shows some understanding of orchestral writing.

[Vaylos]

Part of it is that the instrument samples are a little synthy sounding, although i\'ve heard far worse hehe.  I seriously doubt a live orchestra would be willing to devote their time to recording music without some sort of compensation.  And for the record, to help clarify the OGG Vorbis stuff:  

http://www.vorbis.com  

check the faq section if you want to sate any curiosity.

In a -very- general sense, OGG Vorbis files are equivalent if not better than mp3 files.  However unlike mp3, OGG Vorbis is released under the general public liscense. So, if you were to use ogg vorbis format in a marketable product, you wouldn\'t have to pay a royalty to vorbis. If you used mp3 in a marketable product, you\'d have to pay fraunhoffer for use of their technology.

However, since ogg and mp3 encode differently, meaning they remove different bits of data, it is -not- recommended to directly convert from mp3 to ogg vorbis, or vice versa, since you would actualy -lower- the quality of the resulting file.  It would be better to start with a WAV or FLAC file, which are lossless formats, and convert that to Ogg Vorbis.

Er, hope I didn\'t get -too- detailed. Some of the stuff can be a little confusing. Vorbis\'s site faq probably does a better job of explaining.  Give it a read sometime

And for the record, most game music is synthesized. High budget companies usually have a composer who uses GigaStudio, and can afford professional audio samples recorded directly from orchestras, like... Garritan Personal Orchestra for example. These sample CDs often run for several hundred dollars.  Gigastudio is a fairly popular sequencer.

From what I understand, Gigastudio is used for the music in CSI, and I think Jeremy Soule used it for KotOR, Morrowind, Dungeon Siege, etc.  Just for an example of how versatile a good program, and good audio samples can be.  Heck, even my ear was fooled into thinking it was live or recorded.

I have no idea what the composer/music guys here use, but I think they do a good job with what they have. Heh, all I have is -barely- a home studio setup.  A near-death keyboard, some sequencers, and a ton of free soundfonts i\'ve dug up over the years. Well...most of em are free, some of em are demo/noncommercial uses only.

[zanzibar]

Mp3s are more compressed, the stereo field is more narrow, the noise threshold is higher, tonnes of fun stuff.

[GeorgeD]

Zanzibar, if you want to hear better samples in PS, send me five thousand dollars and I\'ll buy Vienna Symphonic Library. Oh and send me a few thousands more so I can also buy a few more computers to run it on.
Or you can send even more and we\'ll hire a live orchestra.

(what? I can try, can\'t I?)

No, really. Of course the quality of orchestral simulation can be greatly affected by artist\'s skills, but there\'s only so much you can do with samples. And good sounding samples are expensive. Very expensive.

Vaylos: Garritan Personal Orchestra is very cheap (as orchestral sample libraries go), and is considered a sketchbook for profesionals. Or a main tool for music students and hobbyists. It can do more, yes, but it\'s still on the shallow end of the professional sample libraries pool.

[zanzibar]

It shouldn\'t take 5 grand.  Just multitrack it dry using cheep labour (students), then use light reverb.



And yes, that comment is tongue in cheek.

[Vaylos]

Lol @ zanzibar.   well...laughing with you, not at you. The remark was amusing

I should have mentioned GPO was on the low end. My mistake. Sure, there\'s better libraries out there, it\'s just that garritan was the first thing that came to mind. Heh,  as i\'m a hobbyist/student type though, I\'d love to get my hands on GPO.  Hey, it\'d be a step up from all these soundfonts lol.

Anyways, as it\'s been discussed on OCR numerous times, it\'s not the samples you have, it\'s how you use them. A little bit of EQ lovin\' can go a long way

Gah, my home setup is so ghetto lol.
Basically demo for FL Studio, a pair of infinity RS2 bookshelf speakers as my mains, and a pair of old-ish Labtec desktop speakers are my rears, and sitting on top of the infinities heh. My keyboard is an old Yamaha PSR-520 (10 years old) and it\'s starting to enter its death throes

My current goal is to save up around 5 grand over the next couple years (around when I should get my education degree) And build a nice hobby/home studio kinda thing.  Need to replace my keyboard, preferably with one that has weighted keys. Also, since I\'m getting more into sequencing, I was thinking of getting some nearfield audio monitors. Only thing I\'ve heard of are the Yamaha NS10\'s which apparently everyone used, cept the original versions aren\'t being manufactured anymore, and I heard the new models aren\'t nearly as good. So, no idea on what to get :/  As for new speakers, I\'m thinking about looking into Klipsche. To my ear, they\'re similar to Infinity, and my RS2\'s have always had a pretty good clear and accurate sound.  

Sorry, didn\'t mean to rant so long, or get into my plans, but lemme know if you have some good ideas heh.  E-mail me, or send me a PM. I don\'t really wanna hijack the topic and get into a recording/sequencing discussion....since I\'m just an amateur, and don\'t really know much about recording, other than what sounds decent to my ear when I\'m sequencing.