New RW Music

#1 Hi, Nick. Before I get to commenting on your track specifically, I'll give a general update on the status of RW's audio. Right now, we're not really looking to add any music to the game beyond the couple tracks already available for download (though this will change in the future). Efforts right now are being focused mainly on game-engine related concerns (like actually getting a playable game rolling :) ) Once there is more content in the game itself, we'll be looking to add more music. Also, we hope to implement a number of neat options for managing the in-game music that the programmers won't have time to work on until the game is in a more complete shape... so, don't feel as if you have to stop working on making RW tunes, but be aware that they will likely not be used in the game for some time yet.

On to comments on your specific test track: I like the general feel and arrangement of it. The melodies are neat, the orchestration is well put together. The major complaint I have with it is that the instrument samples you're using sound weak and lifeless. The major area of concern is in the brass, but fortunately that can be solved pretty easily with some free downloads and a small application of cash. I'm pretty sure I remember you're using Gigastudio now, so this is a set you should definitely look into:

SAM Horns

The Project SAM team has put out an excellent quality French Horn library for the very reasonable price of about $100 US, which also has a beautiful solo horn add-on for a few dollars more. For a composer on a budget of any magnitude, it's a great purchase. Making things even more attractive at the SAM site, they offer up a free trumpet section that I use more than any other trumpets I've bought commercially. They're way better than what you find in any of the older sample lib's (like AO, QLB, or whatnot). So if nothing else, go there and grab the free trumpets and timpani they offer. They're also working on a trombone library that promises to be quite good and affordable as well.

Speaking of high quality free stuff, you can also improve the percussion in your arsenal by heading over to GTown samples and grabbing all that you can carry... er, download. There's a whole cornucopia of neat instruments offered there. Well worth your bandwidth.

Most of the other sections of your instrumentation would probably require more significant investments to upgrade, but I can provide recommendations if you like.

So essentially, I think your track (which would seem to be a good in-game battle style track) is quite well done, but suffers from using the less than desirable samples. If you're able to afford some upgrades, it will definitely turn this into an exciting piece of music.

By the way - drop me an email at steudler1@attbi.com and I'll add you to the Realm Wars Audio Team mailing list. I'll be informing the people interested in working on RW audio through the list when we're ready to handle music submissions properly. For now, though, I don't mind at all if people still work on some new tracks (like you have). I'll be glad to comment on anything you compose. By the time the RW crew is ready for musical contributions, we'll be bursting at the seams with cool music, and that's certainly a situation that will benefit everyone. :)

#2 Thanks, Joel. The links you posted were a great benefit to my library. Your comments on the sampled sounds are right on-- my li'l Roland can only go so far. However, I've been playing with Giga ever since I got it working properly (word of advice to potential Giga buyers: buy a computer from Sweetwater or some other supplier that specializes in audio; off the shelf mix and match saved me money and cost me a lot of time) and the Giga libraries available are very exciting to use (another lesson learned: Advanced Orchestra is not a good purchase). You can expect brighter, clearer tracks from me if I get around to creating more of them for RW.

I was hoping to post track URLs every so often and have users/programmers try them out. Could we have an audio forum within the Realm Wars forum so tracks are easy to locate? Even though I'm not experimenting with other tracks in the game (actually, does the most recent build include music?) I enjoy just listening to see what others are doing.

Nick