

How to get/generate free music for a game? - amichail

For example, do you know of any free software that generates generic but passable music in various styles?
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teeja
Depending on how 'sophisticated' you want the music to be, there are more &
more decent online Flash/JS sequencers that you could record.

<http://beaterator.rockstargames.com/beaterator.html>

<http://www.lilyapp.org/about/>

<http://www.ampledesign.co.uk/va/>

There's also this collaboration site: <http://www.kongregate.com/collabs>

For more ideas, have a look through CDM: <http://createdigitalmusic.com/>

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uptown
I know you're asking for free ... but look into istockphotop's audio
collection if you're willing to spend a little money. It's a very affordable
option with a huge range of loopable tracks, and artists that are responsive
to specialized requests. Just make sure the licensing options meet your needs
for distribution.

<http://www.istockphoto.com/audio.php>

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s2r2
Depending on how much time/effort you want to invest... AFAIK Pure Data [1]
was used for generative (background) music scores in SPORE. Maybe this is a
good place to start: [http://obiwannabe.co.uk/html/sound-design/sound-design-
all.h...](http://obiwannabe.co.uk/html/sound-design/sound-design-all.html)

[1] <http://puredata.info>

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adw
Your best bet is probably to try the Creative Commons-licensed music at
jamendo.org or ccmixter.org.

~~~
brtzsnr
I've been involved in developing NAEV [0]. Some of its music is "stolen" from
other games under CC license, and some was produced by players.

You can start by borrowing music from other games and put an announcement (on
forums, mailing lists, in game) saying that you need music. If people like
your game somebody with musical skills will help you creating soundtracks
eventually. Just don't expect this to happen overnight. NAEV has been under
development for over 6 years.

[0] <http://github.com/bobbens/naev>

~~~
listic
Have you heard about Space Rangers ?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Rangers_%28video_game%29>

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samstokes
Magnatune (<http://magnatune.com>) CC-licenses all of their music. It's free
for non-commercial use. They also do royalty-free licenses for commercial use,
as for example Braid which used some of their music.

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NonEUCitizen
not sure if software is free, but check out
[http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/09/virtual-
composer...](http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/09/virtual-composer-
makes-beautiful-musicand-stirs-controversy.ars)

it also mentions a book that presumably discusses the algorithms. book:
[http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/?ttype=2&tid=10661](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/?ttype=2&tid=10661)

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elblanco
Go hang out on demoscene music forums and IRC channels. I'm sure there are
plenty of musicians that would be happy to pitch in some music for some
recognition.

