The Mana World Forums

What do you think about supplementing the TMW soundtrack with some classical pieces? It wouldn't be a copyright problem because the copyright period of the compositions are over and thus they are in the public domain. The recordings of interpretations by professional orchestras aren't, but we could do our own renderings of the compositions.

We should at least try.

Wagner and Bach, here we come.

I've heard parts of Bachs Toccata and Fugue in D Minor in quite a lot of games. Although it is one of my favorite classical pieces it is unfortunately very overused.

But another piece of Bach we could use would be the instrumental part of the opening of the Christmas Oratorio. When I heard it first I immediately thought "pompous medieval castle".

It wouldn't be a copyright problem because the copyright period of the compositions are over and thus they are in the public domain.

Just a thought, would there be any problem with the copyright of the actual performance? Unless you or someone else can perform the ones you want, heh. Or maybe we could find a good performance with a free license?

As stated previously, we have to render them ourselves.

We can render them using free software, such as fluidsynth + jack-audio-connection, using midi samples and SoundFonts made from real instruments.

There are many great classical music suitable for games. How about Vivaldi's four seasons? Or Tchaikovsky's nutcracker (such a s waltz of flowers for lake scenes, sugar plume for forest etc...)? Or Bach's Canon, Air, or Jesus bleibet meine Freude? They will be much prefered over our current existing music, which sounds generated and repeatative.

In fact, Bach's music was used extensively in the SNES game Violinist of Hameln.

Regarding the rendering, I can render them if you want, I even have midi samples of all of the aforetioned pieces. Or better yet, if anyone of you is in a band, or a music club, you can play and record it live.

Sure, give it a try.

It will also require some rearrangement for looping, though.

I'm eager to hear what you come up with for our usage. The lesser known artists would be nice. Anything with expired copyrights goes. Both to elevate their status and also to get something which is not overused. Sorry to be an empty bag on suggestions, though. (As a pointer I'd look into Russian composers.)

Rotonen wrote:It will also require some rearrangement for looping, though.

I'm eager to hear what you come up with for our usage. The lesser known artists would be nice. Anything with expired copyrights goes. Both to elevate their status and also to get something which is not overused. Sorry to be an empty bag on suggestions, though. (As a pointer I'd look into Russian composers.)

Well, I am sure what I know are not anything lesser known. Anyway, I have recorded a few of the midi song, rendered by my soundcard. We can edit out the track/instructment we don't want, but for now, this is what I have:

Sugar Plum Fairy: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810473
Waltz of Flower: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810514
Canon: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810522
Jesus bleibet meine Freude: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810533
Air: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810582
Swan Lake: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810547
Winter: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810559
Bartok's Concerto: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810630
Grieg op23: http://www.badongo.com/file/9810745
Claude Debussy (don't remember the title, but filename is debson33): http://www.badongo.com/file/9810799

They are not suitable for use in game yet, but after rearranging them, they should be usable. There are other pieces, but they seems too boring that I may as well compose them myself.

I just googled for "public domain classical music download" and came up with quite a lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sound/list might be worth a look.

I replaced the music in /usr/share/tmw/data/music/ a while ago, with music ripped from my own collection, so I'm not sharing it with y'all.

FWIW, I'm rather fond of "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" in place of "Magic - Real" (startup menu music) and "Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten" in place of "Faith" (Tulimshar and surrounds). I have used Miles Davis and Alan Parsons Project in the past.

Yes, I have eclectic musical tastes.

As placeholders we can use (AFAIK) public domain renditions of public domain compositions. Alternatively we can make our own GPL renditions of public domain compositions.

If anyone is willing to explore this legally, I'm willing to listen to propositions.

I don't like this idea much. I would much rather create our own music.

We create our own content. Why should music be any different.

When I made this suggestion a year ago we had a notorious lack of musicians but a desperate need for new soundtracks.

Fortunately this is no longer the case.

Bits and pieces of classical themes would still be nice. Maybe we can do a concert hall like map where classical music is played regularly.