Eclectic I

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Audio Arts Wk2 'Morrowind'





Watch Elder Scrolls Morowing on YouTube.

The Audio in Elder Scroll's Morrowind is an extremely detailed. I will give a brief overview of the sounds used within the game. All sounds and music in the game would appear to be a mix of real audio and synthesised sounds. I have taken an educated guess as to which I think is which.

Music

It is orchestral music which utilizes real instruments and synthesised sounds.

The game begins with a very grand introductory piece which fades out at a particular point. Then at another point in the game a new ambient a calm piece is introduced which is based on a particular theme, yet as you move between certain area's and points within the game different elements of the music is taken away and added to change the mood of the game.

At key points within the game, the music will fade out and introduce more dramatic music to suit what is occurring in the game. After which the music will fade out and revert back to normal.

Because the music utilises a very ambient feel it is very good at sitting in the background and adding effect without being highly noticeable.

NPC

Voice actors are used for all of the NPC's in the game. It is quite obvious that the people used are professionals.

Each type of character (race) has a distinct type of voice as well as age portrayed and emotion portrayed.

Environment

The environmental sounds are highly detailed and layered.

Rain - different degrees of heaviness. -synthesised
Water noises from a river. synthesised
Sounds of moving in water. (walking across a river) - synthesised
Wind noises - varying degrees of strength. synthesised
Caverns etc have reverb added to movement noises. - reverb

Object Sounds

There are sounds for that of different doors opening. - audio
Chests opening. - audio
Objects being picked up - synthesised

Character Sounds (NPC sounds included)

Footsteps and clothing noises can be heard wherever the main character walks. The characteristics of these steps change depending on what the character is wearing and surface walking on/through . eg. armor boots on pavement. bare feet on dirt.

NPC also utilise the same type of footsteps and clothing noises and detail has been placed on varying volume levels of them getting closer or further away.

There are sounds of someone throwing a punch and missing (hitting air) and sounds of them connecting (hitting an NPC/Main Character) synthesised?

Grunts etc when a character is hurt/hit. - sample of voice

There are individual weapon sounds. - sample

Specific Sounds for when magic or a magical item is used. - sythesised

Sounds of fireball through air. - synthesised - possibly pink noise.


UI

Clicking sounds - synthesiesd
Consuming Sounds - Eg. drinking a potion selected in UI will result in swallowing noise and bubbling noise. - Synthesised
A piece of paper selected will result in the sound of paper rustling - audio
Weapons and armor being equipped or unequipped have specific sounds also - synthesised

Reference:

Haines, Christian. ‘Audio Arts - Wk 2 – Game Audio Analysis.’ Lecture presented in Tutorial Room 408, Level 4 Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 31st July, 2007.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Tech Forum semester 2 wk1

This weeks Forum served as a good introduction to Circuit bending. I didn't find the Victorian Synth a highly interesting instrument, but I appreciate it as a step into something I have been interested in for quite sometime but never gotten around to doing Circuit Bending) I understand the need for the "nothing the plugs into the wall" rule and will of course stick to it for my own safety, but hope one day I will have enough proficiency with technology to circuit bend my old Yamaha Keyboard.

Anyway.. Here are some pics, and some samples of the noises I created when making my own Victorian synth, mic'ing it and then putting it through a guitar amp with distortion and Reverb.





I really like the Rhythm of sample 1 and would like to use it in piece sometime.
Sample 1

For Sample 2 I placed my Tibetan meditation bowl on top of the speaker, so the vibration of the speaker caused it to ring.
Sample 2

In Sample 3 I ran the alligator clips over a ruff metal serface. (the rough side of my meditation bowl.
Sample 3

Sample 4,5 and 6 were created by adding two paper clips to the end of the alligator clips and connecting the circuit via them placed on the speaker. Where I placed the clips resulted in the 3 different frequencies of each sample.
Sample 4
Sample 5
Sample 6

And special thanks to Ben Probert for his help with the camera!


Reference:

Haines, Christian. “Electronics, Instrument Building and Improvisation.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 26th July, 2007.

Tomczak, Sebastian. “Electronics, Instrument Building and Improvisation.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 26th July, 2007.

Whittington, Stephen. “Electronics, Instrument Building and Improvisation.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 26th July, 2007.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Creative Computing2 Semester 2 week 1

This weeks exercise was a strait forward introduction into the MSP side of Max. I am pleased with the way I managed to combine the two separate patches so that one could remember the last amplitude amount set before it was turned off and then return to that amount when turned on again.



Folder with both patches and help files

Reference:

Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing 2 Week 1 – Music and Sound Processing 2.” Lecture presented at Tutorial Room 408, Level 4, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 26th July, 2007.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Audio Arts wk1 - Comodore 64 - Ghostbusters - Game Sound

Link To You Tube Video of Ghostbusters Game

Ghostbusters Title menu

After The Game Loads up the title menu appears and a short low quality audio sample is played. Laughter at Start of Ghostbusters game Mp3 Then the a fast tempo version of the Ghostbusters theme song kicks in. It is a combination of noise triggered to emulate drum sounds, and various wave forms such as a saw tooth wave to emulate instruments create the main melody.
Title Menu Menu Mp3

Ghostubusters start of game
There are sharp high pitch sounds which accompany the writing of the text. It sounds as though a sine tone has been put through an ADSR envelope to create this sound. There is no music during this part of the game.
Typing Sounds Mp3

During Game



A Ghost is caught
According to the Wikipedia commodore 64 article "The sound chip, SID, had three channels, each with its own ADSR envelope generator, and with several different waveforms, ring modulation and filter capabilities. It too, was very advanced for its time. It was designed by Bob Yannes, who would later co-found synthesizer company Ensoniq. Yannes criticized other contemporary computer sound chips as "primitive, obviously (...) designed by people who knew nothing about music.""#1

The in game music is a down tempo version of the main theme song played at the title menu. It would appear that it uses one channel for the drum sounds and another for the main melody. The third channel seems to be for additional effects, such as When A Ghost is caught in a trap. When a ghost has been caught or failed to be caught the music is forced to stop whilst a short low quality audio clip is played. Yet they have utilised the memory so that the music then resumes at the same point which it stopped at.

In Game Music Mp3

A ghost is caught Mp3 -listen for the sound effect of the ghost trap amongst the music.

a ghost gets away Mp3


Driving
The in game music is played whilst driving. There are no additional sound effects for the car.

References
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Graphics_and_sound)

All pictures are screen shots I took whilst playing the game and all Sounds I recorded whilst playing the game.


Reference:

Haines, Christian. “Audio Arts Week 1 – Introduction to Game Sound.” Lecture presented at Tutorial Room 408, Level 4, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 24th July, 2007.