[Base Music] Radio Monochrome v0.0.06 update 2017.05.29

[MonChrMe]

The goal here is simple; abuse the mechanics of the OpenTTD jukebox to fit as much music as possible into the game without patching the jukebox (because yours truly can't code). The implement of that abuse is the midi standard itself; MIDI allows channel, time signature and tempo reassignments mid-sequence, all of which means there's no technical reason for a .mid file to contain only one piece of music.

By stitching together multiple tracks of similar styles into single sequences, it's possible to create a mimicry of radio stations; each 'track' in the jukebox plays one .mid file, which in turn is multiple pieces of music played in serial, effectively eliminating the upper bound on the jukebox's total run-time.

TL;DR, Moar muzac.

This is still a work in progress, but the run-time is already clear of the one hour mark.

Note that the manual installation version of the file on Dropbox (also attached here) also contains the component files for each track, allowing you to play them separately in the media player of your choice. This version of the file is also the preferred version if you're looking to edit or render the component files for use elsewhere.

For windows users looking for better sound than the built in synth provides, I highly recommend using VirtualMidiSynth, available from http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth, together with the soundfont SGM-V2.01 (linked on that page).

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To-Do List
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[*]Continue sequencing new tracks to fill up the available track space.
[*]Volume balancing on subtracks.
[*]Volume levelling on complete tracks.


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Track listing as of V0.0.06
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Code: Select all

   Track One - Loco Motion!; running time 6m26 as of v0.0.05
    Consists of 2 subTracks, attempting to emulate TTD's base style.
	This track is a work in progress, and is included for testing and feedback.
	All subTracks in this channel are new compositions & Sequences, and require
	more testing than the other channels as a result.
	purposes.
	 subTrack 1 : "Kirby, Stahp Breaking Down!"
	 subTrack 2 : "Lost In The Tunnels"
	 
   Track Two - Piano Roll; running time 12m48
    Consists of 6 subTracks. The theme is simple piano pieces with a bit of
	character. Some tracks introduce additional accent instruments, such as a
	bit of bass or some backing strings, but the focus is always on the pianos.
	 subTrack 1 : "The Castoff"
	 subTrack 2 : "3Quality"
	 subTrack 3 : "Forest Jaunt"
	 subTrack 4 : "Gello"
	 subTrack 5 : "Not What You Think"
	 subTrack 6 : "Half An Angel"
  
   Track Three - Sounds For Life; running time 13m52s
    Consists of 4 subTracks, themed around retro RPG-like soundtracks.
	Laid back and slow paced, generally using wind, acoustic and string
	instruments.
	 subTrack 1 : "One is One"
	 subTrack 2 : "Half Price Clocks"
	 subTrack 3 : "Painting The Sky"
	 subtrack 4 : "Breathe In"

   Track Four - Groove Radio; Running time 14m43s
    Consists of four sub-tracks, themed around bass or light drum grooves.
	Slow and medium paced tracks with a jazz or funk edge to them.
     subTrack 1 : "The Stone Rose, Radio Version"
     subTrack 2 : "Open Bar"
     subTrack 3 : "You Talkin' At Me?"
     subTrack 4 : "Sun, Sea, and A Seat At The Bar"

   Track Five - Rock, Stock, and Two Smoking Guitars; Running time 12m33s
    Consists of four tracks, themed around industrial rock, NWBHM, and power
	metal. Fast paced tracks featuring guitar solos, galloping bass and lots of
	drums, as well as occasional synths or strings.
     subTrack 1 : "Heavier Metal"
     subTrack 2 : "The Heavy Metal Hero"
     subTrack 3 : "The Albatross"
     subTrack 4 : "Twin Dragons"
	
   Track Six - DARKWAvE; Running time 11m30s
    Consists of three tracks, themed around 'dark' sounding electronica.
	 subTrack 1 : "Who Let The Dolls Out"
	 subTrack 2 : "World To Be Mine"
	 subTrack 3 : "Inverse Kinetic"
	
   Title Track : "Response Test", Running time 4m54s
    Consists of a single track in a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal style.

At the time of writing, all tracks are composed and sequenced by myself,
but I *am* open to submissions as long as the submitter has the required
rights to the file, and is willing to have their work released under the license
below. All styles are welcome - the more varied the pack is, the better!

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License (block copy from license.txt)
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Code: Select all

Copyright (c) 2017 Kieron Furber (furber.k@outlook.com) except where otherwise
noted.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this midi pack and associated documentation files (the "Music"), to deal
in the Music without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Music, and to permit persons to whom the Music is
furnished to do so, subject to the following condition:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Music.

THE MUSIC IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE MUSIC OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE MUSIC.

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Installation Instructions
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The easiest way to install the pack is to use the in-game content delivery service. A simple tag search for 'music' will only yield a handful of results at this time.

If you prefer to install manually, a zipped archive of the pack can be
found on Dropbox. Extract this file into <openTTD>/basesets with subdirectories maintained, and openTTD should find it on the next run. For windows users, use the directory %Documents%\OpenTTD\content-download\basesets. Windows Vista and above can extract zip files natively; If you're still using an older version (you really shouldn't be) you can find an app for the type on 7-zip.org.

To activate the pack after installation, you'll need to select it in the "Game Options"


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Feedback
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This is a work in progress, and I am *very* open to feedback on anything from bugs and glitches to suggestions and reprimands. Of particular concern to me is whether or not the files play back correctly on non-windows platforms - I don't have access to a MAC for testing, and am not familiar enough with the Linux and BSD ecosystems to know which synths (if any) tend to be used on those platforms. This is still early days for the pack, so the sooner I know about any issues the easier it will be to fix them!

Tested on the basic windows synth, Midig 1.01, and VirtualMidiSynth using the soundfont SGM-V2.01.sf2 (which I believe is a free download). I'm currently trying to balance the files for playback on both the windows base synth and the soundfont, in the hopes that this covers most other setups as well.

The component tracks are available separately on request; my internet access is sporadic so it may be a few days before I get back to you, but I will! It's my intention to include these in mirror of the finalised pack - I tried to do this from the start, but Bananas rejects the pack with the additional, unregistered files. With that in mind I'll be creating a more complete mirror of the pack, which will probably be hosted on dropbox or similar; again, open to suggestions on this.

Regards
~MonChrMe

[Redirect Left]

Sounds really good! Personally I would drop the simlish though. First time I heard it I honestly thought the sound had corrupted

[supermop]

Nice - I usually do not play with music on, nor have I listened to much midi music over the past 20 years, but I'll give this a try!

[MonChrMe]

So, one vote for killing the sim. Any advance on that?

[kamnet]

I like the music you've composed, and I like the idea that you're playing with here! You clearly know what you're doing.

One thing I always wanted to do with my music sets was to emulate the presentation of Sim City 2000. The music that plays isn't continuous, but rather songs are played several minutes apart, and sometimes at random. But, I don't have an ability to create or edit MIDI files myself, so I didn't have any way to make that happen I think doing so would make music sets less noisy and more likable and inspiring. Would you consider trying that instead?

[MonChrMe]

That's pretty easy to do. MIDI is event based, so a large silence in a midi file uses exactly... no resources, no events. Doesn't add to the filesize at all either.

That said, I think it would be a bad idea to try and shift the focus on this one - there's already existing downloads and it would be pulling the rug out from under them, but it's certainly doable as a side project or fork. Which has just reminded me I need to get an SVN repo set up for this.

If you've got files you want me to set up like that for you, just give me a shout; it would literally just be a case of appending or prepending some silence to the existing data. Prepending is easier to do - just drag the existing patterns back, but it would cause frustration if you tried to play the files outside of the game. Appending is *very* slightly harder - sequencers will automatically truncate any trailing silences, but it's possible to add a zero-volume, zero-expression event at the end of the silence to prevent that behaviour. Doing that would allow the files to play outside the game without the frustration factor.

[Sylf]

That said, I think it would be a bad idea to try and shift the focus on this one - there's already existing downloads and it would be pulling the rug out from under them, but it's certainly doable as a side project or fork. Which has just reminded me I need to get an SVN repo set up for this.

If you are not against using some other type of version control system, you can request a project at http://dev.openttdcoop.org/.

[hydonko]

That is awesome. Please more rock and metal songs.

Is it allowed to use this music set on youtube videos?

[MonChrMe]

Is it allowed to use this music set on youtube videos?

Absolutely. It's even in the readme - FAQ, Q5/A5. The license bit is the MIT EXPAT license, which basically means you can do whatever you want with it as long as you include the copyright blurb - in a youtube video, I guess you'd put that in the information box under the video.

As for more rock/metal, it'll be coming - but I need to make sure I've got everything I can represented fairly. Got to get some classical, EDM, and pop in there before I loop back around to the rock section.

If you are not against using some other type of version control system, you can request a project at http://dev.openttdcoop.org/.

Just a nosey; it's actually using an SVN - TortoiseHG, which is the same one I'm using already!

[kamnet]

Has anybody else successfully played this inside OpenTTD? I've not gotten the Bananas download to work in 1.6.x or 1.7.0.

Unpacking the .tar file in the baseset directory seems to work, so I wonder if it's an issue with the tar file itself.

[MonChrMe]

Just deleted my install to check this, kamnet. Downloaded and installed without any hitches on 1.7.0 RC1, stable, and 1.7.1 RC1 on windows 10.

Could be a platform issue - what platform are you running on?

I'll see if I can repack with a different tool in the meantime, maybe that will help. Pretty sure BaNaNas repacks it anyway.

[kamnet]

Windows 10 also. First time I've ever had a .tar archive not play, since that's how I store all my own music. I'll try digging into it later, it could very well just be me.

[MonChrMe]

Well, in any case I've just dropped an update in. I normally tarball the upload (tar, then gzip compression), figure I might have had an option selected at the compression stage that was causing an issue.

With the update I uploaded without compressing first, so that might be enough to fix it.

[kamnet]

The update works! Download now shows up in the game options.

[michigandj]

I'd love to have heard this WITH the Disc Jockey. Any possibility?