Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

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Andrew350
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Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by Andrew350 »

Hello and welcome to the Wasteland MIDI Music Project :)

For some time now I have played around with the idea of creating a special music replacement set for OpenTTD which creates an appropriate atmosphere for playing with the Wasteland NewGRF, i.e. a nice post-apocalyptic feel. The standard music sets for OpenTTD focus on a jazzy, upbeat style which doesn't exactly fit well with the slightly darker theme of Wasteland, and while it's possible to play music with some other music player open, I thought it would be nice to have a native music set capable of playing within OpenTTD itself to set the mood.

Over the last few months I have been occasionally scouring the web in search of some potential open-source MIDI tracks with which to start such a project. Unfortunately, there is a short supply of any kind of open-source MIDI-format music available (at least in search engines), let alone music that fits the style of OpenTTD, and even less so Wasteland. I have so far only managed to find 5 tracks which I think are reasonably close to fitting such a post-apocalyptic MIDI soundtrack for OpenTTD: (these are mp3 versions of MIDI files, for browser playability)

http://fredrikj.net/midi/cliff.mp3
http://fredrikj.net/midi/escape_from_evil.mp3
http://fredrikj.net/midi/shadow.mp3
http://www.tannerhelland.com/dmusic/TheHaunting.mp3
http://www.tannerhelland.com/dmusic/Nevermore.mp3

Note that many of these songs are of the more "slow and spooky" type which is not necesarily consistent with what is expected of all the music in the Wasteland Music Project, but at least these songs fit the general darker tone I'm after. Obviously Wasteland is based on other post-apocalyptic-themed media such as the Fallout game series, Mad Max, etc., so that is the kind of feeling I'm aiming for.

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What is the Overall Goal?
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The goal is to create a complete music replacement set for use in OpenTTD with the Wasteland NewGRF (or without) which is completely free-to-use and open-source (preferably licensed CC-BY-SA or similar, but is negotiable). Ideally this means including at least 21 tracks as originally included in the game, but more is better.

If you know of any MIDI-format music which you think would fit the subject, please do post it below; whether it is your own orginal creation or someone else's, I'm always interested in hearing new music! If you're interested in creating some original music for the project I'd love to hear about it! :)

Please note that while any submissions are welcome, this is a very subjective theme and not all tracks will be accepted for use in the project; not to be taken personally :) I've tried myself to create some MIDI tracks and it is honestly a very painstakingly long process which takes dedication and patience to get right, so hats off to you if you manage to finish something worthy of showing off :)

I look forward to hearing any submissions below; and of course if I ever manage to finish one of my own MIDI songs I will make sure to post it for criticism and review. :)

Thanks!
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Re: Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by kamnet »

All of these are found on MFiles.co.uk, which may offer the files under a suitable license if asked.
The New World, Michael Fonos
Dark Siege, Jared Boice
Apocalypse, Martin Patterson
Epic Rondo, Jim Patterson

These files are from Bjorn Lynne, whom I've used in a few of my sets.
The Long Journey Home
Exploration
No Survivors
The Chaos Warrior
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Re: Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by Andrew350 »

Thanks for the links, Kamnet :)

I bookmarked mfiles.co.uk a while back but forgot to contact them to see if they'd be willing to license their songs in a way that works. Thanks for reminding me :)

Never came across Bjorn Lynne's site though, that's a great resource! I listened to everything there and managed to find a few tracks that I think work well:

The Chaos Warrior (one you linked)
The Alchemist
Beneath Another Sky

A few more songs are close but they go kinda funky part way through. However there's several songs there that sound great for a more traditional TTD soundtrack as well. :)
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Re: Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by Andrew350 »

Not really, no. I never heard back from the mfiles site, and I've dug down to the bottom of Google and back again looking for sites with free music. There's just not much out there that I can see, or it is well-hidden. :) The few sites I've found with MIDI music tend to be aimed at shooters and platformers, or more jazz-oriented stuff like the current music sets. I've even dabbled a little in creating some of my own, but that hasn't gotten far :P

So for now the potential song count sits at 8 (what I've linked to), out of 21 needed for a full set. I lost my full notes on all the MIDI tracks I've listened to, but it was easily 200+ songs to find those 8 (I also had lists for good songs that might fit different sets, but meh, too much work to do twice :P) Maybe some other search engines will dig up some goldmines, otherwise it might come down to making them, which will take a while!
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Re: Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by kamnet »

This project might have fared better a decade ago. Unfortunately many of these MIDI sites have completely disappeared, their owners having either abandoned the work or passed away, companies that offered free hosting going under or otherwise ending their service, and tons of pages that never made it to the Internet Archive.
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Re: Wasteland MIDI Music Project [Help Wanted]

Post by Andrew350 »

kamnet wrote: 03 Dec 2019 00:20 This project might have fared better a decade ago. Unfortunately many of these MIDI sites have completely disappeared...
Yeah it's kind of sad, lots of great work has no doubt been lost to time :( Doesn't mean there isn't more out there though, and new works can always be made ;)
andythenorth wrote: 02 Dec 2019 16:32 Not helpful but... :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ0Ob4PlCDU
Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but didn't somebody already upload that as a music set for OTTD? Great stuff though :)
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