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Post by LunarMoon2 on Feb 5, 2006 21:56:47 GMT -5
Does anyone else have a problem getting their custom music to sound right? Keeping in mind that my knowledge of how to read music is very low, could someone please tell me how people such as William Kirk and Jugem are able to tell which pitch is right for which sound? At the most, all I can do right now is to experiment with pitches, timings, and instruments for hours. It takes me hours just to figure out a few lines of the music script and I already have the entire song planned.
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Post by NASH7777 on Feb 5, 2006 22:25:49 GMT -5
If you've had piano lessons it shouldn't be too hard. Use 64 frames for each measure. Then choose your starting pitch for C, and put everything in relation to that. If you understand that C flat is the same as B and B sharp is the same as C. And you basic chromatic scale you should be ok.
A good starting pitch for C is 0, this also puts it at 12 and -12 for C in other octaves.
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Post by Doan the Nado on Feb 5, 2006 23:00:36 GMT -5
C is the most basic key. If you've ever sang "Do, Re, Mi...", you will recognize Do as C, Re as D, Mi as E, and so on... G is Sol, A is La, B is Ti, and C is Do again. So what does that mean? Using the basic notes (forgetting about sharps and flats), you can make some pretty good sounding music. The important thing is that there is a full step (a difference of 2 in RPGM2) between every letter, EXCEPT between E and F and between B and C (as Nash said). So let's follow Nash's suggestion of placing C on -12, 0, and 12:
C: -12 D: -10 E: -8 F: -7 G: -5 A: -3 B: -1 C: 0 D: 2 E: 4 F: 5 G: 7 A: 9 B: 11 C: 12
Using sound patterns of those numbers listed above will give you a nice sound. Combinations of Do-Mi-Sol-Do (C-E-G-C) sound nice together in harmony or sequence. Try some of those tips to experiment in song writing. Also, it may be a good idea to download some kind of piano program for your computer, so that you can write your song more easily there and then transfer it over to RPGM2.
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Post by Jugem on Feb 6, 2006 4:23:20 GMT -5
Keeping in mind that my knowledge of how to read music is very low That right there will be a bit of a stumbling block. It's the ability to read music and picture written music in my head that makes it easier for me to convert to rpgm2 scripts. And are you composing your own piece, or trying to convert an existing piece of music to rpgm2? If you're converting a piece, the first thing you should consider is the two octave limit for any instrument in rpgm2. Try and find the lowest and highest note, and see if each instrument part can fit in two octaves. Then have the lowest note = rpgm2 pitch -12 (or highest note = rpgm2 pitch +12), and do the rest relative to that. As far as wait frames go, the time signature and tempo are important here. Many pieces use common time (4/4). Each measure consists of four quarter notes. And if there's a tempo marking (ie. quarter note = 120), then that means 120 quarter notes per minute = 2 per second ==> 15 frames per quarter note. Or if you're listening to the music rather than reading sheet music, then figure out the length for the basic note in your head. After reading what I just typed, I realize that this might sound like jargled nonsense to you. Oh, and as for the tempo settings of each SFX, that's something you'll need to do by trial and error. But make sure you write down what tempo setting to use for each instrument for each note length. That way, once you figure it out once, you won't need to figure it out again.
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Post by The Smurf on Feb 6, 2006 6:46:58 GMT -5
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Post by NASH7777 on Feb 6, 2006 8:36:37 GMT -5
Ok I'll do one measure of this to help ya out. We'll call C-0 Well give quarter notes 16 (since it's easy to break down 16 being a perfect 4th root of 2) and it's in cut time so umm there will 64 waits/measure, this actually a little slow for cut time but for simplicity puproses on your half(and mine) we will pretend its 4/4. Therefor: C = 0, 12, -12 C# = 1, -11 D = 2, -10 Eb = 3, -9 E = 4, -8 F = 5, -7 F# = 6, -6 G = 7, -5 Ab = 8, -4 A = 9, -3 Bb = 10, -2 B = 11, -1 C = 0, 12, -12 Whole-64 Half-32 Quarter-32 16th-8 32nd-4 Things that are dotted you add half their total time to. So a dotted quarter not would be 32+(half 32)16=48. triplest for quarters would go 5-6-5 for waiting Let's beigin The first number is the pitch, the second is the wait command. use the piano for more praqctical purposes. Note the song is written in B flat so we have two flats being B and E (#=sharp, b=flat, boxy sign=natural meaning ignore sharps for that measure on that note). We'll start on the second measure being the first is a pickup measure. 2;8 4;8 -1;8 1;8 2;16 -1;8 1;8 Notice the total of a measure (other than pickup and last measure possibly) will have a total wait count of your whole note value which is 64.
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Post by Jugem on Feb 7, 2006 3:10:36 GMT -5
Ok I'll do one measure of this to help ya out. We'll call C-0 Well give quarter notes 16 (since it's easy to break down 16 being a perfect 4th root of 2) and it's in cut time so umm there will 64 waits/measure, this actually a little slow for cut time but for simplicity puproses on your half(and mine) we will pretend its 4/4. Umm, how much musical knowledge do you have nash? (kidding -- for the most part) First of all, the time signature is 4/4. The 'C' stands for common time, not cut time. And 120 beats per minute is probably a bit on the quick side for a love song marked moderato. Also, gotta love how you denote some notes with a sharp and others with a flat in your list. Couldn't stick with one or the other, eh?
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Post by NASH7777 on Feb 7, 2006 8:26:02 GMT -5
Ok I'll do one measure of this to help ya out. We'll call C-0 Well give quarter notes 16 (since it's easy to break down 16 being a perfect 4th root of 2) and it's in cut time so umm there will 64 waits/measure, this actually a little slow for cut time but for simplicity puproses on your half(and mine) we will pretend its 4/4. Umm, how much musical knowledge do you have nash? (kidding -- for the most part) First of all, the time signature is 4/4. The 'C' stands for common time, not cut time. And 120 beats per minute is probably a bit on the quick side for a love song marked moderato. Also, gotta love how you denote some notes with a sharp and others with a flat in your list. Couldn't stick with one or the other, eh? Whoops, had the C had a line through it it woulda been cut time, I never see common time, they always right 4/4 so when my brain sees a C thing, it auto thinks cut time and I did type this in the morning while waking up lol (like this post as well). As for the list, I stole it from Smurf's post cause I didn't feel like writing it all out and IDK why he used some as sharps and others as flat, seems silly to me too. As far as my musical experience goes, I've been in band since 5th grade...but as a percussionist, was never taught much, our old director spent all his time on the instruments and just yelled at us percussionists when we did something wrong...considering he never taught us how to do it, we really weren't to blame. That last few years with a new teacher has been great. I've learded a lot, and have been taking piano lessons for half a year from her now. I've been learning fast and am on some adult course or something. I mostly just download tons of video game sheet music, she gets mad because I don't practice my lesson as much. But come'on what's cooler, Vivi's theme song or some queer waltz?
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Post by LunarMoon2 on Feb 16, 2006 16:46:49 GMT -5
Thank you, everyone. This has been a great help.
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Post by gangstahfolife on Feb 16, 2006 23:10:44 GMT -5
I got this whole music pitch thing down, being a musician myself. I can figure that out, but when I make two scripts and combine them, the timing always comes out different. All of the waiting times are the same. Maybe its the tempo setting? I actually composed a simple new song for my game today. I'll try it out and see whats wrong.
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Post by Jugem on Feb 17, 2006 4:53:25 GMT -5
Yes, it's probably the tempo setting. The tempo value for the SFX determines how long the sound effect lasts. The wait commands tell you how long before you start the next SFX command, not how long the previous SFX will last.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2006 9:02:37 GMT -5
Eh, don't worry, I can't read music for . I have developed my own way to right music though, basically like this: R = Rest # = some note #R##R###R for say is the start of 'Save the World'. Then I add this for note changes: B_BB_BBB_ #R##R###R Meaning every note in it is B. Pretty simple really. The difficulty is getting the # and R's right, since some rythms aren't so easy. After that, you simply translate it into RPGM2 scripts. B is ALWAYS pitch -10 and 2, and every # and R should have the same amount of F waited after it, like so: Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F (Rest) Wait 4F Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F (Rest) Wait 4F Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F Piano: pitch -10 Wait 4F (Rest) Wait 4F Then you check it by adding up the F and see what it comes to, so actually, I made a mistake on this one. It's no problem though, since I'm almost there. I'd just alter stuff/try it till I get what I have in my head in the game. I recall having trouble with this rythm too, but I got it right in no time. All you really need to do is be able to play some instrument, find some basic melody/rythm and build on it. I've found the Guitar and Piano have the same tempo times, and the Bass, Ocarina, Flute, and Violin all have the same tempo times.
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