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I have several different music ideas for my game BGMs, but I do not have the musical skills nor the equipment to make them. The most I can do is beat-box them or make a drum beat (had I a drum). Is there a program or some other way to make my music real?

For instance, I've recently been trying GarageBand's Musical Keyboard to create the music but they don't have the exact beats I'm looking for, like a particular tap of a drum for example.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ -1 not related to game programming at all \$\endgroup\$
    – Maik Semder
    Jul 6, 2011 at 20:41
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    \$\begingroup\$ @MaikSemder I could have sworn making the music for your game would fall under game development \$\endgroup\$
    – Jonathan
    Jul 6, 2011 at 20:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ @MaikSemder That does not matter. This is the Game Development Stack Exchange, it should realistically cover all the practices of Game Development. Not just programming. \$\endgroup\$
    – AttackingHobo
    Jul 6, 2011 at 20:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ Actually I think a better place would be music.stackexchange.com \$\endgroup\$
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Jul 6, 2011 at 22:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ Making the music does fall under game development. Game Developers, especially indie developers who are forced to wear many hats, may have some advice that could be particularly helpful to other game developers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Jul 7, 2011 at 18:34

4 Answers 4

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For creating your music, the first thing I am going to recommend is of course FL Studio. I mean, it's really nice, and as flexible as you would need it to be. It comes pre-loaded with all kinds of sample instruments and getting more is as simple as loading a VST.

Now to answer the broader question here. "I have an idea for music, but I don't know how to make it happen" there is a growing market with a (currently limited, but growing) selection of tools.

First off UJAM. It's insanely fun to play with, and with the proper work it can make some really decent tracks. It's as simple to use as singing or humming the tune that you want. From there you can convert it into a variety of instruments* and use a number of (last I check) growing effects to mix and 'master' the track.

Then, if you have one, I recommend looking at Garage Band on the iPad. While not as full featured as it's sibling. It definitely makes creating music quickly a priority. It has a variety of smart instruments that can be used to quickly put together a track with limited effort. And if you check the link, it has drum kit's built in that just might solve your current issue (I was able to get rim shots out of it, and I think there is minor tonal differences when you strike in different locations).

There are no doubt more, but those three together let me put together all of my proto-music for all the prototypes that I work on.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ * seriously. I've put together guitar tracks and piano tracks that are far more technically complicated than what I am currently capable of. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Jul 7, 2011 at 18:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ UJAM and FL Studio seem to be the best for the job from what I have been seeing. I've already made an account and tinkered with UJAM already. I'm loving it so far. I'm going to try out FL Studio soon. Hopefully it ends up being better than UJAM. UJAM can get a bit annoying since its a website-application. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jonathan
    Jul 8, 2011 at 1:16
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I am no music guy. But, have you heard of FL Studio & its free alternate LMMS - Linux MultiMedia Studio

Sorry, dont know much about it. Its better if you talk to musician.

You can give it a try here http://music.stackexchange.com

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I think you need something like Ableton Live, it's very easy to get started with and it comes with a massive supply of loops, instruments and effects.

www.ableton.com

I'd say https://video.stackexchange.com/ is a better place to post this question. Also, there are multitudes of sample packs available, you can utalise these in conjunction with a good sequencer such as Ableton, Logic, Cubase, Reaper, Fruity loops, or even garage band.

Google "sample packs" along with the genre your interested in, so something like classical strings, Jazz trumpets, hip-hop drums etc...

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    \$\begingroup\$ FYI - reaper is a free, fully featured music production suite. It's very impressive, but if you have the cash Ableton Live is still an awesome way to go for fast easy music production. Personally I use both Ableton Live and Logic Studio, with various plug-ins and sample packs. \$\endgroup\$
    – mal
    Jul 6, 2011 at 21:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Havn't used ableton. How it it comparing with FL Studio? \$\endgroup\$
    – Quazi Irfan
    Jul 6, 2011 at 21:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ The beauty of ableton is the session view IMO. Add a number of channels, drag and drop audio loops, MIDI patterns (with associated AU/VST's) straight into the cells, then hit record and jam with them kind of like an MPC if you've ever used one of those. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. check it on youtube, or download the demo. I use it for live performance, just hack up all my multi-track audio into loops of various sizes, then remix them live on stage, great fun! It manipulates Audio like its MIDI, in real time. \$\endgroup\$
    – mal
    Jul 6, 2011 at 22:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ Seems like its focused towards real time stuff. \$\endgroup\$
    – Quazi Irfan
    Jul 6, 2011 at 22:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ This is old, but I still find it impressive: youtube.com/watch?v=HfBh3lZZi8Q that's one half of it, it has a whole arrange section too. I use it for live stuff mostly \$\endgroup\$
    – mal
    Jul 6, 2011 at 22:28
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The world needs a game with beatbox music as a backing track, make it! (I made my sound effects orally to get started in development faster.)

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