For those of you who can’t make music

but can run Python, here’s a little something for you. It might be a bit too cheesy for your game, unfortunately… if you want to you can try modifying it to use a minor scale. Also, you’ll need some samples, and a tracker to put the samples in.

Suddenly, your game has a somewhat full sounding soundtrack with a bunch of randochords shoved in.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Here’s a version which does minor scales every now and then and generates its own (not very good) samples.

EDIT 2 (Dec 2011!): The links are a bit dead, so try this: http://gm.64pixels.org/stuff/atrk-c-edit.py.txt – this edit was because ExciteMike linked to here. I should probably consider a new version of this thing, most likely from scratch again. Also have some samples.

Comments

hdon
15. Dec 2010 · 02:22 UTC
I’ve been messing around for a few days in MilkyTracker just so I have ideas for the compo. I will check your tool out if for no other reason than curiosity :)
xhunterko
15. Dec 2010 · 03:21 UTC
Too bad I can’t use python. Sigh.
RunnerPack
15. Dec 2010 · 04:26 UTC
It doesn’t seem to be making usable songs for me. Are these not standard Impulse Tracker files? I’m using Python 2.6 in WinXP, and testing songs in Winamp, OpenMPT, and ChibiTracker. I either get a repeating “beep” or just silence.
RunnerPack
15. Dec 2010 · 05:27 UTC
Okay, I put in some samples, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s looping after a couple of notes in the first pattern; sometimes it loops on the second or third tick before any notes play at all. Could you point out where it chooses the effect so I can just prevent it from putting in loops and pattern breaks entirely?
Billy Wenge-Murphy
15. Dec 2010 · 05:05 UTC
I opened in Milkytracker and I don’t see any pattern data at all in the resulting file. Do I have to pass parameters of some sort?
GreaseMonkey
15. Dec 2010 · 05:11 UTC
Also you might want to try using a different tracker.
Billy Wenge-Murphy
15. Dec 2010 · 06:57 UTC
I like the edit. Much easier for the lazy when it puts the samples in for you 😉 The tracks sound great.

I’ll have to do a few dozen to see how much variation there is, but I’m really impressed! Definitely gonna use this for my entry as I have NO musical aptitude, lol
elbowroom
29. Dec 2010 · 16:50 UTC
It keeps making cool music!

How can I customize the output?
GreaseMonkey
30. Dec 2010 · 21:06 UTC
Alternatively, try changing the base speed in the .py file.

Look for this line:

fp.write(struct.pack(“<BBBBBB",128,48,4,125,128,0))
06. Jan 2011 · 23:42 UTC
How would you convert the .it files to .mid? I want to use this with Game Maker, but… it doesn’t support .it music files… D:
Peter Cooper
14. Dec 2011 · 04:45 UTC
For anyone who’s wondering, VLC (open source video and audio player) will play these files. And convert them to MP3, etc :-) (To convert to MP3, use the Streaming/Export wizard, transcode audio to MP3, encapsulate as RAW, then rename file to .mp3 when done.)
intripoon
23. Apr 2012 · 11:30 UTC
Could somebody please explain how to use this? I tried running it from a cmd prompt but I only get an error message:
Helco
01. Aug 2012 · 11:19 UTC
The source says the application stands under GPL, but which license do the music files generated with this application have?