What if... music synched with the action?

[GenG]

I've been thinking about it. With all the stages changing between almost opposed scenes and moods (day and night, Summer and Winter, epic space battle to calm blue atmosphere, raged battle to emotional...), what if the music would seem "akward" as one single piece, covering such different situations. But Sakurai must've thought about this, he is a very careful man who pays a lot of respect to detail.

Quote from the old DOJO (from memory, not exact):
"And I want to change the feeling of the whole game through music, but you'll have to look forward to how I'll do that."

Maybe he was referring to the composers, which would indeed change the mood of the game with their own touches, but since the stages change, the music should change to match those changes. So I was thinking in giant medleys synched with the stage. And that would have an explanation in the short samples in the website.

Menu 1: Starts epic, but at the end becomes moody before fading out. Maybe the night comes?
Yoshi's Island: It's like salsa, hot rythm suitable for Summer, but not for the cold and dark Winter.
Ridley: Something happens in a Metroid stage? Like, lava raising or something like that?

I throw this idea out because I think music will have an even bigger role in Brawl than in the previous titles, since Sakurai seems to stress a lot on the "change is good" idea for Brawl.

 

[Keto]

Sounds good to me, I don't think it would be THAT hard for them to do it, as long as the music doesn't change drastically.

 

[whiterob]

Cool idea, sounds good to me.

 

[Green Shell]

That'd be interesting. It's sort of like the Mushroom Kingdom I(II) Finale music?
Only in this condition, based off of the stages changes...

Wouldn't it be weird if the music changed according to how intense the players were fighting? Now that'd be something.

 

[Fanewgie]

I could be speaking entirely wrong here, but:

From what I heard, the reason Twilight Princess (and I think Wind Waker?) was able to have such dynamically changing music was through the use of a MIDI soundtrack. This would be the way to go of course.. if it's not dynamic, it would easily be set off-synch through a simple pause unless they made music pause along with the game. This sounds fine and all, but I think TP kind of got bashed for using a MIDI soundtrack, even though I thought it was wonderful.

Now, the same dynamic effects could probably be accomplished without MIDI, that I don't know. I just know that that's why they went that route with TP. It might be doable with basic cross-fades, though that won't sound as good.

Regardless I think it would be a cool effect, if pulled off correctly.

 

[GenG]

I'm not talking about swapping different tracks (Twilight Princess uses interactive music), but one single tracks with many songs = A medley. Not like Mushroom Kingdoms' "time is running out" theme but more like... Icicle Mountain? Starts jazzy, and then changes into something more like christmas: Those are the changes I'm looking for, but in a bigger scale.

 

[HiddenTiger]

Eh... I dunno. It sounds like a cool enough idea, just so long as it doesn't lower the quality of the overall compositions. I mean, it sounds like a good idea in theory, but I'd rather have one beautiful composition play over the whole stage than several mediocre ones for different stage conditions.

 

[CBNJ]

I think it sounds great, but with what HiddenTiger said, if it ruins the quality or whatever of the piece, I don't think that they should do it.

 

[180OP]

If the actions/situations are repetitive too often, the music would perhaps also repeat over and over again making it very unenjoyable.

 

[CBNJ]

Oh wow, never thought about it that way, haha. Just have the same sound(s) playing over and over. Maybe it would just be a better idea to have a nice track playing over the course of the level.

 

[Pyroloserkid]

Hiddentiger, CBNJ, and 180 -
You guys raise amazing points...but what if not ALL of the stages change drastically? Drastically meaning MAJOR background and season changes? Then just one piece of music would suit the stage right...but what if you were on a flowery stage and the background was all sunny and the music had a gentle feel to it. Then all of a sudden the background went dark and gloomy and let's say...fire was shooting everywhere like the background of the stage was under attack - in that case, having one track play would be horrible.

 

[180OP]

Hiddentiger, CBNJ, and 180 -
You guys raise amazing points...but what if not ALL of the stages change drastically? Drastically meaning MAJOR background and season changes? Then just one piece of music would suit the stage right...but what if you were on a flowery stage and the background was all sunny and the music had a gentle feel to it. Then all of a sudden the background went dark and gloomy and let's say...fire was shooting everywhere like the background of the stage was under attack - in that case, having one track play would be horrible.

That would be very nice. It wouldn't make sense to change the physical appearance of the level and not complement it with the right music.

 

[Pyroloserkid]

That would be very nice. It wouldn't make sense to change the physical appearance of the level and not complement it with the right music.

Yeh it would be just terrible if everything just went hardcore but the music was still gentle and soft. But Sakurai isn't an idiot. Obviously he won't do that.

 

[Leobenmc]

Hmm, what about Wind Waker esque sounds - rather than changes of music?
You'd have your seasonal change in the song as the stage changes (i.e. a specific stage will always have its season changes occur at pre-determined intervals, so a song can easily be made to adapt to those intervals), but for every - say - Smash Attack released, a certain rhythm was thrown in the music? As in Wind Waker, where every sword stroke was accompanied by a Link squeal AND a sound addition?
heh... Just brainstorming people .... *runs from angry smashboards mob*

 

[GaryCXJk]

I could be speaking entirely wrong here, but:

From what I heard, the reason Twilight Princess (and I think Wind Waker?) was able to have such dynamically changing music was through the use of a MIDI soundtrack. This would be the way to go of course.. if it's not dynamic, it would easily be set off-synch through a simple pause unless they made music pause along with the game. This sounds fine and all, but I think TP kind of got bashed for using a MIDI soundtrack, even though I thought it was wonderful.

Now, the same dynamic effects could probably be accomplished without MIDI, that I don't know. I just know that that's why they went that route with TP. It might be doable with basic cross-fades, though that won't sound as good.

Regardless I think it would be a cool effect, if pulled off correctly.

Actually, the entire Metal Gear soundtrack consists of multiple audio tracks. Depending on the action and suspense, more instruments get added. At fast-paced moments, the music will use more techno-like instruments, but at moments where it's all about stealth, the very same music fades to the more classical instruments.

If you can manage to create the same music with the same length, the instruments at the exact same time, but just a very different mood, cross-fading wouldn't sound too awkward. It's like changing the audio channel for DVD movies, only more smooth.

 

[NukeA6]

That idea reminds me of the Final boss theme, Dancing Mad. (Final Fantasy 6). I guess it could work.

 

[Paranoid_Android]

Music changing to a set timer that controls the day-night cycles would be pretty easy to do. Music that changes because of things that happen randomly, or at varied times (people dying, stages being destroyed, whatever), would require MIDI sound to function, and we've already been told it's fully orchestral.

 

[Thino]

music would have to be synthetized like in zelda or banjo kazooie , not orchestrated

 

[GaryCXJk]

Music changing to a set timer that controls the day-night cycles would be pretty easy to do. Music that changes because of things that happen randomly, or at varied times (people dying, stages being destroyed, whatever), would require MIDI sound to function, and we've already been told it's fully orchestral.

Like I said, not true. You could have multiple audio tracks for each event, with the same length as the main music.

 

[Fawriel]

Check out the current update. It's aaaaaaaaaaaaaa MEDLEY!

Other than that, I have nothing to add. Music is one of the best thing in the universe, and if this idea is incorporated in Brawl, I shall be happy.

 

[gnosis]

I dunno. While this isn't what everyone's talking about, a few people have mentioned music that goes along with how intense the situation is.

But do you ever notice how silent the crowd is in really good matches in SSBM? They cheer so infrequently because advanced, even amazing, play is not deemed 'cool' play by the CPU; so if something as simple as that seems to go wrong, I'd imagine dynamic music not working out either. What I'm saying is, is that, based off of the crowd and the CPU's 'AI' in general, I don't trust its judgment of human players without some programming overhauls.

I'd also fear a downgrade in the overall quality of tracks just for the sack of some dynamicism.

But, music that changes according to fixed stage intensity changes though (like the Pleiades going from Corneria's seemingly peaceful atmosphere to the middle of those outer space dogfights), that's feasible and to an extent even obvious.

 

[Zodiac]

Speaking of music check the smash dojo for the best sample of music they've created yet.

 

[DainBramaged]

As long as the "Whismical Support Ghost" get's to have the Jaws music play in the backround, then I fully wupport this idea

But seriously, Music will not change depending on how intence the battle is, however it could easily be synched to what is going on with the actual stage........though, personally it dosn't really matter too much to me

 

[Dantarion]

Banjo-Kazooie wasn't MIDI, but it used samples of sounds instead of full music tracks. The same style samples were used to make the talking character noises.

Twlight Princess i'm not sure about, but it is possible to do it.