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Song Seed - Dynamic Music Composer

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by x70x, Aug 19, 2014.

  1. x70x

    x70x

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2011
    Posts:
    49


    Song Seed: Dynamic Music Composer is a plugin designed to help game creators simplify the implementation of a dynamic soundtrack. There are several audio systems available on the Asset Store, but none that are specifically geared towards creating a dynamic soundtrack that maintains the time signature and beat of your music. Doing this with a custom solution can result in a gap between loops when attempting to switch at the looping point. Song Seed hides this gap with a precisely timed and imperceptible micro-crossfade.

    Here are some of the features you can expect when the system is available on the Asset Store:
    • Seamless transitions between looping audio clips
    • Gap masking with transition fading between loops
    • Queue new loops or play them immediately
    • Intro, Bridge, and Outro options
    • Simple volume controls across queued clips
    • Pause, Resume, and Stop while maintaining queue
    • Included simple "drag-and-drop" scripts for easy implementation
    • All functions available in code with full source access
    • Load and Unload audio clips at runtime from the Resources folder
    Here is a short video that demonstrates the foundation of the Song Seed system, the seamless loop transition:


    In another video we go into more detail and demonstrate many features in a First-Person character scene:


    We also have plans to add some features possibly after our initial release:
    • Switching of Loops on specific beats or arbitrary points (instead of just at the end of a clip)
    • Playmaker Actions
    • Triggering external events via music timing
    Random Seed Games is developing this plugin for use in our own game, Lacuna Passage, but we think that others could really benefit by having access to the same tools. If you have suggestions for how we could improve or add to Song Seed please let us know!
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2015
  2. x70x

    x70x

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2011
    Posts:
    49
    I have just completed our Universal Trigger script that will allow users to take advantage of all the Song Seed functions without having to use code. This is how the Universal Trigger looks in the inspector when applied to any game object:


    You can utilize almost any built in Unity trigger as well as most user inputs:


    One of the most common triggers will likely be the OnCollisionEnter and OnTriggerEnter which have special settings for validating what objects may have collided:


    Any trigger can be used to call any of our Song Seed functions:


    Every function also has a quick explanation of its settings:


    For some functions that affect all Music Managers in the scene you do not have to assign any specific one:


    We will be using this Universal Trigger to create our example scenes for the final package. If you have suggestions or questions about these scripts or the plugin in general please let us know! Thanks.
     
  3. Kurt-Dekker

    Kurt-Dekker

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2013
    Posts:
    38,517
    Hey this sounds pretty neat... I think this would be very useful. Dynamic music can really add a lot to the pacing and mood of a game (like Far Cry 2, Skyrim, Oblivion, etc., etc.,).
     
  4. Kivak

    Kivak

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2013
    Posts:
    140
    Looks really awesome! Definitely interested for my game...
     
  5. rchassereau

    rchassereau

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2012
    Posts:
    10
    I would love to try this out and assist with testing, this would be great for me!
     
  6. x70x

    x70x

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2011
    Posts:
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    Awesome. We should have a version available for testing in the coming weeks. Email me at contact[at]randomseedgames[dot]com and I will get back to you.
     
  7. x70x

    x70x

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2011
    Posts:
    49
    We just uploaded a new video explanation of some of the major features of Song Seed. I've added it to the original post, but here it is also:



    We are still looking for Beta testers and should have a working version ready in a couple weeks... contact[at]randomseedgames[dot]com :)
     
  8. x70x

    x70x

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2011
    Posts:
    49
    Today we finally sent out a beta test package to a few users that have contacted us via email. If you are still interested in testing Song Seed please email me at contact[at]randomseedgames[dot]com. Cheers :)