Classical music: the majesty of old games partially lost in ED?

[Quddus]

Ok

1) this may only just be specific to me and my memories
2) the sound of ED is AMAZAING
3) the music of ED is pretty good tron-esque stuff, which is what I love normally
4) the game ED is still great and I love it

BUT

there was just something about the old games I played... something that bathed my mind in another world... celebrated the sheer majesty of space, of new planets, new systems... and gave me a feeling of absolute awe, and that was the classical music that was employed. I was never into classical and even now in my older age still don't listen to it, and on the surface it does seem inappropriate for a futuristic game but I think that's why it worked *so* well... because it is timeless music and space is itself timeless, eternal, majestic, grand. It wasn't just another shoot'em up that happened to be in space with futuristic space music, it was something more grand than that. Urgh, I just cant' explain it, and maybe it was just a personal memory thing, but I really loved how the classical music worked and whilst I love the sound and like the music used now I find that for me it's really missing that little something that it had before. Just wondered if anyone else felt this?

 

[Huita]

Try using docking computer. This might seem to be offtopic, but seriously, try it.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Licenses for good classical recordings are not cheap

Most of the stuff is also strongly structured with its own dramaturgy and tension arches, which makes it hard to fit smoothly into any "open" gameplay that can't be timed to the music.

George Oldziey did amazing orchestral arrangements (mostly not played by orchestra first for technical and later for financial reasons, sadly) for the Wing Commander games which had a number of interlocking snippets so the game could segue between moods as players went through patrols, fighting, killed enemies, …, but I'm not sure something like that could reasonably be done to today's standards. If anyone wants to try, I'll be all ears though.

 

[Quddus]

Huita - I've checked some youtube clips and yes that's quite cool. I won't be using one though as I've never had an issue with docking.

Shadowdancer - yeah thanks I guessed there would be an issue with licenses with recordings but I thought before it was all MIDI/computer generated? I can't remember. Yes, as a musician, I also see how it'd be hard to fit it into the already excellent structure.

I just feel that for example beforehand when I was waiting a minute or two to close in on the planet I was rather impressed by the classical, whereas now whilst I am a fan of the music I don't get that same sense of magnificent awe... it certainly does have an atmosphere though which works well, and as a writer of electronica (and a fan of the daft punk tron stuff) do like what's been done with ED, especially for example the opening music. I suppose it's more on the sort of dark and empty side at the moment rather than grand and magnificent. I guess my problem is more one of nostalgia than anything else...

 

[Guffnuts]

Turn off in-game music and play Holst in the background instead.

....and now im reminiscing about the title sequence to the game "Epic".

 

[StayFrosty]

Shadowdancer - yeah thanks I guessed there would be an issue with licenses with recordings but I thought before it was all MIDI/computer generated? I can't remember. Yes, as a musician, I also see how it'd be hard to fit it into the already excellent structure.

In old games, yes, there was MIDI music. After all, there's no license problem with the pieces themselves, most of classical music is now in the public domain as their authors are long dead. But the recordings by musicians that are well alive, aren't.

So yes, they could add MIDI music to the game, but it would sound quite bad today, because standard MIDI instruments themselves sound bad. Another possibility would be to use virtual instruments, but those virtual instruments come with their own licenses too, and only really expensive ones are good enough: to give you an idea, Jeremy Soule, known for Elder Scrolls and Guild Wars game music among others, made most of it with virtual instruments only. But then his suite of tools costs quite a fortune.

 

[Moriarte]

Yes, there is a reason Kubrick used classical pieces in his Space Odyssey. Never gets old.

 

[Werppa]

Yeah I'd most likely switch off the music if it was classical but each to their own I guess.

 

[Arthur_two_sheds_Jackson]

Along with Holst and plenty of Bach's toccata and fugue turned up loud I think I will also be adding Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene to my playlist

 

[tagos]

Licenses for good classical recordings are not cheap

Actually they're not just cheap, they are free. There's old and so out of copyright, high quality recordings by top notch performers of just about everything.

 

[Huita]

Huita - I've checked some youtube clips and yes that's quite cool. I won't be using one though as I've never had an issue with docking.

Neither did i, but i still end up using it from time to time because trading is boring and game can be played afk anyway, so being afk while docking is a plus. And there's music, too!

 

[Junka]

concerning the copyright-question:
Copyright for recordings ends 70 years after the death of the artist. This rules out most of the recordings of classical music. With 2001 compositions, only the waltzes are public domain (not the recordings, they are still copyrighted, but the score itself), the pieces from Richard Strauss (Also sprach Zaratustrah) still have copyright (he is not dead long enough), and the Lux Aeterna etc. by Ligeti were composed only few years before the making of 2001 and Ligeti just died some years ago - so there the copyright ist there for decades to come...

concerning classical music in elite: I love it too, muted the original game music (I like it, but finally wanted some different music) and run winamp in the background with my own music (right now its Mendelssohns "Elias").

regards,

Junka

 

[Defacto]

If we ever get the orbital cities back, ''The great gate of Kiev'' needs to play when we emerge from supercruise at one of those!
It worked pretty well in FE2, so I don't see why classic music can't be adapted for ED too.

 

[Perjoss]

I have a 14 song classical playlist setup with voice attack, so i can easily play the right track for the right situation. As mentioned before though its not that easy to find good classical music that fits a combat situation as the tempo and volume usually changes quite a lot.

On the other hand finding tracks for general space travel and exploration is much easier as there is plenty of classical music that does not have very loud epic sections that would probably sound a bit out of place if you were just travelling from A to B. Dont have my list handy right now but just have a listen to some of the more well known classic piano compositions.

 

[trumpet]

I agree with this and have made this suggestion myself before. One of the classics popping up when you jump to a new system your ships never been too would have been cool.

Might be a bit too late now

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

The funny thing is, when you start playing classical music with ED, you actually start to properly feel you're playing an Elite game. Odd how music can have such a dramatic effect, but it does.

 

[Ben Ryder]

I miss the umph and majesty of the old music too.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Another possibility would be to use virtual instruments, but those virtual instruments come with their own licenses too, and only really expensive ones are good enough

Not to mention that rendering a full score in realtime would markedly increase system requirements.

 

[Acier]

I simply run Pandora off my tablet and change channels to whatever fits my mood. Trading = 90's Alternative. Combat = Metalica. Exploring = True Classical or if I'm feeling sleepy, I amp it up with some Lindsey Stirling.

 

[Quddus]

Good ideas guys, maybe I'll kill the music and then just run classical in the background. Would be nice if there was the option in-game, but I appreciate there are bigger fish to fry!