When it comes to game development, the two areas that I see discussed the most extensively are coding and/or engines, and artwork (pixel art etc.). But I don’t think I’ve ever come across a conversation in the wild about the audio side of things.
So I’m wondering, are there any recommended tools or software for use in game development specifically? Or is this something that is more or less up to the creator? I’m sure recording real instruments is more or less the same as recording anything else in the music industry, so I’m talking specifically about software for creating electronic music. Think retro style games. Which I’m guessing would be MIDI?
Which brings me to another question. I believe that MIDI makes use of something called ‘soundfonts’, which is basically the sound and personality of all of the instruments. How does this work out as far as licensing and shit goes? Do indie devs frequently make use of free soundfonts or is creating your own soundfont commonplace? Or am I getting ahead of myself here?
Basically, or TL;DR, are there any tutorials or guides floating around that suggest recommended software and perhaps offer more information in general on this side of game dev? Music theory is another story altogether, so that’s not what I’m asking here. I’m asking specifically about creating music in relation to game dev.
The same concepts for music production apply to game music and sound effects. The tools vary, and are largely dependent on preference. All DAWs (digital audio workstation) do the same basic thing, record and mix sounds, and it boils down to the sound engineer’s preference. Like there are different kinds of cars but they get you from point A to B all the same.
MIDI, like the other comment explained in depth, is just a standard communication protocol. For example, when I use my MIDI controller keyboard, the DAW records my keystrokes (what note I pressed, how hard and how fast and how long I pressed it, and if I wiggled my finger). But my keyboard doesn’t produce sound, it just sends all the keystroke data to the DAW, and I can choose whatever sound I want it to make using virtual software instruments/soundfonts or plug-ins. Compare that to traditional recording where you play an instrument (i.e. guitar) and you literally just record the sound it produces.
When making game sound effects, you can either literally just produce those sounds and record them with a microphone into your DAW (more authentic), or use virtual sounds controlled by MIDI (more flexible and sometimes cheaper but might not sound realistic depending on your sound engineering skills).
