Let's change the menu music

Let's change the menu music

Postby scootergrisen » 23 Sep 2021, 15:10

Everytime STK is launched the same music (menutheme.ogg) is played.
Now i'm tired of hearing the same music all the time.

I don't want to get rid of music in the game while driving so i don't want to disable music.
But the same music for the menus has gotten old now.

So i want to suggest some kind of change.
Perhaps on the first screen when the games starts the user will have the option to change and mute the music with a tiny music player (prev, play, stop, next buttons)
And the music the user selects will be remembered in the future untill the user selects something else.

In the game OutRun you can select music.
So perhaps a tiny music player like that on the first menu screen.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Wuzzy » 24 Sep 2021, 11:18

I never had an issue with the main menu and still did not get tired of it at all. So I guess this is hugely subjective …
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Heuchi1 » 26 Sep 2021, 14:46

Wuzzy {l Wrote}:I never had an issue with the main menu and still did not get tired of it at all. So I guess this is hugely subjective …

Same here. However, I did reduce the volume of the main menu music.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby mrkubax10 » 27 Sep 2021, 17:07

I think that menu music is fine
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby George Calibur » 29 Sep 2021, 13:11

If ya don't like it, you can change it.
But, still I am also fine with it.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Heuchi1 » 03 Oct 2021, 08:56

For a quick (and dirty) solution, to not have music in the menus, you could do this:

In your STK installation find file "main_theme.music"
Add
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
       gain     = "0.0"

and although it's still played, you won't hear anything.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Oliver » 14 Dec 2021, 19:36

For me personally, the current menu-theme music is interesting and inventive, but lacks the speed and excitement of the actual game play.

Therefore I created an enhanced menu-theme for Supertuxcart, staying true to its original melody.
One goal is to make this piece also an open source collaborative effort, using the open source music notation software MuseScore.

This Music-Rescore:

  • is specifically intended for Supertuxcart.
  • is based on the Supertuxcart-Menu-Theme by Claude Werner, giving him credit, incorporating his efforts and expanding on his idea.
  • is a work in progress bringing more of a cartoon-style, speed (crack-style) and a touch of epicness to the table.
  • is loopable
  • is intentionally produced in an open format .mscz with the open source software MuseScore, so others may refine it aswell, If it would be to be accepted.
  • is intentionally, for development and preview purposes, currently mixed down without enhancing effects (delay/reverb) as a flat and dry mp3 (encapsulated in mp4 for uploadability), to convey the actual state of the arrangement.

If the developers and the community accept this piece as an enhancement, I would continue to refine it and produce and mix it in studio quality.
Furthermore, it shall be open for others to refine and would be subsequently remixed twice a year, if an update or an enhancement has been made in the .mscz file.

The file attached is a dry export from MuseScore without any effects (pure plugins), of the piece in its current state:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OliverBurkardt/supertux_music/main/Title_enhancedV13.76.mp3

Please give your feedback, if this piece and a future open-source collaborative writing style, as with open-source code, would be an improvement or of interest.

Kind Regards
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby eltomito » 15 Dec 2021, 00:30

Hi!

I really love the current main menu music. I even have a sort of a Pavlov reflex to it - as soon as the guitar riff starts, I feel good and I'm thinking "racing! racing!". Please, keep the current tune. It's fantastic. I think that if somebody played it with more real-rock-band-sounding instruments, it would be a totally epic song on par with the classics of The Rolling Stones, Metallica, etc. Except as it is, it uses sort of cutsy sounds that are more appropriate for the silly mood of STK. But still, it's friggin' epic. Just my 2 cents, of course :)
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Heuchi1 » 16 Dec 2021, 15:42

Hi Oliver,

I really enjoyed listening to your track. I do like your harmonies and the little contrapuntal things you did. I think, however, the form is quite difficult to understand.

At the very beginning: starting with the modulation back to F major seemed a bit of a shock to me. I'd prefer an introduction that leads to the main theme in a less complicated / surprising way.

I like the first half where you quote the main melody in different keys with different additional motives. The preparation of the first E major entrance of the main theme (starting around 0:42) is nice. However, when it comes back similarly (but harmonically simplified) before the second E major entrance (starting around 1:45) it feels a bit lengthy to me.

So, around 1:20 I kind of lose track of what's going on. There's an interesting change in texture, but it's immediately being abandoned again. What follows could maybe be described as a little "development section", which seems a bit much in this quite short piece.

Overall I'm afraid, the piece might be considered too complex by many players. Coming from a classical background myself, I enjoy complex music, but I'd have appreciated some more relaxed and calm moments, especially in the second half. BTW, having this high energy level, the music seems more suited for an actual race track to me than as a menu music.

Finally I want to repeat, that I really like a lot of what you did in the track and that I think STK music could benefit a lot from your skills and creativity.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Oliver » 16 Dec 2021, 17:58

Hi Heuchi1,

I now also uploaded the MuseScore File up on Github, for anyone who may continue editing.

One challenge was to get the theme up to double time without speeding up the motif itself. So the actual motif of Claude Werner is more or less the same tempo as the original, except for the accompaniment.

Around 1:20 the main theme is still as is, until 1:24. From there the Variation of the "B" part takes over, also found in 00:43.

I have a version from 1:45 which has a more interesting harmonic progression (switching to E-Minor and progressing diatonically to the Dominant), with at least two harmonic changes per measure, but it reduced the "speed" and made it feel more complex, taking away the lead up to the last variation of the theme. In this bridge/lead up I took a fragment of the motiv (dottet.eight + sixteenth) and let it "dance" in the woodwinds, if that makes sense.

The 16th upbeat at the beginning is due to looping considerations. Normally the piece could start on a downbeat, but I am unsure if the sixteenth-loop-around would loop in time. That is why I put the upbeat on the beginning.

I came to this sort of Style also trying to keep true to the guidelines for music on the main website:
Stylistically, music in SuperTuxKart should be cartoony and bouncy. While the game does have a positive and light-hearted mood, try to avoid making music that is too neutral and gentle - there is still space for a few intense or aggressive moments, as long as the cartoony vibe is maintained. For the most part, focus on melody and harmonic progression, rather than making music that is purely rhythm-based or is too ambient.


Without judging its quality, there was a Supertuxcart theme before Claude Werners theme that disappeared. So to break this circle of replacement of ideas, my approach was to see, if an expansion could be possible. For me the current menu motif is a sort of improvisation over blues scale with a vamp accompaniment, which is challenging to harmonize more explicitly in its style, at least for me it is. Melodically, for me, it actually describes a melodic outline consisting of fragments heard from simultaneous playing voices. Re-imagining these is a task i reached a limit on.

So consider this proposed piece more of as a study, if a thematic expansion would be possible. Anyone who might also want to expand on this is welcome to do so: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/supertux_music

For menu music I considered it like a cartoon on TV generally blabbering in the background. But I also know a lot of modern game menus resort to an unobtrusive background soundscape.

My personal style is a different one, finding more resemblance in the calm parts of this proposed piece.

Thank you for the feedback. I will now take a break from this piece and wish you all happy editing, if you wish to do so.

Kind Regards
Oliver
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby Oliver » 29 Dec 2021, 03:48

P.S.

Now there are two versions:
the one mentioned above, for open editing: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/supertux_music
and
a version in the more "traditional" style: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/super ... hanced.ogg

Cheers
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby eltomito » 30 Dec 2021, 23:10

Oliver {l Wrote}:and a version in the more "traditional" style: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/super ... hanced.ogg


I love this one. It's really cool and it actually made me laugh. I'd still hate to see the current main theme go but I'd like to see this one appear somewhere in the game. It's especially good when you know the "regular" main theme and see how this one makes sort of fun of it and makes it bigger at the same time.
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Re: Let's change the menu music

Postby QwertyChouskie » 02 Mar 2022, 03:18

Oliver {l Wrote}:P.S.

Now there are two versions:
the one mentioned above, for open editing: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/supertux_music
and
a version in the more "traditional" style: https://github.com/OliverBurkardt/super ... hanced.ogg

Cheers


I really like the second one, I think it may be perfect for the credits sequence (which badly needs a revamp). Just wanted to confirm licensing though, the original menu theme is CC-BY-SA 3.0, so any remixes should preferably be released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or 4.0 (updated version of the license).
Contributor to/fan of STK (Upstreamed Cartoon theme, numerous random big fixes/tweaks)
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