Sound Styles

Instruments have their own unique sounds to themselves. While many cultures have made similar instruments, the way they sound is not the exact same. There are a lot of stringed instruments that one can strum with either a pic or with their own hands, but there are some that sound so different that they are iconic, like the Sitar or the Ukulele. They might have a similar sound to another instrument out there, but I've yet to hear it.

A lot of these instruments have been created over many years, over different eras. Up to and including this era...

Yes, yes, I know synths and stuff have existed for a long while, so everyone's heard of it. That's not why I bring this up though.

Styles in any kind of medium, whether it be written, heard, seen, or even experienced, has always existed. We're all different people, so we make things differently based off of our experiences.

Some writers are very snarky to the point where sincerity is a rarity. Some artists use colors in a unique way. People that draw characters can either make them look realistic, or go for a more cartoonish result. Certain movie makers use certain film techniques and film language to point certain things out to the audience without outright telling them what it is. Game designers can combine different ideas together to make a fun game, or they can opt to go for a story that immerses you into that world.

Music is the same way.

For the past while (and I've probably mentioned this in a previous post), I've wanted to have my own sound to make music with. A style. Something that can be recognizable as my own "instrument".

I've been using LMMS (Linux Multi-Media Software) to make music for a long while. Sure, I haven't posted any tracks of mine, but I make them. I like making themes for stuff, and I've been trying to get better at making music. For the most part, I feel like my most recent track is one of my best, but I have a small problem with it.

I use the preset instruments in LMMS's ZynAddSubFX folder. I change some of the knobs a bit to change the sound, and then I save it as a new preset that I can come back to. I have a few interesting sounding instruments in the folder I created for them. In fact, I have separate folders for some of them. They sound good, and they get the job done. This current track of mine has a somber mood, which was what I was going for, so they synergize with each other as well.

But I don't want to continuously use LMMS's own presets. I want my own sound.

To explain what I mean, lets talk about soundfonts. Soundfonts (file extension name is .sf2) are files that contain MIDI instruments, or at least something along those lines. Think of them similar to, well, a text font. It's in the name after all. Or, if you're an artist, think of them like a file containing different pens and brushes.

Soundfonts can contain many instruments. Each instrument uses at the very least one audio file, or sometimes more, to then apply it to different notes/keys on a piano roll.

Usually, if you want regular instruments, you need to have the audio file(s) play a single note. You tell a program that makes soundfonts what the note is, where to loop it (if you want to loop it), give it more notes in different octaves to have cleaner sounding notes in different areas on the keyboard (again, if you want to), and then you save it. You now have an instrument.

For a lot of percussion that aren't chromatic, some soundfonts usually have them in the same instrument as each other, so of course some different rules apply. Instead of using one note to fill out an entire piano roll, instead you choose different keys on the piano roll to play a different percussion beat. Kick on D3, Snare on F#3, Hihat on C4, etc. Playing a note on any other part of the keyboard doesn't make a single sound.

This allows for a great amount of creativity in making your own sounds and such. Think of the game Super Mario 64, for instance. It has such a recognizable sound, and that's partly due to the instruments (the other is that it's just a pretty cool soundtrack). The instrument that plays the starting melody in the credits theme, for instance, has a pretty unique sound, and so does the instrument playing the main melody in Bob-Omb Battlefield.

I want this kind of instrument setup, but that requires making a soundfont with the sounds I have in mind.

That should be easy, right? I mean, I did just list a simplified way to make a soundfont up there, so all I need to do is to just follow those instructions...

Well, that's not all you have to consider.

Audio files. They're important for the process of making a soundfont, otherwise there would be no sound.

Where does one acquire such a file? Well, there are two methods that I have found after doing an excessive amount of research for a month straight (exaggerated for comedic effect):

1. Find the files on the interwebs.
2. Record/make the sounds yourself, dumbass!

Believe it or not, both of these have their own set of problems and challenges to overcome.

Getting the files from the internet (i.e. from different people) requires dealing with the Creative Commons License, or anything similar. Basically, they are allowing you to use their sounds for any kind of use as long as you give credit to them (and maybe more, I'm not sure; some of the wording confuses me). Now that doesn't sound bad at all, and for the most part it's not. That's not what I'm having trouble with. It's more that you are only able to get sounds that others have made. If you're not editing the sounds, what you get is what you get, and if you have a specific sound in mind, too bad. You gotta wait until someone uploads that file in order to use it. I also believe that, for some samples (like those from CDs), you have to pay for them in order to use them. That's fair, but what if I don't want to spend that money there?

Creating sounds is different. You can either record yourself playing a note from one of your instruments (some people have done this with random objects making sounds where they live), or just design a sound (like, from scratch, with an oscillator). Recording the instruments require, well... the instruments on hand. Making it, on the other, requires knowledge of how to make sounds in the first place, which is apparently harder than it sounds. Now, for some software that lets you make these sounds, you need to pay for, and so far I have yet to see a sound maker that is simple and doesn't need to be bought.

Either way, it feels like either I need to figure some shit out, or spend some money on stuff to have access to more sounds.

At times, I wish I had the ability to do the things I want to do, but for now I need to be able to make do with what I've got access to.

Anyways, I'm just rambling about stuff I'm trying to do. Alongside my art skills, I want to improve my music as well. I want my songs to have a sound I can attribute to me and my works.

I'll see you next time.