|
New Music Monday - Suite for AudioSurf
|
Some musicians write music that is intended to be experienced on 2 or 6 speakers. I wrote this suite to be experienced in AudioSurf.
AudioSurf is a videogame that generates race tracks based on music. You point the game to one of your music files, and it creates a playable race track that corresponds to the song. For busier sections, the track tends to slope downwards with more traffic. For calmer sections, the track tends upwards with less traffic.
I wrote the five pieces in this suite to generate specific experiences in AudioSurf. It starts off relatively tame, but by track 4, you will be racing downhill at blistering speeds.
|
|
The track for Horizon has one giant hill in the middle, but starts and ends gently.
Loading player...
|
|
|
Breakers is the calmest piece in the suite, consisting of one gentle upwards ride.
Loading player...
|
|
|
Dunes has two steep hills separated by gentle transitional sections.
Loading player...
|
|
|
Midnight is the most unforgiving track. It is a blistering race downhill from start to finish.
Loading player...
|
|
|
Sunrise is based on Bach's first Prelude. I fill it out with some ambient samples, and the final product is the bumpiest track in the bunch. It switches quickly between uphill and downhill sections.
Loading player...
|
I call the suite HPF Tide and I wrote it in the 10 days after I first got my hands on AudioSurf. It may be the first time that music has been explicitly written to generate the gameplay in a videogame. Even if it isn't the first, it was a fun, challenging experience that really stretched me as a composer.
It also gives me a rather odd title. I could simply call myself a composer, but I kind of prefer the more unique title 'AudioSurf Level Designer'!
UPDATE:
I should also note that all of the guitar in this suite was performed in Jam Sessions for the Nintendo DS.
UPDATE 2:
I just heard from Elizabeth Fitterer over at the AudioSurf team, and they may include the suite in an upcoming AudioSurf update. Radical++.
February 25, 2008
| |
|
lebeth at 2008-02-25 23:49:47team audiosurf
Thanks so much for this! I really enjoy it.
|
|
vogelap at 2008-02-26 07:04:31IRON CHEF fan
Thanks! Very cool!!!
|
|
Zelda Duck at 2008-02-26 11:11:12BADASS
Awesome work! We really need a community of -composers- level designers for audiosurf!
:D
|
|
Evan at 2008-02-26 11:30:13
That's a great idea, Zelda Duck. If you, or anyone else, writes something for AudioSurf, send me a link: evan (at) thisisnotalabel (dot) com
One problem with that is that it's tough to distinguish between music written for AudioSurf, and just music in general. That's part of the reason why I tried to make a lot of Surf-related references in the suite above. From the titles, to the samples used, to the actual contour in Dunes, I tried to saturate the music with beach images.
|
|
Patrick Alexander at 2008-02-26 22:06:10Plugged!
Here you go:
http://www.eegra.com/pages/show/title/26_02_2008_Speaking_of_Audiosurf___/
Hope it sends at least a handful of hits your way. Well done on being the first person to do this, and thanks! I'm very curious to see (hear, rather) all the variations on the same concept, that I expect will appear before too long.
|
|
Matt Burris at 2008-03-01 07:00:27Audiosurf Video
Just to let you know, I've posted a video of me playing Horizon on AudioSurfBoard:
http://audiosurfboard.com/2008/03/01/evan-x-merz-horizon/
Great job, I enjoy all 5 songs, they create fun tracks in Audiosurf.
|
|
evan at 2008-03-01 11:35:34Posted
Thanks for the video. I posted it in an update.
|
|
at 2008-03-15 20:36:20fedemacloiner
hola soy de argentina..este juego esta buenisimo...puedo ganarles a todos..
|
|
Frosty Stillwell at 2008-03-16 02:13:38cool
goos music guys! FAAAABulous
|
|
iusfiu at 2008-03-17 03:06:03kuyioerug
loihnvj ioujegkj oiieurtlkj n
|
|
at 2008-04-05 12:05:05Loved every second of it.
This is a random person saying Hello to you!
I could not have enjoyed music any better than your fantastic suite. Absolute favorite has to be "Sunrise" but all of them were fantastic.
I honestly do look forward to anything new you come up with. I know this is rather late, but it's things like this that make me want to yell "This is what Music is!"
Good day.
|
|