KSP2 Music and Sounds Suggestion Thread

[LHACK4142]

Now, I know music is not exactly the hottest, most actively discussed aspect of KSP2, but I find it one of the biggest factors in how enjoyable a game is, and we seem to have a fair number of musicians on here. So, I made this thread!

My suggestion (or rather entreaty) is PLEASE PLEASE perform the music live! There are many excellent programs for converting notes into sound, and some are good enough that they're pretty much indistinguishable from a real instrument or orchestra, as demonstrated by the piano in this song. Despite this, I find that pieces performed live (like this one) simply hit different. Furthermore, just knowing that the piece was recorded live makes the whole experience much more enjoyable for me.

So, what suggestions or ideas do you have?

Edited September 27, 2022 by LHACK4142
making it nicer to read

[jastrone]

idk about live music but im not a music expert or anything soooo...

i do really hope the music has the same style as ksp 1 but i dont want it to  be exactly the same, the ui defenetly seems more futuristic compared to ksp 1 wich is like 1960s or something so it wouldnt suprise me if the music was a bit more futuristic. i do hope we get planet specific songs but i dont know if that is possible but atleast some songs that only play one some planets would be nice.

[shdwlrd]

I was thinking "another music thread?! Thought this is a settled matter." Asking about live recorded music, that's different. I tend to agree, music recorded live does offer some differences to composed music by mixing tracks. There's a life to the music (when preformed live) that's hard to replicate when created in a synthesizer only.

I can't see that happening though. Orchestras are expensive to hire. (Same goes for even a small group of musicians.) I would think that it's financially not theisible to take that route. I would love it if they did use live recorded music, but they most likely don't have the money to do so.

[pandaman]

Great idea, but unfortunately I doubt it will happen, apart from the composer playing a keyboard.

In the grand scheme of things I don’t think many of us would actually notice anyway, unless we were specifically told.

[LHACK4142]

So some googling suggests that hiring an orchestra for an event costs maybe $60,000. Doubling or even tripling because this is a recording for a game that gives $180,000. If KSP2 will cost $60, you only need 3000 more people to buy the game to make up for the costs. Considering the playerbase of KSP1 is at probably least a million (as r/kerbalspaceprogram's 1.5 million members would suggest), and that KSP is IMO very well suited for good music, it seems pretty plausible that Take-Two could get more profit from having a live-performed soundtrack.

[shdwlrd]

22 minutes ago, LHACK4142 said:

So some googling suggests that hiring an orchestra for an event costs maybe $60,000. Doubling or even tripling because this is a recording for a game that gives $180,000. If KSP2 will cost $60, you only need 3000 more people to buy the game to make up for the costs. Considering the playerbase of KSP1 is at probably least a million (as r/kerbalspaceprogram's 1.5 million members would suggest), and that KSP is IMO very well suited for good music, it seems pretty plausible that Take-Two could get more profit from having a live-performed soundtrack.

Does that include the learning of the new material and the group practice time. That has to be done before even doing the recording sessions? Even professional musicians need time to learn and practice the pieces that they preform.

[The Aziz]

And that doesn't include costs of writing said material. As in, man hours spent to make it.

[Bej Kerman]

1 hour ago, LHACK4142 said:

So some googling suggests that hiring an orchestra for an event costs maybe $60,000. Doubling or even tripling because this is a recording for a game that gives $180,000. If KSP2 will cost $60, you only need 3000 more people to buy the game to make up for the costs. Considering the playerbase of KSP1 is at probably least a million (as r/kerbalspaceprogram's 1.5 million members would suggest), and that KSP is IMO very well suited for good music, it seems pretty plausible that Take-Two could get more profit from having a live-performed soundtrack.

Forget the costs of a composer, the programmers building the game (and integrating the music), the logistics of keeping tabs on every staff member and pushing the game out by the time it is due to begin physical production...

[LHACK4142]

Just now, The Aziz said:

And that doesn't include costs of writing said material. As in, man hours spent to make it.

I think there's already music composed.  You could "just" transcribe it to sheet music. (I know, I know, not the easiest thing in the world)

 

Just now, Bej Kerman said:

Forget the costs of a composer, the programmers building the game (and integrating the music), the logistics of keeping tabs on every staff member and pushing the game out by the time it is due to begin physical production...

It shouldn't be a problem integrating live music, it's the same thing with a different file.

Although @shdwlrd makes a very good point about practice and rehearsal time. I'm not sure how that figures in the estimates I've found, as they may be for pieces that the orchestra members are already familiar with and therefore don't need to rehearse much.

Edited October 4, 2022 by LHACK4142
clarification

[Bej Kerman]

10 minutes ago, LHACK4142 said:

26 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

And that doesn't include costs of writing said material. As in, man hours spent to make it.

I think there's already music composed.  You could "just" transcribe it to sheet music. (I know, I know, not the easiest thing in the world)

"I think there's already music composed"

As in the team popped into work one day to find a piece has come into existence on its own? They hired a composer, the music didn't write itself. And if a piece of music did Boltzmann-brain itself into reality as a finished piece, the team without a composer likely wouldn't be qualified enough to transcribe it.

That's another thing. You compose music first, then make it into a finished piece. You only transcribe a piece that exists but does not have any readily available sheet music to go along with it.

That's all besides the point - the point is that assuming that KSP 2 only costs as much as an orchestra to make gravely oversimplifies things.

11 minutes ago, LHACK4142 said:

It shouldn't be a problem integrating live music, it's the same thing with a different file.

You need a programmer to tell the game when and how to play the file containing the music.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Bej Kerman

[LHACK4142]

Just now, Bej Kerman said:

"I think there's already music composed"

As in the team popped into work one day to find a piece has come into existence on its own? They hired a composer, the music didn't write itself. And if a piece of music did Boltzmann-brain itself into reality as a finished piece, the team without a composer likely wouldn't be qualified enough to transcribe it.

That's another thing. You compose music first, then make it into a finished piece. You only transcribe a piece that exists but does not have any readily available sheet music to go along with it.

That's all besides the point - the point is that assuming that KSP 2 only costs as much as an orchestra to make gravely oversimplifies things.

Basically what I'm saying is there's no need to separately pay for a composer. No, the music may not be composed yet, but it will be regardless of whether it gets played live or not. And the team does have a composer to transcribe it.

"assuming that KSP 2 only costs as much as an orchestra to make gravely oversimplifies things"? No, there's a misunderstanding. If KSP2 costs $x without a live soundtrack, let's say it'll cost $x+$m with a live soundtrack. Therefore, to pay for the live soundtrack, you'd need to sell enough copies to nullify $m, or $m/60 copies. I'm saying that it's not out of the question to sell $m/60 copies.

[Bej Kerman]

32 minutes ago, LHACK4142 said:

Basically what I'm saying is there's no need to separately pay for a composer. No, the music may not be composed yet, but it will be regardless of whether it gets played live or not. And the team does have a composer to transcribe it.

Transcribe what, exactly? There's nothing to transcribe until the composer has already composed a piece, and at that point there's no point in transcribing anything because the composer already has their sheet music.

35 minutes ago, LHACK4142 said:

"assuming that KSP 2 only costs as much as an orchestra to make gravely oversimplifies things"? No, there's a misunderstanding. If KSP2 costs $x without a live soundtrack, let's say it'll cost $x+$m with a live soundtrack. Therefore, to pay for the live soundtrack, you'd need to sell enough copies to nullify $m, or $m/60 copies. I'm saying that it's not out of the question to sell $m/60 copies.

The cost for Take Two to be able to afford the entire team's salaries over the years that the game has been developed will have cost more than hiring an orchestra to play a few pieces.

[t_v]

Okay, I think I see. Essentially, the cost difference between the composer making the track electronically and making it with live music is small enough that it would be easily covered by game sales. Did I get that right? If I did, then the problem is that it isn’t about the total game sales to cover it, but instead about additional game sales generated by the live music. I for one don’t think you could even make a difference of 0.1% in game sales by having live music, which you would need to cover the costs, and those are optimistic costs. It comes down to a few factors. 
 

First, the player base isn’t going to change on the music alone. You and I, and nearly every other person who buys KSP 2, won’t make their decision based on whether the music sounds live. The gameplay takes top priority, and then the visuals come second, and then the rest of the experience is a nice-to-have. Second, KSP isn’t one of those games that really benefits from live music. Titles like Elden Ring and Silk Song are trying to show off their polish and massive effort in all areas of the game, and if the music can be made more polished, it will be, especially since the authenticity of the music lends a lot to the experience. KSP, most indie games, and a lot of sci-fi big budget games use electronic music because it doesn’t really clash with the game in the same way as with hand-crafted fantasy worlds.
 

It would be great to have a 2001: Space Odyssey level orchestral feel to the space exploration, but I think not enough people care enough for it to happen. 

[Strawberry]

Honestly as long as there is more then 5 songs Ill be happy, if theres unique songs for each solar system Id be very happy, if each planet had a song then Id be extremely happy, and if rusk and rask both had there own pieces that complimented each other Id go supercritical.

[Superluminal Gremlin]

I want rask and rusk's theme to be palindromic

maybe rask and rusk's theme is palindromic to a really cold planet

i would be kinda cool