gaming

Rockstar games has released this trailer for Beaterator, which will be made available for the PSP and through the PlayStation Network on September 29th, 2009:

Beaterator for PSP system and PlayStation Network puts a world-class mixer at your fingertips – enabling easy, powerful and innovative creation.

Featuring original music and a sound-kit which includes thousands of loops and sounds produced by Rockstar and multi-platinum producer and entertainer Timbaland exclusively for Beaterator.

Beaterator will be arriving on shelves on September 29th, 2009 in North America and on October 2nd, 2009 in Europe.

Nice to see gaming taking on electronic music.

via CrateKings

Last year, we brought you some great video of game creator Will Wright and Brian Eno on generative systems.

Here’s the whole enchilada – their Long Now discussion of Spore and generative music and gaming.

They touch on all sorts of topics, but it includes great discussions of generative processes and ambient music, fractals, compression in natural systems, parasites in spore and all sorts of other good stuff. (including the secret of amphetemine ambient music!) Read more…

GeeksDreamgirl has an interesting take on using Dungeons & Dragon dice to stimulate your musical creativity.

Here’s her take on two of the more important dice:

d8

The d8 is perfect for learning scale degrees and practicing sight-singing.

Your first step is to grab a piece of staff paper and write out the scale you’re going to sight-sing in, numbering your scale degrees:

1. do
2. re
3. mi
4. fa
5. so
6. la
7. ti
8. do (upper)

Now, throw your d8 several times, writing down the resulting notes on the paper. You can start on do if you want. Once you’ve gotten a line of notes, sing it! Add rhythms or alternate octaves if you want to add a challenge.

d12

The d12 is Schoenberg’s dream die. Music majors, rejoice! Now the dice gods can determine your tone row for you.

The d12 is also excellent for all you wind players who have to do scale competencies in order to pass band. Pair it with the d4 for maximum torture… I mean, practice value.

1. C
2. C#/Db
3. D
4. D#/Eb
5. E
6. F
7. F#/Gb
8. G
9. G#/Ab
10. A
11. A#/Bb
12. B

Roll for your key!

Aleatoricism may have had its heyday in the 60’s, but it’s still an important tool for many electronic musicians. I like the idea of bringing more ideas from gaming into electronic music.

Image: Hugh Nelson