In the thrilling conclusion of our chat with Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin, Matt Ganucheau and I explore deep thoughts about the roles of interactivity and adaptivity in music and game design — then attempt to dance in giants Katamari Damacy hats. (Note the use of the word attempt — those things were more than a bit tricky to move in. Hilarity ensues.)

Prior to leading a dance dance Revolución, we talk a bit about the ways in which game design relate to gesture in musical interface and how musical scores could become non-linear. The gesture issue really goes well beyond games to the fundamental question of how to relate to music physically — and, in a way, awkwardly-dancing musicians may be a fitting metaphor. Or parable. Or something or other.

We do it all for you.

I really did find this a fascinating way to promote discussion, so if you’ve got suggestions for future broadcasts, I’d love to hear them. You can even think of new silly things for us / guests to do.

See also, related:
Troels Folmann on the boiled waterphone-style instrument, sound design inspiration
Troels on “micro-scoring” adaptive music

For part the first:
GDC: Music, Video Games, and Interactivity – Chat with Boing Boing Video

Matt Ganucheau and I got to sit down with Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing Video during the Game Developer Conference to discuss some of the potential for interactive music in games. Matt is a composer, sound designer, and educator, talking about how he’s encouraging his own students to think about adaptive music in new ways, combining Max/MSP and a Space Invaders clone built in the Unity Game Engine. (See our story from earlier this week.)

I talk a little about my sense that new tools could expand the range of possibilities in game music. Right now, the two major game engines are the AudioKinetic Wwise and Firelight fmod engines, each of which do have potential of their own – and continue adding features for more interactive sound scores. Each got some significant, flashy new features announced at GDC. But I was especially impressed by the use of Pure Data (Pd) in a custom implementation inside the game Spore. That allowed the compositional team to produce a truly generative musical score (led by legendary composer Brian Eno, with EA’s Kent Jolly and composer Aaron McLeran). I hope we see more of that in the future. Starting of students doing it themselves (with Max in this case) is not a bad way to start.

Boing Boing has more video of us they’ll be posting soon – including the embarrassing but diverting footage of us dancing around in Katamari costumes.

I’m new to this speaking live thing, but hope you enjoy. My favorite part was getting questions going. Livecasting is something we’ll try here soon.

A big thanks to Xeni and the talented Boing Boing TV crew for inviting us on and running a great show! And thanks to those of you who came on the chat rooms to talk to us – actually a lot of terrific questions and comments we weren’t able to address.

Music in Video Games, a conversation with Peter Kirn and Matt Ganucheau [Boing Boing, with lots of download options for YouTube, MP4, iTunes, etc.]

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Award-winning composer Troels Folmann has made a name as a video game composer on the likes of the Tomb Raider series, as well as espousing new ideas about adaptive music for games like his “micro-scoring” methodology. But speaking to a roomful of composers and sound designers at the recent Game Developer Conference, he turned to the topic of reinvention. Even having perfected signature sounds that keep him in demand on jobs like blockbuster feature trailer soundtracks, Troels challenged attendees to get out of their usual habits and comfort zones.

And that means torturing some instruments. No, really torturing them: breaking sticks, destroying drums, warping instruments, and boiling waterphones (putting the whole instrument on a stove).

Human beings, of course, shouldn’t be tortured – to get the best sound of them, you want to get them drunk. (I want the Drunken Eastern European Choir sample library, Troels!)

Speaking excitedly in run-on sentences that clipped one another – a bit like sample in and out points were set wrong – Troels revealed some of his latest sampling explorations and sonic secrets. It was, truly, one of the best talks I saw at GDC – and unquestionably the highest idea and inspiration – to – time ratio, even if you weren’t into sound. Here are some of the gems from that conversation, along with some of the lists of bizarrely-combined sampled instruments in recent compositions.

I was looking over my notes and wondering if I should polish them. But then, I realized that I had transcribed all the things Troels said that interested me. If I put them all in a jar, I could take any one idea out on a day when my musical reserves were dry and be inspired. So I’ll share them with you in exactly that form.

A real highlight for me at the Game Developer Conference was getting to hear Satoru Iwata deliver the keynote. Aside from being CEO of Nintendo as they have launched their most successful console ever, Iwata-san has left a sizable development legacy as a veteran of HAL Laboratory (Balloon Fight, Kirby). In the game community, I think the reception to his keynote was mixed – mostly, it introduced long-overdue storage solutions for Wiiware titles, along with some relatively minor game titles. But as a person interested in design and development – and what innovative interfaces could do for music and not just games – I found the rare insight into Nintendo’s development process inspiring.

The surprise: despite their enormous resources, Nintendo is moving to ever-smaller development teams. And they’re taking dance classes to work on their musical rhythm.