itch.io

Hello,

Sorry, this message kinda duplicates the previous one. I thought it would be interesting to give a big picture about instructions and atmospheres.

Here's what it would be nice to have to be able to create beautiful ambiences (I'm sure many of these elements can be reused for live mixes):

1. Several instructions should be able to stack on top of each other. This would make it possible to compose moods on the fly (example: office building + people chattering + random thriller music).
For the moment, launching an instruction stops the previous one.

2. An instruction must be able to play several types of sound:

1. A sound that plays once and then stops <- implemented
   
2. A sound that plays once and then stops, but with a fixed or random delay (between min and max)  <- implemented
   
3. A sound that loops without delay <- implemented
   
4. A sound that loops, but with a fixed or random delay between each loop (between min and max) <- implemented, but a nested instruction is necessary

3. The sounds in an instruction must be playable:

1. Sequentially  <- implemented, but nested instructions don't loop
   
2. Simultaneously  <- implemented, but nested instructions don't loop
   
3. Randomly <- implemented, but nested instructions don't loop

4. An instruction must be able to read another nested instruction:

1. With or without delay  <- implemented
   
2. Looping or not

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Here's an example of what can be achieved with these features:

I want to create an office atmosphere. I know in advance that I need two separate instructions:

1. An instruction for the ambience itself
   
2. An instruction that adds atmosphere and plot elements when needed.

1. Office ambient (all elements of the instruction are played simultaneously):

1. A sound that plays a typical empty office noise (white noise, fans, ringing telephones, etc.). Looping without delay.
   
2. Several printer and chair sounds played randomly and with a random delay between each track to add substance to the ambience.
   
3. A bell sound followed by an announcement played randomly and with a random delay. Note that this bell sound can be played at the same time as the rest of the other sounds, which is why it is not included in 2.
   
4. Road traffic sounds in the background for added realism. As for 2: randomly and with a random delay.

2. Atmosphere:

1. A continuous sound loop to add tension
   
2. Random sounds played with a random delay to add plot elements

At first, the office atmosphere is played. Then, as the scene becomes tense, atmosphere is added on top.

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Not mentioning other SoundShow capabilities that are awesome. Like the fact that instructions can hold before going to the next step. Not really mandatory for ambients and atmos, but still very useful.
This post is first and foremost about minimum tooling to build ambients. A lot more can be said about that subject, but SoundShow is very close to make this possible.