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Ultimate Freedoomer

Caball MIDI Pack

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So, You guys may remember the Master Levels 25th Anniversary MIDI Pack. Well, this thread is try & get a supplement done that can fill out the Cabal plot with songs for the freely-available maps. Here's what Sverre suggested any musicians who want to try their hand at this go for as far as musical vibes for each map are concerned:

  • Eye Of The Storm (storm.wad, replaces MAP09):
    • a thousand little toothpick-pricks all over your body
    • glass about to shatter type creaks
    • egg about to break, something old and musty about to break out
    • overall quiet and muted, lazed-out background stuff ala Carpenter. Anticipant!
    • cover art: a mosh-pitting crowd in the La Tomatina Festival
  • Temple Of Death (todeath.wad, replaces map05):
    • if you have a favorite "pen & paper D&D background music" album, vibe off that!
    • winds blowing—it was a dark and stormy night!
    • mix in some mustiness of moss growing in the cracks of 1000-year old brick, stretching down miles long corridors
    • cover art: a fracturing skull, resting on top of an exploding barrel just as it explodes
  • Derelict Station (Derelict.wad, replaces MAP02):
    • hectic sci-fi vibe, as many BPM as demonically possible
    • map's kinda short but sweet, so no longwindedness
    • the sound of big steel slabs sliding off other big steel slabs
    • subtle computer blips & bloops?
    • haunted tech glitching out
    • cover art: a coiled silver necklace with a crazy mini-pearled ornament, resting on white silk
  • We Who Are About To Die (Arena.wad, replaces MAP06):
    • whatever brings the mood of a gladiator arena to the front
    • gongs, cheers, bone-cracks, etc
    • the arena's kinda abandoned, so maybe give it all a ghostly vibe
    • the "gladiators" are more prisoners than celebrated warriors, so add an aura of oppression
    • cover art: the "obey" meme
    • Song Status: Complete
  • The Image Of Evil (the_evil.wad, replaces MAP30):
    • big map, so longer tune I suppose
    • a somewhat pleasant elemnet of unruly chaos creeping in
    • drift into the abstract of how you view music
    • a smattering of try-hard intellectualism—more confusing than revealing
    • a naive sense of accomplishment should tie it all together
    • cover art: the IDDT map view
  • Bloodflood (Flood.wad, replaces MAP03):
    • initially designed as a deathmatch map, if that brings any sonic associations
    • its a remix of sorts on Entryway from Doom 2, so maybe tribute from "Running From Evil", without being TOO obvious?
    • a poisonous river runs through it. Think cybernetic salmons and the odd unholy sermon, performed by imps. Nothing too spectacular. :)
    • maybe something akin to ML 25th OST track 02—Guess We Are Then?
    • cover art: A pale & skinny vampire bear hunting many fat cyborg salmon in a river, but failing. Some of the salmon have lasers shooting from their eyes, directed at the bear
  • The Watchtower (watchtwr.wad, replaces map04):
    • Think manic ambition culled by severe and convoluted limitations, yet still keeping the core vision recognizably intact
    • Like fitting a city inside an envelope without harming anyone, or folding a piece of paper the maximum number of times without tearing the fabric
    • Its a meandering map with some tedious backtracking pretty much unavoidable on first play, so something to calm the nerves a little perhaps, something friendly
    • Not too friendly, the lights have a tendency to go out
    • cover art: a tall tower overlooking an expansive bowled city of low citadel structures, interwoven by staircase paths rising outwards towards a sun-blurred edge, where the tower's shadow casts the only solid silhouette

And if you want further "cues" just listen to the original tracks in their map slots—Sverre put them in those slots so they would have those tunes attached, from the available ones in Doom II... For every composer's convenience, I also included the freely available maps as packed together in their 1.1 compilation, original map slots & all, so you could play them for further inspiration

cabal(v1.1).zip

Here’s some extra guidelines:

  • imitate the style of the composer of the song the map uses by default as best as you can! Closely study it and expose your ears to their compositional tricks and motives.
    • this particular guideline is mostly a matter of personal preference in this case, admittedly.
  • Be sure to play the map(s) you claim first, to get inspiration. If necessary, load up the map, turn the music off, and just hum to yourself as you play it, then get any ideas you get down into a dictaphone, onto paper or into a MIDI editor.
  • The tracks must fit their respective maps you’re writing for as though they were written for that map specifically back when the WAD they’re a part of was being created, as well as — when the WAD has any preexisting bespoke MIDIS — integrate into the existing soundtrack. This is paramount.
  • when it comes to emulating the PC IWAD composers:
    • as far as the map songs go, track length must never be less than 1:00.
    • as far as title/intermission/text screen/end game songs, track length must never exceed 2:00
  • Name your tracks. Untitled tracks will not be accepted
  • Collaboration with other composers is encouraged!
  • Remixes of the existing tracks are forbidden. Originality is what we're after here.
  • Brand-new tracks only this time around!
  • Instrument choices are important. No random helicopters or applause, please. (Unless you use them in an ingenuitive way that actually enhances the track .)
  • When the music is filling out a WAD with a bespoke-yet-incomplete soundtrack, & any bespoke songs are shared between maps, the levels where a bespoke song first occurs will stay untouched.

I’ll also include links to the bespoke songs the Master Levels MIDI pack provides for the Cabal maps in that expansion, for integration reference:

Edited by Ultimate Freedoomer : Update guidelines

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‘Bout time another midi pack project popped up.

 

I’m no musician, so I can’t contribute, but good luck! I look forward to this.

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On 1/8/2024 at 2:57 PM, Proxy-MIDI said:

Hello there, I would like to take the slot for MAP06. 

Arena? Excellent! I look forward to what you end up making. I forgot to mention, try to make the song between 2 minutes & 5 minutes, like in actual Doom

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