Variable Mix: Difference between revisions

A hard cut to a different piece is one possible solution for a game, and it's not so jarring when disguised by a sound effect. But some titles make better use of their technology: in a [[Variable Mix]], the background music changes subtly and smoothly depending on what is going on in the game. The running background music could have, for example, parallel parts that fade in and out with the rising and falling action level, seamlessly transitioning from a bare-bone ambient haunting theme to a hard-rocking drum-backed metal anthem during combat, and back again after the last enemy has fallen. A clever bit of composing that has a very subtle but real influence on player immersion. Variable mix is almost always made possible by MIDI (musical instrument digital interface).

 

 

== [[Action Adventure]] ==

 

 

* ''[[Tron Two Point Oh (Video Game)|Tron 2.0]]'' had a rather smooth transition between normal wandering-around music and when combat began.

* Ditto for ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]''.

 

 

* ''[[R-Type]]'' did this once: in ''Delta'', when your ship goes underwater, the music changes to a more subdued, muffled version of the level's soundtrack, then goes right back to the original when you get back in open air.

** ''Final'' does this in some levels, for example, techno-industrial percussion is added to the ambience when the [[Humongous Mecha|mecha]] [[Mini Boss]] appears in the first level, and in the Giant Warship level, the music gets faster and more epic during the final approach to the boss.

** A particularly [[Nightmare Fuel|Nightmare Fuelish]] example occurs when you make the final [[Leap of Faith]] from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRPiUi4Rys prison morgue] to the Labyrinth in ''[[Silent Hill 2]]''. First there's the regular droning ambience, then it adds a groaning noise similar to a steam valve, then a horrible high-pitched siren-like sound (so bad you have to cover your ears, worse than the "radio squeal" in the first game).

** The [[Crowning Music of Awesome|series' best use of this trope]] has to be the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbKPSCBuuc alleyway sequence] in the first game. First quiet ambience, then the air-raid sirens start up when it gets dark, then a loud scraping mechanical noise when you pass the gurney, then it adds an [[Ominous Pipe Organ]] when you see the blood and disemboweled corpses, and finally the percussion kicks in when you hit the end of the alley and get ambushed by the Gray Children.

** ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'' [[What Could Have Been|was originally going to have]] more dynamic music, according to videos of ''RE 1.5'', where the music seamlessly changed depending on the action and the player character's health.

 

 

* ''[[Dead Space (Video Game)|Dead Space]]'' has a fairly revolutionary dynamic music system; the background music would rise as you walked through a room, and hold if you stopped.

** By far the worst, though, is that the music sting that would play when enemies were approaching would not be played ''unless the player was looking at the creature''. As a result, it's entirely possible to wander around a room, thinking there's nothing in there, and get stabbed in the back by something that's been stalking you.

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Variable Mix]]