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).

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Action Adventure]] ==

** The poor guy's humming sounds more and more scared and shaky as his health lowers, too!

*** The [[Ominous Pipe Organ]] music in Ganon's Tower changes in melody as you go up the tower.

*** The Mini-Boss theme gets a special mention, as it has versions for- sword sheathed (Soft), sword drawn (Hard), near enemy (drums are added), low health (fast), landed attacks (the added chords as per usual), landed ENEMY attacks (pitch lowers while the song speeds up), and even a specific horn roll plays while using the spin attack. All of these layers play independently, immersing the player into the action better than any other song in the game, but unfortunately, these battles typically only last a few minutes tops.

*** Also, in the Sacred Grove, Skull Kid's trumpet is added to the music if you're near him, and there's a variation of the music if those puppet things of his are near you.

*** Also used awesomely in the final boss battle against {{spoiler|Ganondorf}}. When you go into a chance, which is when both you and him have [[Blade Lock|swords locked]] and are [[Button Mashing|trying to push the other down]], the music will change depending on which side is winning, sounding ominous when {{spoiler|Ganondorf}} is winning, and playing the game's main theme when you are winning.

*** The chugging of the train's engine in its top gear syncs perfectly with the standard overworld music, making it into a kind of percussion line.

*** The music when climbing the Tower of Spirits becomes more epic the higher up you go.

** ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' just might contain the largest amount of variable mixing in a video game to date, as most areas, dungeons, battles and cutscenes take advantage of the technique. A notable early area where this can be seen is the Bazaar, where each shopkeeper has their own little [[Leitmotif]] that's a variation on the main one set to play when you approach their stall.

* In ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'', the music transitions smoothly to a more upbeat theme once you have discovered how to get onto the colossus.

* ''[[Brave Fencer Musashi]]'' did this with the Alucaneet Palace theme only. The subdued BGM you initially hear is performed by a rather spare number of instruments, but for each musician you rescue in the field, an instrument is added to the orchestra until the palace theme sounds downright energetic.

* Both ''[[Ganbare Goemon|Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon]]'' and ''Goemon's Great Adventure'' utilize this effect in the castle areas, with the music changing to reflect the player's progression.

 

== [[Adventure Game]] ==

** The [[Video Game Remake|Special Edition]] tried to recreate the effect with live instruments. They did a pretty good job, but the effects were much simplified in many cases.

*** As does the ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'' series.

* ''[[Starship Titanic]]'' features many music themes which blend into each other, and you soon notice that the quality and style of the music depend on how posh your surroundings are, and whether or not you're in an public or maintainance area.

* [[Older Than They Think]]: In ''[[Space Quest]] IV'', the Galaxy Galleria theme is normally elevator/lobby music, but when you enter the Skate-O-Rama, it adds drums. It also mixes in the various shop music themes as you pass by.

 

== [[Card Battle Game]] ==

 

 

* ''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]'' as well; not only on the racer selection screen (each racer had a unique instrument playing a variation of the same melody over the same accompaniment), but the track Boulder Canyon switched between a rock organ, a flute, and a trombone depending on where you were in the lap. The only problem was that if you listened to these tunes on the in-game [[Sound Test]], it would play ''every'' instrument and melody at once.

** Also occurs in the [[Hub Level]].

** ''Mario Kart 7'' adds extra percussion (bass/snare "dance" beat or a hi-hat, for example) to the BGM if the player is in the lead.

* ''[[Burnout]] 2'' normally has a repetitive drum beat and electro soundtrack with a secondary backing track that is muted unless the boost is triggered, which pulls it back into the mix and gives the music more of a surfer-tune.

 

== [[Fighting Game]] ==

* In ''[[Def Jam Series|Def Jam - Fight for New York]]'' used a variant that revolved around the [[Limit Break|Blazin' Moves]]. Most stages in the game have instrumentals of various hip hop songs as their BGM, which cuts out to one of a few slightly more intense, shorter loops whenever someone activates their ability to use a Blazin' move. If the successfully pull the move off, [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] or some other brief, suspenseful leitmotif plays in the background while the attack is being performed, and, if the Blazin' move is used when the opponent's health isn't in the danger zone and is able to continue fighting afterward, the normal music resumes and for about ten seconds afterward the lyrics of the song play before cutting back into a looping instrumental again. A lesser example occurs whenever you use a submission hold, with disk scratching and various generic sound effects thrown in.

 

 

== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==

* And ''[[Serious Sam]]''.

* The ''[[Halo]]'' games, particularly the [[Halo 2|second]] and [[Halo 3|third]], use what the composer calls "quantum music". A piece may have an intro, followed by a looping middle section that may have different variations depending on the player's actions, and an outtro, again triggered by the gameplay. The music fades out after a certain time if no dynamic triggers are activated. "Glue" musics consisting of short loops (typically drone ambient) are used to transition between larger pieces.

* ''[[Far Cry]] 2's'' battle music had a bad habit of fading in whenever the player fired a shot, regardless of whether or not there were any enemies around.

* ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'', an FPS taking place in the Spy Sixties, features both sneaking and flat-out shooting elements, and the music rises and falls appropriately if you blow your cover.

* ''[[Descent]] 3'''s level musics seamlessly change as you progress through a level, and also change with the intensity of the action.

* Some levels in the ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' series have this, such as "Eye of the Storm", "Rough Landing", "The Golden Lion", "Operation Repunzel", "Yard by Yard" and "On Track" in ''Frontline'', when you reach certain points in a level, an alarm is set off, or the action otherwise heats up. Rough Landing in particular is awesome; it starts with a solo boy soprano and a few instruments, and later in the level, it builds up to the full choir and orchestra. Also, in the train mission, the music starts to pick up speed when you enter the station and approach the train, then goes to its undoubtedly epic full-speed [[Ominous Chanting]] climax during Riding Out The Storm.

* ''[[System Shock 2]]'' was another early example: each level had a number of short variations on a theme that would chain together depending on the circumstances.

 

 

 

== [[Party Game]] ==

 

 

== [[Platform Game]] ==

* [[Sly Cooper]]

** Something similar happens to the themes of Hazy Maze Cave and Wet Dry World. Normally, it plays a remix of the SMB Cave Theme. However, once you're at a certain area, the theme starts adding a few creepy instruments.

** Also in Galaxy, every time you activate a sling star a harp will be added in tempo and harmony. If you activate the bigger ones with two stars (to go to different planetoids, etc.) the harmony will be longer; if you use the single star ones for shooting you short distances, the harmony will be shorter. This occurs with every single song, even with the Rainbow Star (invincibility) and power-up songs (Fire Flower, Ice Flower, etc.)

** Any coins that pop up from bushes, etc. will be in tempo and harmony with the song.

** Gruntilda's Lair alone had at least 11 different themes that would blend seamlessly from one to the next: The base theme music, the underwater music, and one for each world that would play when you approach a world's portrait or entrance, with an arrangement appropriate for that world. Cheato's theme may also count - it's not a variation on the Gruntilda's Lair theme but the music switches from the lair theme to Cheato and back when you approach/walk away from him, with one fading out at the same time the other fades in so that it feels seamless.

** In ''[[Banjo Tooie]]'', there was a glitch where after beating Mr. Patch, sometimes every variation of the Witchyworld theme would play at once until you exited the tent.

** Basically, Rare (David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, Eveline Fischer, ect.) loved this trope and used it at every opportunity.

** even if your character is not in an area where the music changes in a level, if you do something that triggers an event in such an area, the music will change as the ''camera'' enters that area.

** In ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'', the island map has the well-known "Simian Segue" as its BGM until you zoom to any part of it, where it fades to a different rearrangement (with the same rhythm, no less) of that theme in every section, using the appropriate instruments (for example, steel drums in the "beach" map).

* The games in the ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series add new layers to the background music when the player mounts a vehicle or takes out a weapon.

*** Toad Town has its own theme song, and certain parts of it have their own themes, which are in the same key as and in sync with the Toad Town theme. When you are near one of these parts, you can hear the special music just a little bit, and when you are ''in'' said part, the special music is all there. The main theme can still be heard faintly, as if it were coming from outside.

** In ''[[Yoshis Story]]'', the music changes depending on your health. When you're down to your last health point, the music slows to a crawl. When you're invincible, it changes to an electric guitar version of the level theme.

** The final boss theme isn't a layered track like Planet Sonata, but it aims for this effect in spirit. It's timed so that the slow part lasts almost exactly as long as it takes to wear Kaiser's first phase down, the accelerando takes place during his first black hole attack, and the fast, frantic part goes into full swing when he [[Turns Red]].

* In ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Anniversary'', the background music in Croft Manor changes slightly depending on whether the player is in the house, the gym or outside.

** At the start of each level you can choose which soundtrack to use, with a variety of available instruments. Additionally, more background music will play as you paint an area- a gray zone will be quiet but a fully painted area will sound quite alive.

* Used in ''[[Knytt Stories]]'', as the player transitions between areas.

* ''[[Glider]] PRO'''s music goes into a holding pattern if you stay in one room too long.

* In ''[[Donkey Kong Jungle Beat]]'', the background music is often a simple, understated little tune. And if you play through the levels like a normal platformer, it'll stay that way. However, once you start using the combo system (doing tricks in midair and stringing moves together without touching the ground), things get interesting as you collect more and more bananas. More instruments will be added to the song. Then the percussion begins to pick up. Then a crowd yells "GO! GO! GO!" to the beat of the song. Then the crowd also yells "Wooo!" on the off-beats and claps along. Then the main tune is overlaid with some funky jazz riffs. [[Beyond the Impossible|And then the percussion starts drowning everything out...]] When you finally land and end your combo, the crowd breaks into a hearty cheer, and then it's back to the simple music again. Needless to say, playing well in this game gets you ''pumped''.

** Don't forget the boss music, which effortlessly switches from tense to triumphant, depending on whether DK is on the defensive or the offensive.

 

== [[Puzzle Game]] ==

* Cipher Prime games ''Auditorium'' and ''[[Fractal Make Blooms Not War|Fractal]]'' do this. In the former, each level starts in silence. Every "bucket" you fill with the correct type of flowing particle adds a layer to the music. In the latter, creating more blooms adds these layers. Each level starts with the stereotypical "howling wasteland" sound.

** Actually, the excursion funnels always play the same tune (though I think the natural music is barely audible in the background), and the gels work differently -- the Blue gel always plays the same weird little tune when you bounce on it, and the repulsion gel applies the same "instruments" that any High Velocity situation would, Gel or no Gel. Aerial Faith Plates always add the same instruments/tune to whatever music is being played too, no matter which Plate in Which Level it is. Laser receptacles do the same; this is most notable in the room with the 3 near the door that you have to light up simultaneously. All of the above (almost) always add the same set of instruments to whatever is playing in the background. In fact, these are mere sound effects that are attached to the puzzle elements themselves. To test this, simply find an aerial faith plate and drop a cube on it. Note how the sound effect plays. Next, throw a portal and drop the cube on the faith plate and back up, note how the sound effect is quieter. They are simply scripted sound effects that sound like music that meshes well with music played in those levels.

*** Examining the game's sound files reveals a mix of both overlaid effects tracks (level-specific to fit the timing of the theme for that level), and also some variations on themes for specific levels which will use a mechanic-specific effect as a segue.

* ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]'' (for the Game Boy) had an unusual example in which the BGM shifted between four different songs depending on which direction Lolo was facing. The music also changed to a much slower song while Lolo was on flowers. It's only on some levels, and [[Regional Bonus|only in the European version]].

* ''[[Meteos]] Wars'' had the music changing as the screen got filled up with blocks. Each planet in the original ''Meteos'' had 3 different soundtracks that would play as the screen filled, but the transition was noticeable as the soundtrack restarted each time. Each planet in ''Meteos Wars'' had up to 5 or 6, and the transitions were seamless.

 

 

== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==

** The "mellow mix" would also trigger if you lost a significant chunk of your population (about 50% or more) in battle, basically the game telling you you're losing.

** Also, there's special music that plays whenever Meteor Storm is used.

* ''[[Dune II]]'', being MIDI-based, is not a pure example of this trope, as it is all distinct background music tracks; however, each of the tracks in the game is less than 3 minutes long and fade out, and all of the tracks segue into one another, allowing them to fade in and out smoothly whenever the tone of combat changes.

* ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' used redbook audio, and made an attempt at this. The first attempt wasn't that good, since it always took the first "battle" music track but this was fixed in a patch. Even after the patch, the transition was sometimes jarring, and was always associated with a 1/2 second delay because of the CD drive switching tracks.

 

 

 

== [[Role Playing Game]] ==

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] IV: [[Oblivion]]'' has a soft fade-out transition to various musical themes whenever appropriate.

* ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue|Pokémon FireRed]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue|LeafGreen]]'' did this to make an otherwise [[He Knows About Timed Hits|dull tutorial sequence]] exciting. Presented with a dry sequence of blue windows explaining what buttons to press to do what, an extra layer was added to the music each screen pressed through - drums, bass, harmony, counter-melody - giving a great sense of build-up. On the final screen the melody finally kicks in, and you feel fully prepared for adventure!

* The first four ''[[.hack GU Games|.hack]]'' games do this to nice effect by having a standard dungeon theme and a battle theme that more or less match up, and have one fade into the other when a battle begins or ends. It's especially pleasing in the ice-based dungeons

* This is the point of the soundtrack for ''[[Fable]] 2'': in fights, the music becomes more intense as you do cooler things; be a big enough [[Badass]] and you'll hear a symphony, more or less. Oh, and [[Rule of Cool|the cooler you fight, the more experience you get.]]

** The cave/dungeon music in ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' also got lower in pitch as you went further down. It becomes [[Nightmare Fuel]] when you reach the lowest level of the Dragonlord's Castle.

* Jeremy Soule is a pretty prolific video game music composer. He's done ''Total Annihilation'', ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', ''[[Elder Scrolls]]: [[Oblivion]]'', etc. Usually his songs are composed in odd time signature (i.e. not 4/4 and not 3/4), presumably because it's more difficult to identify where the beat lies exactly, and thus when the game engine switches from one song to another, there's no jarring sense of a song being interrupted in mid-bar.

* ''[[Resonance of Fate]]'' has two combat tracks for each battlefield type: a fairly laid-back version for normal combat, and a more upbeat one that kicked in when a character performed a hero run. The second version would remain in effect until a minute or so passed without consecutive hero actions.

* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' will play a sustained quavering note from violins as party members are killed and the controlled member loses health, while also muting music, fading between the two. By the time your chosen member is the only one standing and nearly down, the music will be completely mute and the violins will be all you hear. It is worth noting that the violins will still fade in at low health even with music turned off in the options.

* [[Ultima Underworld]] had a soundtrack that followed the action during fight sequences. Ambient music would cycle along until the player took an aggressive action or something attacked, and then the combat theme would come in quite abruptly, both to cue the player that they were in a fight and to ramp up the adrenaline level. There was even a modification to the fight theme that changed the music when the player's health got dangerously low to tip the player off to heal, run or push for the victory before being killed.

 

== [[Sports Game]] ==

** Pretty well my ass. They played the chorus lines for songs over and over again, and that was if you were doing well. These were not pleasant background videogame songs, these were actual licensed songs with lyrics. It was annoying if you hated the song and wanted it to end or liked the song and wanted to hear the entire thing.

*** Also notable in that the song would occasionally skip around, as the game would want you to cross a finish line around a specific point in the song, so at a certain distance from the end, you might notice an obvious skip. However, the player was allowed to pick which songs they wanted to play.

* The BGM speeds up during the challenges in ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Skateboarding]]''.

 

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 1'', ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty|2]]'', and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater|3]]'' have two versions of the Alert theme, one for the "Alert" phase and one for the "Evasion" and "Clearing" phases. They are alternate versions of the same theme, and fade between each other seamlessly when the phase changes. An experimental "Making Of..." compendium called ''The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2'' allowed users to ([[wikipedia:The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2#The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2|among other things]]) segue between the moods of each track at the push of a button. (For the curious, compare and contrast [http://www.mgstus.org/downloads/music/mgs2_documix/04%20-%20sons%20of%20liberty%20-%20lethal%20encounter.mp3 the Tanker Alert music] with [http://www.mgstus.org/downloads/music/mgs2_documix/05%20-%20sons%20of%20liberty%20-%20tanker%20-%20evasion%20mode.mp3 the Tanker Evasion music]. As you can hear, the claustrophobic Evasion theme is a stripped-down version of the passionate, exciting Alert theme with the same chords - so if Snake gets seen again, the melody of the Alert theme can cut straight in.)

** There's also the "suspicion" theme, a more tense version of the main stealth theme, played when a guard notices something, before going to full alert, ala ''[[Splinter Cell]]''.

* Because of the importance of listening to your surroundings, the ''[[Thief]]'' games tended to avoid background music of any sort... until they wanted to make you jump out of your skin. The very first level of the first game had one notable moment where you would be following a side hallway, and once you got to a more central passage, the game would suddenly play a single deep, loud note. ''DOOOOOOM.''

* ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' series: Arouse suspicion, a [[Scare Chord]] plays and the ambient music gets tense. Once on full alert, a techno track kicks in.

** 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.

 

 

== [[Third-Person Shooter]] ==

** 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.

*** Complete with a nice little music sting timed just right to go with the stabbing.

 

 

* In the original GBA version of ''[[Yggdra Union]]'', changing your in-battle tactics to Aggressive or Passive would change the tempo of the music and alter its mix slowly. The PSP rerelease has a similar mechanic, but restricts it to the player characters and only loops the first half of each [[Leitmotif]]. Too bad that there's no option to actually trigger the glitch that occasionally makes Yggdra's theme play [[Crowning Music of Awesome|sans bass]] in the GBA version.