Music for SC:S (Windows/ Too Far/ Midnight --Jan Hammer)

[Romaq]

I've been thinking on killer music for building a city to, or at least poking about at nighttime.

I offer you 'Windows' by Jan Hammer, from "Beyond the Mind's Eye".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gpwXpxG3kE

I like the video, but it's the flavor and tone of music. The music from Keith Zizza is good for Caesar IV, but he's restricted by the fact that something like 'Windows' simply would be out of place for that sort of game. I don't know if Keith is in the same class as Jan Hammer, he might actually be! But I was thinking of what it would be to look around a city at night, and 'Windows' sprang to mind as an appropriate tune. "Too Far/ Midnight" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtqjt_UvmZ4&mode=related&search=) would be a great one as well. Again, this isn't to knock Mr. Zizza at all. He has to fit the music to the game, and CoTN/ C4 are not 'Jan Hammer' tunes. But certain tunes by Jan Hammer are shoo-in for City Building. I hope, if anything, the likes of Jan Hammer sets the bar for Keith to really make some tunes, "Oh my god I didn't know he was that good!"

--Romaq

[ManagerJosh]

I'm personally fond of the music Maxis developed in house with Jerry Martin and Andy Brick. Humble Brothers, Walt Szalva, and Edwin Dolinski were superb as well :)

http://simcity.ea.com/coolstuff/rh_music/index.php

They did a really good job on it :)

[Romaq]

Yes. I liked it also, but it drove my wife crazy since I was 'looping' throught the same tracks. What's really wrong with the music is that there simply isn't enough. I ought to verify that the tracks available for download match the ones in my program folder. I'm likely to dump those all in with the SC:S soundtrack just to expand the selection to have it go longer before it gets repetitive.

--Romaq

[ManagerJosh]

LOL. Add the SimCity 3000 ones :D

[elebit]

That's why I want custom soundtracks! I got lots of music on here and I can play for hours without looping.

[ManagerJosh]

Starting onwards from I think SimCity 3000 unlimited, I think you could add your own music. I might be wrong. :). I never did. I enjoyed the constant looping of the music :D

[elebit]

Looping drives me nuts! Like how the radio loops the same top 40 songs all day and it drives you nuts. If you hear it so much you won't buy the cd becuase you hear it enough to own it allready. Pointless.

[ManagerJosh]

Hahah. I spent countless hours with the SimCity 3000 music. I enjoyed it. However I think Maxis programmed it rather well. It introduced pauses in the game. So often there are gaps during gameplay where there is nothing playing. Just city sounds.

[elebit]

I had alot of custom tracks in sc4 and I never looped in my long sessions. i once had a 2 hour session and only heard the same song twice becuase it just randomly picks. but it was my fav song so.

[deathtopumpkins]

Looping drives me nuts! Like how the radio loops the same top 40 songs all day and it drives you nuts. If you hear it so much you won't buy the cd becuase you hear it enough to own it allready. Pointless.
Our radio station doesn't do that.
www.96x.fm
They play a lot of diffrent songs (same genres), and they play stuff from the ninties too. The closest you will hear two songs together is 3-4 hours, and even then not that frequent.
And you buy the cd so you can listen to the song whenever you want, adn to hear all the other songs.

[Romaq]

I just kept thinking of how SC:S could play more bluegrass/ country-western type stuff in farm-town areas, and then switch descretely to techno as the city progressed. Random music isn't so much going to do that. I do hope 'music file tagging' somehow makes it into the game. If not, 'radio stations' reflecting certain societal moods would at least prevent my Heavy Metal sountrack from popping up while I'm working on Lynden.

--Romaq

[Romaq]

I had a pleasant surprise playing C4. The 'Northern Europe One' and 'Northern Europe Two' tracks came into play, and they were a pleasant surprise from Keith Zizza. The music overall has been a good "I'm in a Roman sortta mood" to play C4 with, and the tracks pertaining to Asia, Northern Africa and Northern Europe work well. I believe Mr. Zizza is working on the SC:S tracks. At this point, I'm inclined to involve my energy into Cities Unlimited where I might actually benefit the development of the game. I'll watch here from time-to-time, but there really isn't anything I can contribute here until the demo comes out.

I look forward to hearing what Mr. Zizza can do when not constrained by Ancient Rome or Ancient Egypt genre music.

--Romaq