Jan 26, 2022 07:00:00

'Short VGM generator' review that can automatically generate BGM-like music for retro games

The BGM of retro games has a deep-rooted fan because it makes us feel strange nostalgia and taste, and we sometimes dare to add retro game-like BGM to modern games. A new game developer,

ABA (@abagames) , has developed a tool 'Short VGM generator ' that can automatically generate old game BGM-like things.

Short VGM generator by ABA Games
https://abagames.itch.io/short-vgm-generator

I want to automatically generate BGM-like things from old games --ABA's diary
https://aba.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/01/24/191346

ABA Mr. developed 'Short VGM generator' is, composer project by machine learning that Google is doing, ' Magenta ' is a browser implementation of ' Magenta.js thing that was based on'. Magenta.js will automatically generate the phrase that follows when you enter the score of the song, but by giving it a short score of the retro game, it will make another song like that.

To actually compose with the Short VGM generator, first access the official website and click 'Run tool'.

Then, on the left side of the screen, the score of the default song that is the basis of the new song is displayed. The score is divided into a melody line (top) and a bass line (bottom), and when you click 'Play' above the score ...

You can listen to the default song. Click 'Stop' to stop playback.

The text below the score is the Music Macro Language (MML), which is used to display music information on a text basis.

Click 'Select music' to select the default score from ' digdug ', ' xevious ', ' terra cresta', ' gradius ', and ' star force '.

You can automatically generate a new BGM based on the song that suits your taste.

As for the items of 'Temperature' and 'Repeat count', the larger the number, the more random music will be generated.

Click 'Generate' to automatically generate music ...

In just a few seconds, a new score was generated on the right side of the screen and the BGM was played. It's a song with a mysterious atmosphere, but it certainly has a nostalgic sound that seems to be used as BGM for old games. In addition, the score written in MML is also displayed for the newly generated song.

Also, if you click 'Copy' ...

The score on the right that was generated earlier was copied to the score on the left that is the basis of the generated music. This makes it possible to generate another song based on the generated song.

Clicking 'Generate' generated a new retro game BGM-like song.

You can see how the 'Short VGM generator' actually generates BGM-like songs for retro games in the following movie.

I tried using 'Short VGM generator' that can automatically generate BGM-like songs for retro games-YouTube