Simon Potter's
Complete Furcadian Guide


DragonSpeak 108
Sound Decisions

 
The new DragonSpeak commands offer a lot more flexibility in terms of what you can do with sonifying your dreams. Sound adds to the atmosphere of a dream. So let's look at some specific techniques for adding some music and sound effects to your creations.

There are 66 wav file sounds in the default patch, and you can add more by uploading wavs from a patch folder and numbering them s67 and up. Playing a wave file  is just another effect.

When a furre does something,
(5:12) play sound # to everyone on the map.

where # is the number of the sound file you wish to use. Use this line to add sounds to doors, signs, water tiles, or whatever you like.

Random ambient sounds

(0:100) 2, 0 Every 2 seconds
(1:1000) (2) Roll the dice and a random 2% of the time
       (5:12) 15 Play the cricket sound

By repeating this code block and changing the sound numbers, you can create your own selection of background sounds to be used in your dream.

Midi Files

5:31 Play midi # for everyone on the map.

This line is an effect which can be used to play a midi file. Some people like to program a "loop" so the midi will repeat. You can do that this way:

(0:100) When # seconds have passed, offset by #,
5:31 Play midi # for everyone on the map.

Find the length of your midi file in seconds and use the timer to restart it.

Midi File Juke Box

I've had a lot of requests about how to make a midi juke box, so here's a sample. To be able to cycle through midi files, you need to cycle through floor tiles and then associate a different midi file with each tile. The floor tiles become a marker for each song. Here's a sample:

(0:7) When somebody moves into position (108,110),
 (1:1011) and position (110,109) is floor type 4,
 (3:2) at position (110,109) on the map,
 (5:1) set the floor to type 1.

The block above is a place holder and is necessary for this script to work.

(0:7) When somebody moves into position (108,110),
 (1:1011 and position (110,109) is floor 3,
 (3:2) at position (110,109) on the map,
 (5:1) set the floor to type 4
5:31 Play midi 3 for everyone on the map..

(0:7) When somebody moves into position (108,110),
 (1:1011 and position (110,109) is floor 2,
 (3:2) at position (110,109) on the map,
 (5:1) set the floor to type 3
5:31 Play midi 2 for everyone on the map.

(0:7) When somebody moves into position (108,110),
 (1:1011) and position (110,109) is floor type 1
 (3:2) at position (110,109) on the map,
(5:1) set the floor to type 2
5:31 Play midi 1 for everyone on the map.

This script will cycle through 3 diferent midi files and cause them to play. If you study the pattern and order of the numbers, you can see how the script could be expanded to include more midi files. The script simply checks location 110,109 to see what kind of floor tile is there and then plays the midi file associated with that tile.

A note about sound and midi files: the area commands will have no effect on these. Sound and music will either play to everyone on the map or to the furre who triggers them. If you want to localize a sound effect, make a location trigger and play the file for the furre who set off the trigger. Thus, if you want the furre to hear splashes near a river, create a trigger using a floor tile or location near the river and play the sound for the furre who steps on that spot.
 

 

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