Music has been used for centuries upon centuries to connect new generations to the culture and history of their ancestors. In some cultures, the importance of music in storytelling is a central element of education, such as with African tradition of the Djelis or Griots, the keepers of the culture. The Djelis embody the culture of their people and transmit knowledge through the performing arts and through the teaching of drum rhythms, drum technique, traditional dance, and the histories conveyed by their performance. Their task is one of reminding current generations and teaching new generations their culture’s accomplishments and core values.

Perhaps no one in the gaming appreciates this use of music more than Tim Larkin, an audio director at Cyan Worlds, a game studio which is responsible for the hit Myst, released in 1993, and its sequel Riven, released in 1997, which have together sold some 12 million copies. It was the age-old technique of utilizing music to convey culture that led Tim Larkin to rely heavily on Sonic Implants unique and expressive ethnic instrument samples to tell the rich tradition of D'ni, their history and culture in Uru, Cyan's latest delivery in the Myst series of interactive games. In this game series, players move at their own pace, spending hours discovering visually stunning, real-time 3D worlds, solving a large variety of mind-challenging puzzles, and following an epic storyline in which they explore and learn about the rich culture of lost beautiful worlds.

“In the Uru expansion pack, To D’ni  and Path Of The Shell, I made extensive use of the Sonic Implants Symphonic Strings and Atsiã dancing drums” states Tim. “In general my music is very percussion-orchestral oriented with more of a world element. Sonic’s Atsiã collection is a natural fit for me as it contains very unique and large drum sounds that I enjoy using. I also loved exploring Sonic’s Symphonic String Collection, as its overall sound and many varieties of different bowings and selections makes it extremely interesting. I use the Legato Espressivo articulation the most. Since I like intimate sounds, the close-up feel of the Espressivo violins and violas work really well for me. In fact, there are definitely patches in the Symphonic String Collection that have assisted me in doing things that I was not able to do as effectively before. This has allowed different music lines to present themselves and has allowed me to write more effectively as a result. Since obtaining and using the Symphonic String Collection I have utilized more strings in my scores than I have used in the past –and overall, I have a much broader palette to create with now.” 

Tim also likes to keep things mixed up and avoids the use of traditional set ups. Thus he blends a lot of drums in and through his compositions. When asked how he came up with the score for Path Of The Shell, Tim recounts, “There was no specific palette we were going after in the beginning. We were just trying to get something different. Our exploration games are based on a lost culture so we can create the music from scratch. What we ended up with was as far out as I could get while still bringing some traditional elements in. In writing for exploration/puzzle games, there are a lot of linear and non-linear elements. When you are writing for a game that is not timed or level based, it is more exploration. We are encouraging the players to take their time and explore, thus the music takes on a lot of importance in setting the mood or ambience. For instance, when characters appear, there is a supporting ambient musical theme that is used to support the feel and mood around the character and situation, or the music might help underscore a particular mood for the support of a visual environment.”  

When asked how he broke into the gaming industry Tim responds “I always have been a working musician. May years ago while living in the Bay area a friend of mine had a production company and we got together when CDROMs were really just getting popular. We decided there must be work for us in the growing CDROM industry so we opened up the phone book and the first company we came to was Broderbund. We called and ended up getting hired there. People say it is hard to get in the industry  - I just opened up the phone book!” Tim then adds “Humor aside, it is hard to get into this industry, but through persistence one can get lucky as I did.”  

Speaking on the technology development over the many years Tim has been working as a game sound designer, Tim states that when he first started in the industry, the games used whatever sounds were provided on the PC’s sound cards as there was not enough CPU and memory for utilizing sampled sounds. “With the advent of faster and better equipped PCs and the subsequent use of digital music, we now have the luxury to bring in any sound we want. In the beginning however, the sample libraries were not as good as they are today and I am always looking for new kinds of sounds – anything that is rare, exotic or different. This is one of the reasons I like Sonic Implants Atsiã so much. Some instruments in this collection such as the dundun were rare when I started using it – now they are a lot more popular and soon you will probably hear it in the next Mario Brothers game and that will be really depressing!” 

Tim likes to use lower tone samples as pads. “I love the sounds I’ve heard from the new Symphonic Brass Collection and may soon start exploring these further.” Although he currently does not use brass extensively as the music he is composing is not brass or edgy, Tim explains “However, when you have better resources at hand you tend to explore them further. Good expressive sounds tend to steer you in a certain direction. Sometimes you will hit on a patch that inspires an entire piece of music. Often I will bring up Sonic’s string sounds and start with that before I bring in other instruments. Or I’ll start with the percussion and build from there. Again, this is why I really like the Atsiã” 

Tim leaves us with the following thoughts on music composition for games. “Game companies are competing for the same entertainment dollars and the same audiences that are going to films. And as you know, moviegoers are used to seeing films with a high quality and style of music. I think the gaming industry has done a great job in keeping the music quality up there with that of cinematic productions, and that is why products like Sonic Implants are so important. Today more than ever audio designers are dependent on good samples as we don’t always have the budgets for real musicians. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a total advocate of using real players, but there are times when the instruments are not in the forefront and I’m not so sure the game player would know the difference from a real section or a library such as Sonic Implants Symphonic String Collection. Thus, realistic, expressive samples like Sonic Implants take on increasing importance.”

Take a listen to these two selections by Tim Larkin, which use the Atsia and Symphonic String Collection sample libraries: