Dunc's Algomusic
A downloadable game for Windows
Hello everyone, a long time ago I made this thing, "Dunc's Algomusic", which makes random music. People occasionally ask me if it is still available, so here it is.
There are two versions, Mk III and Mk V. They each have a different feel. In both you can press 'n' and type in a title, it will generate a song from that string.
I also don't remember why they were called "Mk III" and "Mk V", when there's only two of them, except to say that I was quite fond of Steve Jackson Game's OGRE.
MK VI
This is is a newer work-in-progress that I started in 2016.
Mk V
"Mk V" was written in Blitz Basic (I've made the sourcecode available too).
Mk III
First of all, thank-you to Gunship_Mark_II at the Vinesauce Reddit for making this available, as I had lost my original.
Mk III's claim to fame is that Stuart Ashen used it to make the "Ashen Theme Tune". It was written in, good grief, Dark Basic, and I cannot honestly remember how it got on the internet in the first place. Since people still upload videos of it to YouTube, it must be circulating out there somewhere.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Dunc's Algomusic VI 0.6 releasedAug 12, 2018
- Dunc's Algomusic Mk VI 0.5 availableJan 13, 2018
- Custom sounds in MkVIJan 10, 2018
- Onwards.Jan 01, 2018
- DAM Mk. VI alpha 0.4 available for testingSep 03, 2017
- SectionsAug 20, 2017
- StructureAug 16, 2017
- Prototype alpha 0.2Aug 08, 2017
Comments
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Hey, i've got a question: I've been sort of playing with the idea of a (free) game that would be interacted with via twitch chat, and I was wondering if you would let me use this to generate backing music? It would really be absolutely perfect, although I am ultimately looking to create a similar program to this for a different project.
Yes, that is fine!
Ooh, do let me know when you have it set up, and let me know when you get your other program up and running.
alright! I've had a rough prototype for the first thing on my desktop for a couple years, but I'm currently trying to rewrite it so it can display via twitch plugin to reduce latency and just not break as easily. Second thing is probably a longer ways off, but we'll see where my priorities end up falling.
I tried running MKVI on linux using a lutris game's wine prefix and it worked. I don't know if I'm the first person to run this on linux, but I'm laying claim to that title until further notice.
Everytime I try to open the program, I get an error that says "illegal memory address". I still get this error when I set the compatibility mode and opening it in administrator.
Does anyone know how to fix this problem?
Most people have this problem because it's a very old bit of software written in Dark Basic (for Mk III) and Blitz Basic (for Mk V), sadly I don't have the source code anymore for me to update it.
It might be worth asking on the Vincesauce reddit since Vinny featured it a few years ago, I don't know what he did to get it working.
when i open the program it shows "Illegal memory address" i tried changing the compatibility same thing, even tried opening it in administrator still shows the same error
Hi ColdsterColdy, the software was written in the days of Windows XP. The issue seems to be something to do with DirectPlay. If you read the comments further down I think there's a fix.
i found the comment the thing is i tried it with DirectPlay disabled and enabled still the same thing
how i save my song?
Download Audacity. In audacity set the recording device to "stereo mix". Press record, then start Dunc's Algomusic.
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Hello....when I am looking for BASIC's information, I find your webpage. It seems that you like to use BASIC to develop programs. If you are interested in developing an entry in BASIC, you are welcome to join the following game jam!
https://itch.io/jam/jam-for-all-basic-dialects
er, hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but after using DAM mk VI for a while, I've gotten really curious.
What do the letters mean at the bottom of the screen? And if you add extra sounds, do existing seeds change, or are the custom sounds just incorporated into the same song? :p
Thanks a lot for making this, it's really really cool. I've been spending a lot of time just listening to the music it makes :)
The letters were an attempt to break the song into sections, so a "B" would have an adjusted chord sequence and "C" would be a bridge. It didn't work out too well though.
I can't think right now what would happen to the seeds if you add sounds, it's been a long time since I looked at the code. If someone tries this, let us know.
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I reckon this isn't going to be updated within the foreseeable future, or do you plan on working on it at some point?
I had other things I wanted to do with it, but I'm focusing on writing a book at the moment.
Because the notes trigger using GameMaker's object collision, I had pictured other things moving on the screen that would interact with the "pointers". On the second hand, I am worried that I'm just piling on "stuff" instead of trying to work in some actual music theory. Then on the third hand, I think that if I try this I will make it worse - maybe DAM is better when it's doing wierd or ambient things.
I've made the source code available for anyone who wants to tinker around with it.
If you ever do go back, just develop it how you want to, no pressure there. Hopefully the book goes well!
Hi Trixie, I have uploaded the source code. It is in GameMaker Studio 2 format. It's provided as-is: if you don't have GMS2 I'm not sure how you can read it.
If anyone wants to adapt and publish that's fine as long as there's a link back here.
Incredibly interesting idea and realisation! Good job
Thanks!
i love dunc's algomusic. i no longer have to bother with the trouble of searching for new music to listen to. i just press space every once in a while and enjoy the pure bliss
I absolutely love this app. Is the source code in the download page the only thing I need to compile it? I'd love to be able to play around with it and learn more about the music theory behind it.
Hi dwaters, the source code for Mk V is in Blitz Basic, it was designed to go into games so you also need some loop that calls the functions - it may be possible to adapt into other languages.
Mk VI is in Gamemaker Pro, and I can share the source code with anyone who is interested.
Hi, the gamemaker source (for Mk VI) should be with the downloads.
Is there any way to stop it from muting on lost focus???
E: Apparently it's only doing it when I click onto a Chrome window. Weird
Heard about this from Vinesauce. Super cool and gonna use some of the songs as placeholder music for my game.
I really wish there was some way to export the songs though. I had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get a song saved.
Second to that, a play/pause feature.
Audacity will record the audio.
I was wondering, is there any way to add more musical options by adding more .wavs/.ogg samples into the Audio/Music folders? Or will the program just ignore them and not generate anything involving them?
With VI you can just drop ogg files into the audio folders and it will incorporate them.
That's really awesome, thanks for the response!
I would be up for testing a MacOS version...
Thanks, I'll see what my compile options are as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, although I have the compile option for MacOS, I still need a MacOS device. I would need to work with someone who has a Mac and GameMaker Studio.
I want to ask you a question. Can I use samples from the "music" folder in my own game?
Hi Kat. The site I got them from were publishing them as public domain, so yes.
The sounds are courtesty of the Philharmonia Orchestra. The website is http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/sound_samples if you want to grab your own.
wow thank you so much :D
I press F for you for making that cool program, I use your program instead of radio lmao :)
the 0.6 version is so good at music. even if i didnt put real words in.
it is posible to save this as midi?
I'm not sure how to do this yet, as it generates the music on the fly rather than pre-rendering it. Also, I haven't found any midi libraries for Game Maker yet.
Never try "A New Bird" it creates an permanent loop at 10 tracks, until you change the song of course.
That's hilarious, i guess the line somehow breaks out of the loop and continues rightward forever.
Edit: i found another one "Internal Serendipity"
Any chance you'd ever be able to make this work on mac?
Hi stuckatomega. Only if you buy me a mac.
Actually it looks like I can compile an Mk VI executable for Mac OS, although I've no way of testing it. Not much I can do about the older versions. When I next get chance I'll look into it.
Is it possible to make the software output a .wav or .mp3 file of a generated song?
Hi cannon9009, I do this myself using Audacity. Set your recording device to "Stereo Mix", load Audacity and Dunc's Algomusic, press record in Algomusic, then start the music.
Hey, just wondering if it's alright to use tracks generated in VI in weird, probably free indie games, with credit.
Yes sabitsuki, that's fine. The sound files I used are copyright free, and I'm glad for anyone to be using the program for any reason :)
whats the lisence,
Hi The Gamer Cat. MkIII and MkV are freeware: distribute as you will and use the audio output for anything.
MkVI is under copyright (don't distribute the software), but as far as I'm concerned the music it creates is public domain.
Cool
Whatever happened to MKI and MKII?
They were just Dark Basic prototypes that were never released. I didn't even have an internet account when I made them.
With every version of AlgoMusic save for MkVI, a few seconds of music will play before I get the error "Illegal Address Memory", and I'm forced to close the app. I've done everything that I can think of but this continues to be an issue. Can you advise?
Unfortunately it's very old software. The only thing I can suggest is to set it to Windows XP compatibility mode, and run as Administrator.
This occurred while I was running the program on XP and Windows 7, so I'm not sure. I'll give it another try.
What are the limitations for the .wav files? One partiuclar sample pack I tried outputted pure static.
Hi, the files need to be in .ogg format. You can convert them in Audacity, or there's plenty of online converters.
wait, what? I'm confused. Isn't it packaged with wavs?
Oh, hah, I guess it depends what version we're talking about. I can't help much with Mk III and V, as they weren't designed for custom wavs. However, there was a discussion at https://www.reddit.com/r/Vinesauce/comments/66koho/is_there_a_link_to_the_text_t... that might help. Each sample needs to be 16-bit mono and a particular sample rate.
I used to own this program back in early 2017 (when I had a windows PC) but I've recently transitioned to a Mac and DAM doesn't seem to run with Wine. (just shows a black screen) I tried installing some Wine directories but still no luck. Any suggestions?
I'm afraid I don't know, I can only guess that there's some general incompatibility with the language used, since they are both ancient: Dark Basic Pro and Blitz3D were only for Win 95, 98, XP. I'm amazed they even work on native Win 10 computers. Try any Win XP compatibility options available to you.
Since it is a requested feature, I'll be aiming to have the wave files in folders for Mk VI beta. For the prototype it was just easier for me to have it all bundled in. I have another project I'm working on right now (I wish I could do this full time...) but when I return I'll make it a priority.
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
RealMAOUDA, you can change the sound files in Mk VI now, but they have to be .ogg format. Give it a try and let me know how it works out.
Interestingly, Mk V doesn't work for me. Mk VI alpha seems to work perfectly.
Mk III didn't work either.
Fixed it, DirectPlay was disabled.
Thanks for the info :)
Just got a few bugs to iron out then I think we'll have a public alpha of Dunc's Algomusic Mk VI.
This is really good. MK V is great for background music, or game soundtracks. If it were to be used in productions like that, what would I need to do to credit you?
Thanks, I've used it myself in the past, for bed music for a radio segment. As I've made Mk V public domain you don't strictly need to do anything, but a link to this page would be a courtesy.
Check back sometimes for Developer Log updates regarding the next version :)
Rap beats, quick and easy!
Both versions of this program won't run on my computer. I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64bit with an Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU.
I get this error: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022). Click OK to close the application."
Gonna go through the executable with Process Monitor and see if I can find anything of interest.
Welp just fixed it. I think it was a DirectPlay issue with Windows 10.
Had to go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64, find the file called "dplayx.dll", and give myself full permissions in the security options of it's properties. After that, I enabled DirectPlay in the Windows' Legacy Components. (Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off > Legacy Components > Tick DirectPlay).
Program runs completely fine now. Cheers.
I love you <3 This fixed the problem, just have to run it as admin. Also ticking the option reset the security rights so it may of been a moot point unless you do it AFTER you check the legacy direct draw box. But the .exe now runs when i launch it, you may of also just fixed another issue such as my problems with command and conquer red alert 2.
Thank-you for the information!
I fond you don't need to do the stuff with the dll files, I just enabled directplay and it worked fine
I'm in the "thinking about" stage of Mk VI. I need to find an audio module for python that is a) small and b) works. It needs to be small, because I'll be using pyinstaller to make a Windows executable (I don't want to have to ask people to install Python), and it bundles the module with it. For example, I don't want to bundle in pygame if I'm just using the audio functions. The few I have looked at don't work with Python 3 or just don't work.
Please also understand that I don't have the free time I used to have 10 years ago, I get maybe a 1 hour (at best) window each day for coding, and I'm sort of focusing on another project ( https://marasmusine.itch.io/crystal-orb-adventures ).
Which version is considered superior?
It's a matter of taste.
MKIII was working fine, but it seems to crash now and then, will this just happen with certain keywords?
I wish I had an answer for you :)
Thinking about a new version, there are Python modules for creating MIDI, and modules for playback. I don't think I can create and play MIDI on-the-fly. That would mean 1) It won't play endlessly. 2) There will be a delay before music starts playing (as it generates the track). Personally, I like that AlgoMusic plays endlessly and plays new titles immediately. What to do?
I would like to have something with higher sound quality. Maybe you could upload it as a separate program so you could choose to have both?
As in higher sample rate, or the sound mix (or both)?
I meant sample rate, but a larger collection of sound files for more diverse songs would be pretty sweet too.