Music composers definitely produce a product that is subject to taste but why are you making this become the issue when it is not? I am assuming that Larian Studios would assign music composition to someone they trust can produce good taste music.

>Basically what you're talking about is an interactive sampler, right?

I do not think so.

>(As in interaction between looped samples and the game engine)

Certainly not, loops do not have the required intelligence to interact with anything.


>You're talking about an entire score made with loops...

Again, no.

>To me, as a composer, that means lots of limitations.

It would be certainly a limitation in the way you put it, but I did not know that you composed music too.

>The biggest limitation being that I'm putting the direction of my music in the hands of a machine (eek! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> )

No, that is not necessarily true for all types of themes.
The machine does not decide anything in absolute randomness, but it reports collision events to inform the program about when to add (mix in) a new musical expression that was intelligently composed to be mixed in deliberately in that way.

>I feel the hair on my back rise and I don't even have any (not there anyway)

I get the point, but there is no need to panic, it is really a simple concept but definitely hard work.

>I'm not saying there'd be no room for creativity,
>but when it comes to music (read: taste), there would be limitations...

Instead of limitations, I see it completely and diametrically the contrary, a new possibility of expression.
Indeed it is a challenge for composers to handle a new tool for creativity.
An artist who is accustomed to draw with pastel colours might say that acryl is vulgar striking and tasteless.
An artist who is a classic illustrator may find Picasso’s Cubics tasteless and ridiculous.
I think it is unfair to judge this effect before trying it out and experimenting with it to get a handle on it.

>And there's still a big difference between mixing variations and accompaniments, and writing actual music...

How can a DJ mix what was never written?
The DJ is given strict instructions to play a background music track to encourage young dancers to leave the tables and chairs and begin dancing. He is instructed to add lights, and mix in a harmony when the dancers on the floor are ten couples. He is instructed to play the full theme and add breaks when the floor gets crowded and triggers a light show. What does that have to do with writing music on stage? It does not.

>I admit, loops just give me the creeps (in musical context anyway <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> ).
>And I admit, it's just a matter of taste.

You seem to have caught the ox by the tail here. I did not suggest writing music in loops but I did suggest analysing the music to extract the existing loops that need not be recorded more than once. I am quite aware that human factor added would make any measure sound a bit different from any other even if it was an accompaniment accord. We have one of too choices here, to leave it as a perfectly identical measure, as it is in the background, or to tweak it by adding a control envelop.
I also gave a very precise example using the heartbeat loop in the background and mixing in the drum-set and then mixing in the vocals for climax. You did not comment on that and left me in the dark with your objections and panic.

Kindest regards.