Better music!

[Niv-mizzet]

*disclaimer: Obviously, music quality is a thing of pure opinion.*

One thing I miss from Everquest, especially the planes of power, is the music. A lot of the tracks were at least up to par, and made a lot of sense being where they were. For an example, you can youtube up bastion of thunder, which is a tower in the plane of storms. It really sounds like a stormy symphony. It also sounds good!

The main thing I have missed ever since I started DDO has been GOOD MUSIC. My current up-to-date list of quests that I enjoy more because the music is good is as follows:
-Finding the Path
-Sinister Storage
-Spinner of Shadows

I would love to see a guy assigned to go through the old game and put in some thematic music. Yeah, many people listen to their own, or keep any music off anyway, but I appreciate game music that tries to get me more immersed in where ever I currently am.

And really, even just a decent sewer theme would cover like a quarter of the game.

Raids, I would really wish for a unique theme for each raid boss.

Good music themes in games make things feel so much bigger. I know I wouldn't have been so awed by Magus from Chrono Trigger if his music theme wasn't also freakin amazing.

[Feather_of_Sun]

Read by a dev.

By the way, check out the music in Amrath. It's my personal favorite.

[Celastelin]

I'd be delighted to get the composers from Final Fantasy XIII-2 in this game! Nothing wrong with the music currently in game but I agree that the battles need a stronger musical emphasis.

To add to feather of sun's response: My fav piece so far is the Diplomatic Impunity where you see the Droaam army.

[Cardoor]

The only reason I turned my music off was the unnecessarily dramatic music in the marketplace. It didn't bother me until I was at the AH for about 10 minutes...maybe getting rid of the really jarring part could be a quick fix. If I remember right the harbor doesn't have that part in the music (could be wrong about that though).

[MrCow]

One thing I miss from Everquest, especially the planes of power, is the music.

I agree that the works of Paul Romero and Rob King are quite nice. They are among my favorite video game musicians and often find myself playing the sound tracks to Everquest and the Heroes of Might and Magic Series...

I would love to see a guy assigned to go through the old game and put in some thematic music. Yeah, many people listen to their own, or keep any music off anyway, but I appreciate game music that tries to get me more immersed in where ever I currently am.

... however I am still of the belief that Geoff Scott takes the right approach with DDO, using ambient sound and ambient music to set mood for a bulk of the situations encountered. It can create mood without overtaxing the user. The quest Missing is a good example as the ambient soundtrack is that of low-volume screams and eerie sounds to create an unsettling feeling.

[Zyerz]

Read by a dev.

By the way, check out the music in Amrath. It's my personal favorite.

I love DDO's music myself. Especially the dreaming dark related ones.... Wow, that was an amazing job...

[Theris]

Please find time and budget to hire Michael Hoenig. He composed the music to Baldur's Gate (1998), Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999), and Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn (2000). When I think of the Underdark its his compositions that really bring in the atmosphere:

Underdark from BG2: http://youtu.be/w5Zf71-vdx4
Baldur's Gate: http://youtu.be/ZP7vWiaxw7Y


PS: Mark Morgan is another composer I just thought of. He did the music for Fallout series and Planescape: Torment. Ahh Planescape...such fond memories of the audio work in that game. *sigh*

PST Bar Theme: http://youtu.be/tGjDvP2LlhU

[redspecter23]

I find it absolutely impossible to hear anyone over voice chat with my music set at even the lowest setting. I keep voice chat maxed, music at 0 and sound effects at 1 and even then I have to turn sound effects off occasionally if chat voice is low. As much as I'd love for the music to be better, I only listen to it when I'm soloing anyway so it's not a huge concern to me. I keep a few specific soundtracks around for when I'm in the mood for music. DnD Tactics has a surprisingly great soundtrack for a game with some rather glaring flaws.

[NytCrawlr]

The quest Missing is a good example as the ambient soundtrack is that of low-volume screams and eerie sounds to create an unsettling feeling.

Exactly. I love Madness I's music. Especially the unsettling, eerie parts.

[sirgog]

I find it absolutely impossible to hear anyone over voice chat with my music set at even the lowest setting. I keep voice chat maxed, music at 0 and sound effects at 1 and even then I have to turn sound effects off occasionally if chat voice is low. As much as I'd love for the music to be better, I only listen to it when I'm soloing anyway so it's not a huge concern to me. I keep a few specific soundtracks around for when I'm in the mood for music. DnD Tactics has a surprisingly great soundtrack for a game with some rather glaring flaws.

This. Unless voice chat is fixed I too will have music at either 0 or 1%.

Oh and I nominate Nobou Uematsu (of Final Fantasy fame) for best music composer in gaming.

[dunklezhan]

To add to feather of sun's response: My fav piece so far is the Diplomatic Impunity where you see the Droaam army.

Me too! It was totally unexpected the first time I heard it, but it's awesome. Mixed a little high in volume though, it kind of drowns out the NPC/GM.

I'm sure I've heard some music in a tavern that sounds very much like some of the Bladur's Gate music, but jazzed up a bit. That's good.

Also - the music at the end of Explosive Situation solo quest in the harbour. That's awesome.

3bc starts off awesome and then gets.... grating. Which is a shame, because it's one of my favorite packs.

Meridia may be black sabbath, but it's still out of place to me. Fits with the rest of the heavy metal theme of the area though, right down to the orthons dancing.

I think the music in DDO is mostly extremely good - what it isn't is 'soundtrack' memorable, and I agree I'd like to see more like that.

[Rinnaldo]

The only reason I turned my music off was the unnecessarily dramatic music in the marketplace. It didn't bother me until I was at the AH for about 10 minutes...maybe getting rid of the really jarring part could be a quick fix. If I remember right the harbor doesn't have that part in the music (could be wrong about that though).

This is why I turned my music off and have left it that way.

[danotmano1998]

I find it absolutely impossible to hear anyone over voice chat with my music set at even the lowest setting. I keep voice chat maxed, music at 0 and sound effects at 1 and even then I have to turn sound effects off occasionally if chat voice is low.

Yep!
This is the problem we face with DDO's voice chat.

One guy so loud he blows the windows out, and the other guy so soft that you can't hear him no matter how loud you turn up.

I didn't even realize there WAS music in these, since I've had to turn every sound in game to nearly off just to hear the important stuff.

So... How's that long requested voice chat individual volume fix coming along Turbine?

[zeonardo]

Nobody's mentioned Nobuo Uematsu?

to the OP
My favorite one is Jungle Tavern.

That's music when you go to the Gnoll village on the Vale of Twilight.
A few more here

[waterboytkd]

I know I wouldn't have been so awed by Magus from Chrono Trigger if his music theme wasn't also freakin amazing.

This.

Oh and I nominate Nobou Uematsu (of Final Fantasy fame) for best music composer in gaming.

And this. Really, I would not be surprised if I found that I didn't care for Final Fantasy if the music were turned off (never tried it).

How impossible would it be for Turbine to get Nobou Uematsu to do some theme music? I would pay to get that to happen.

[Myrddinman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=720-keAmj1E

This is what I listen to when I play DDO! Govellius FTW!!!

[Celastelin]

Nobody's mentioned Nobuo Uematsu?

Thanks for this. I was trying to think of the name but he didn't appear in the composer listing in the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Soundtrack.

Speaking of which: Can you imagine fighting an epic Velah with this theme?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uncwKFZflS0

[Stanley_Nicholas]

*disclaimer: Obviously, music quality is a thing of pure opinion.*

One thing I miss from Everquest, especially the planes of power, is the music. A lot of the tracks were at least up to par, and made a lot of sense being where they were. For an example, you can youtube up bastion of thunder, which is a tower in the plane of storms. It really sounds like a stormy symphony. It also sounds good!

The main thing I have missed ever since I started DDO has been GOOD MUSIC. My current up-to-date list of quests that I enjoy more because the music is good is as follows:
-Finding the Path
-Sinister Storage
-Spinner of Shadows

I would love to see a guy assigned to go through the old game and put in some thematic music. Yeah, many people listen to their own, or keep any music off anyway, but I appreciate game music that tries to get me more immersed in where ever I currently am.

And really, even just a decent sewer theme would cover like a quarter of the game.

Raids, I would really wish for a unique theme for each raid boss.

Good music themes in games make things feel so much bigger. I know I wouldn't have been so awed by Magus from Chrono Trigger if his music theme wasn't also freakin amazing.

+1 for mentioning the music from ChronoTrigger. The music from that game is what all game music should be judged by, and not just Maugs' theme. It's amazing what they were able to pull of on a SNES cartridge game.

[Talias006]

Nobody's mentioned Nobuo Uematsu?

to the OP
My favorite one is Jungle Tavern.

That's music when you go to the Gnoll village on the Vale of Twilight.
A few more here

Is there anywhere that we can find the audio to play elsewhere than the game?
Can I find the track hidden inside the game's audio folder, perhaps?
Listened to about 20 seconds of The Devil's Battlefield and want that track!

[MrCow]

Can I find the track hidden inside the game's audio folder, perhaps?

DDO uses a .dat file to encode/compress the audio and sound files, so it is not readily available. You would have to use something like DAT_UNPACKER to extract the DDO audio and sound files.

If you would rather not go through those steps, you can use the official DDO soundtrack page (which is incomplete) or the Directory of Dungeons and Dragons Music (which is near complete).