Hello Games surprised players with a new, completely functional in game synthesizer. The studio calls the machine the ByteBeat Device, and it’s capable of creating new music tracks for the game.
From the developer: ”
Base building is a big part of what people spend their time doing in our game, and a frequent request is for the ability to add sounds and music to their construction. Our team always likes a creative challenge, and audio is one of our big passions. Over the last few weeks one of our coders got obsessed with making an audio creation tool for the community, we were so excited about it we thought it’d be a nice surprise to release it.
We love playing around with music toys like Teenage Engineering Synths or FruityLoops, and we like the idea of creating something that can encourage anyone to make cool audio.
Once placed in your base and powered, the ByteBeat will immediately begin to produce sound. ByteBeat formulas are made out of simple waveforms that are manipulated through maths – but by default, the device handles all of the mathematical heavy lifting, procedurally generating random presets for you to play with. Dedicated audiophiles have the option to explore deeper, manually sketching out note sequences, rhythms, and even manipulating the raw sounds.
Audio enthusiasts interested in reading more about the original concept of ByteBeat music may find this article a good starting point.”