I play Dungeons and Dragons. It's my "other" hobby, and I'm pretty into it. Normally my priorities are work, girlfriend, music, D&D and then piss in that order; but lately D&D has shifted up the ladder.
So, I decided to try to examine what makes some of the online or computer based roleplaying games more dramatic and interesting than the old books n' dice variety that I play. I found it's the setting.
So, I figured I will get the music back into my life (have been taking a bit of a break recently) by making up some theme music for my Role Playing Game sessions.
With Live, I can set long loops of various classical pieces. I don't have to be very dilligent with warp markers, I try to keep everything in "repitch" mode and keep it close to the original tempo. Anything by Grieg, Tchaikovsky or Wagner is top notch - the changes of energy in the music allow me to match the mood of the game at that moment.
Some Dungeon Masters have used pieces of music for mood before, but they had no control over when the crescendos hit. That, and they're mucking with the FFWD or REV controls on their CD player. Not cool in the heat of a big confrontation against a Dark Elf Lord.
Simply, with a few warp markers, bingo - I control the progression of the piece. I plan to map scenes to my Akai MPD-16 controller, and not even look at the Ableton Live window (I keep Excel open to track the battles and characters that I run).
Plus, when I do get around to warping some pieces fully, for some really nasty battles (when the Player Characters are winning of course), I will be able to throw in a hard 303 acid line if I need to, or a thick chunky compressed dirty break on top of some killer Wagner.
