Music Scrolls, Player Pianos, and Music Boxes

I would like for players to be able to create and exchange music scrolls as a way to share ABC and MML music files in-game. The way I envision it, using a scroll would cause a new music file (ABC or MML) to be created in your SotA music folder so that you could then play that song on any instrument. Players would be able to craft or purchase blank music scrolls. Any player would be able to transcribe a song from "memory" (that player's SotA music folder) onto blank scroll, and then share that scroll with others. In summary, learning music from scrolls should feel very much like learning purchased crafting recipes, and creating music scrolls should feel very much like publishing books.

I would also like a way to have music from my SotA music folder play automatically while I do other things, especially around my house. To do this, I would propose the creation of player pianos: anybody who owns a player piano could load a music scroll into it, and the player piano would play the music automatically (just as real-life player pianos use piano rolls). There are probably other instruments besides pianos which could have automated versions in-game.

Finally, another fun thing to do with ABC or MML music would be to create music boxes. Players would have to craft the music boxes using carpentry and smithing skills, and one ingredient for the creation of a music box would have to be a music scroll to "program" it with. The programming would become a permanent and integral part of the music box, which would play that one song any time it were activated.

 

+1 on the music boxes.

 

Forgive me for saying this because I also want this. But I wonder if having recordings to share and sell in game raises copyright issues. There is the original song writer, and in many cases there was someone else that converted it to ABC for lotro or something. Maybe a dumb question, but I am curious.

 

Right now you can transcribe to sheet music in the game, and play from sheet music.

 

Yep, but that is just like playing a cover on a stage. But there is a line in which people will start trouble. I dealt with copyright in poster art before. Some artists think they have more rights than they do and will give you lots of headaches in the process.

Legally speaking, it could be argued that the MIDI to ABC conversion is an unauthorized derivative work. That is how crazy the laws are. Why would they bother, well SotA is a 10 million dollar game or they are just anal about how the result sounds since it represents their work.

Guess I am a little battle worn and these kind of hassles make a game really stressful. I assume SotA has something in their terms of service that protects them hopefully.

 

Sheet music is more or less what I was asking for with "music scrolls." How do you transcribe a song to sheet music? Is there a command for it? Where do you get the paper for transcribing? Is there a way to export sheet music from SotA to a file?

 

I'm not sure the exact process; I haven't personally done it. Maybe someone else here can give you the details.

But, for instance, if you go to a bookseller, they'll sell you Rule Britannia sheet music. The only thing missing right now is being able to see the notes on the sheet by opening it up! Also would be cool if you could compile individual sheets into a book.

 

Somehow, I completely missed the existence of these. I did some reading, and learned that you can play sheet music by having an instrument equipped and then double-clicking the sheet music. I couldn't find specific directions for writing sheet music, but apparently it's done the same way as writing books. Blank sheet music can be crafted using the tailoring skill.

This means that some of my requests already exist, but I'd still like a way to "memorize" music (export it to a local file on your computer), player pianos (and/or other instruments which can play sheet music autonomously), and craftable music boxes (with a sheet of music being one ingredient in the recipe).