Music Composition
General Information
Ultima Online has always been known for the freedom it lends its artists, whether decorating their characters, their homes, their outward personalities, or even their inventories in some cases. Now, exclusively on Angel Island, skilled musicians can also decorate the air (and make a good living doing so) using a brand new, custom designed Music Composition system!
In general, bards play music using speech commands (which are detailed in the following section.) Players can select from a variety of instruments, assign notes to hotkeys, and can even script complex compositions using assistants such as razor.
As well, a modernized, in-game music player has been added as a luxury item, which allows players to sell, sample and purchase scripted compositions from other players.
Read on to learn more about how to use the Angel Island Music Composition system.
Instructions for Composers
Music composition uses the [play command. You do not need an instrument to use it, but require at least 80 skill in Musicianship.
If you don't select an instrument, the default instrument will play, which is a virtual harp. The other two options are the virtual lap harp or virtual Lute.
The basic format for using the [play command is as follows:
[play note|pause [note|pause] …
Note Values
There are 25 possible note values:
- cl (low C)
- csl (low C#)
- d (D)
- ds (D#)
- e (E)
- f (F)
- fs (F#)
- g (G)
- gs (G#)
- a (A)
- as (A#)
- b (B)
- c (middle C)
- cs (C#)
- dh (high D)
- dsh (high D#)
- eh (high E)
- fh (high F)
- fsh (high F#)
- gh (high G)
- gsh (high G#)
- ah (high A)
- ash (high A#)
- bh (high B)
- ch (high C)
Incorrect Notes
You need at least 80.0 Musicianship to use [play
However, anything under GM and you will suffer a penalty where you have a chance to play notes incorrectly.
Play Command Variants
The [play command is also used for a variety of purposes beyond playing simple notes and pauses. This section covers its many other uses.
Sheet Music
Rolled up Sheet Music has been added, allowing entrepreneurial troubadours to sell the music they have composed.
See Sheet Music for more information.
Music Box
A custom, luxury music player has been added to allow Angel Island homeowners to listen to music at their residences. It has been modernized to understand spoken commands, and works in conjunction with Sheet music to simplify the marketplace.
For more information, see Music Box
Sample Tunes
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
(Razor: Add a 2sec pause after the third line, and a 4sec pause before the last line.)
[play cl 0.4 cl 0.4 g 0.4 g 0.4 a 0.4 a 0.4 g 0.8
[play f 0.4 f 0.4 e 0.4 e 0.4 d 0.4 d 0.4 cl 0.8
[play g 0.4 g 0.4 f 0.4 f 0.4 e 0.4 e 0.4 d 0.8
[play g 0.4 g 0.4 f 0.4 f 0.4 e 0.4 e 0.4 d 0.8
[play cl 0.4 cl 0.4 g 0.4 g 0.4 a 0.4 a 0.4 g 0.8
[play f 0.4 f 0.4 e 0.4 e 0.4 d 0.4 d 0.4 cl 0.8
Frere Jacques
(Razor: Add a 1sec pause between the 2nd and 3rd lines.
[play c 0.3 dh 0.3 eh 0.3 c 0.4 c 0.3 dh 0.3 eh 0.3 c 0.3
[play eh 0.3 fh 0.3 gh 1.0 eh 0.3 fh 0.3 gh 1.0 gh 0.1 ah 0.1 gh 0.1 fh 0.1 eh 0.3 c 0.3
[play gh 0.1 ah 0.1 gh 0.1 fh 0.1 eh 0.3 c 0.4 c 0.3 g 0.3 c 1.0 c 0.3 g 0.3 c
Pop Goes the Weasel
[play d 0.2 g 0.6 g 0.2 a 0.6 a 0.2 b 0.2 dh 0.2 b 0.2 g 0.6
[play d 0.2 g 0.6 g 0.2 a 0.6 c 0.2 b 0.8 g 0.6
[play d 0.2 g 0.6 g 0.2 a 0.6 a 0.2 b 0.2 dh 0.2 b 0.2 g 0.8
[play eh 0.8 a 0.4 c 0.2 b 0.8 g