While previous consoles required sequencing in order to produce music in game soundtracks, pre-recording came along with 5th generation video game consoles and was very advantageous. The sound quality was much better, and music could be made freely with any kind and number of instruments, a rather new concept. It allowed game developers to create one track that could be played back during the course of the game. The quality was only limited by the effort put into the mastering of the track. The audio of CD-quality allowed for music and voice, which had the potential to be indistinguishable from any other source or genre of music.
CD-audio was not perfect and had some flaws. The technology was limited in spindle speed, which meant that playing a track from the game CD meant that the system could not access data again until the track stopped playing. The most common form of game music, looping, was also limited in that the laser had to go back to the beginning to read the track again, ending up in a noticeable gap in audio playback. Some developers tried to address this problem by creating compressed audio, leading to smoother looping, lowering seek time for the playback of music, and less memory used to play the music.
The use of compressed audio and stream allowed the designers of games to play back the streamed music and allowed access to other data on the disc, without the interruption of the music. This was a huge step for video game music, as it allowed for composers to independently produce their music to their own satisfaction, without the need to learn about programming or gaming architecture. Popular musicians could now add their own music into video games, as is seen in games such as Dance Dance Revolution or Grand Theft Auto.
Modern gaming still uses a sequenced sampling approach when it comes to music, mainly seen in RPGs. Sometimes there is a hybrid between sequencing samples and streaming music. Games still use the music to their advantage, by mixing the sound based on the cues of the game’s environment, as seen in a lot of battle games. As music developed in the 6th generation of consoles, the application of special effects to streamed audio became more popular. For example, wind and air noises could be amplified and the music could be muffled when the character is in the air. This is still seen in a lot of action games, where the music will change based on the amount of danger.
A lot of specialization in video game music occurred during the time of pre-recording and streaming, which continued to develop to the kind of technology that is seen in modern video games. There is still a lot more that evolves in the course of a few years, so that we can have the video game music that is present in our culture today.
Have a great day!
-Elisabeth