House music and music boxes

MotherOfMoss

I have two eternity wishes when it comes to housing: weather control and audio editing (and a few others too if we're being honest, but let's stick to these today). Weather control has been gaining traction lately so I'm feeling hopeful we will actually get it some day if it is technically feasible.

That leaves audio editing. I have just finished a remake of my first house, Lucky Cat Landing, and in the process driven myself absolutely insane with music/sound.

Let me elaborate.

/ beginrant

I wanted to cover up the Elsweyr soundtrack, with an aim for something that makes me think of Khenarthi's Roost / generally basegame AD zones. I liked the new Dawnbreaker music box for this; it's more intense and epic to be sure, but somehow still had a suitable vibe. It's also really loud, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

Plan A: I placed my Dawnbreaker music box in the spot below ground in the centre of the yard that puts it just between the interior and the exterior of the house (as the house interior is basically underground), and it worked surprisingly well: the off-putting loudness was but a memory, and I got a nice even blanket of sound throughout the interior and most of the exterior.

Most of the exterior. Maddeningly, near the edges of the yard, by the entrance, and way out back and up above the shrine in the front yard where I also built something, the music box gave way to the zone music. This happened particularly during the more quiet phase towards the tune's end, but it wouldn't reach the more extreme parts of the house at any point while placed in the ground to control the volume.

Plan B: I placed Dawnbreaker in the yard and Steadfast Armistice inside the house. Inside worked well enough with the box up through the ceiling. Good coverage, not too loud. Outside... I kept moving the box to blanket the whole area to no avail: either it wouldn't reach everywhere or it was too loud. Typically both at once.

Plan C: Dawnbreaker in the south part of the yard (entrance side), Steadfast in the far north (balcony side), both underground/a bit further away. Y'ffre inside.

Dawnbreaker is still too loud in places and easily "bleeds" inside the house on top of Y'ffre when I try to dampen it by placing it further down. Hard to create a nice transition from Dawnbreaker to Steadfast in the yard (standing on the balcony, they clash; standing on the northeast landing facing the sea near the gazebo, everything is very quiet and zone music comes through.)

/ endrant

It is what it is, I guess. But here's how I think it could be better:

1. Playback options for music boxes:
- Volume control. I know I'm not the only one who thinks they're too loud, and this also synergises with my second point:
- Range/mode control. At least being able to choose between two modes would be great: one like it is now, where volume decreases the further you go from the box, and another mode where the box affects the entire area (such as house exterior, house interior, whole house, something like that... maybe a few options?) and provides an even volume level throughout that area. Then if we could also adjust the volume, these boxes would become very versatile (and I could pretend my Lucky Cat is on Khenarthi's Roost and not get a headache!).

AND/OR

2. Option to change the soundtrack in a house, pick from all the zone and house soundtracks in the game, much like how we can choose our login screen music these days. I'll still buy the music boxes when they're special, but this would allow me to put the finishing touches on my houses soundwise without too much hassle.

Not sure which of these is the bigger ask... in my sweetest daydreams, we get both, and in reality I am not sure we're getting either but here's hoping.

---

As I write this, I stand in the yard of my Lucky Cat, on the northeast edge to admire the sea. It's one of the prettiest views in the game, and I placed no furnishings there that might obstruct it. Everything is just perfect, until the exultant music in the background gradually fades, and an intrusive esraj once more cuts through my make-believe Mistral soundscape. I die a little bit inside.

(I did actually have a lot of fun with this build and I think the housing system on the whole is great and very permissive! But the audio angst I have is also very real in the wake of this build.)

Congratulations on your reading stamina if you got this far. Have a picture:

derkaiserliche

i would rly enjoy having some nostalgic skyrim or oblivion soundtracks playing in my house

thecatsme0w

I just wish music boxes were a separate furnishing category with their own unique limit because if they weren't taking up traditional furnishing slots, there are houses I would absolutely GO HAM with music boxes in but can't because....item limits. (I would trade my immortal soul for more furnishing limits).

BretonMage

Yes! Music is such a key part of the ambience. I think it needs a bit more attention and options. I'd love to be able to change the soundtrack in the home to another zone of one's choice. I've also found that some music boxes are too quiet and I can barely hear them.

MotherOfMoss

BretonMage wrote: »

I've also found that some music boxes are too quiet and I can barely hear them.

Yes, while I am more likely to complain about them being loud, in this build I also kind of ran into the quiet problem: I tried to replace the Dawnbreaker box at one point with the Steadfast one, because the latter is much quieter. But it was altogether too quiet to use in large area. So... dreaming of volume and range control

Elvenheart

My problem with music boxes is that when you have two houses on the property like Waters edge, when you put a music box in one house, you hear the music box in both houses as if the sound is being piped from one house to another.

MotherOfMoss

Oh that's interesting, never tried a music box in a house like that. The interiors must be close together "underground" then. (You can check where the interiors are by placing an item inside, then going outside and using retrieve to move it upwards until you can see it pop out of the ground, if you're curious )

But basically the same suggestion then: range control please

Elvenheart

MotherOfMoss wrote: »

Oh that's interesting, never tried a music box in a house like that. The interiors must be close together "underground" then. (You can check where the interiors are by placing an item inside, then going outside and using retrieve to move it upwards until you can see it pop out of the ground, if you're curious )

But basically the same suggestion then: range control please

That’s so cool, I’ll have to try that!