Cosmic DJ (PC, Early Access)

Making music is easy these days. Find a hook, find a catchy beat, throw some words over the top and you”re done, right?

Nah. Not at all, though Cosmic DJ could almost convince you that it”s true. This is a beat-writing game inspired by classic drum machine interactions, according to their website. The plot is some ridiculous guff about being space DJ saving space antenna with The Power of MUUUUUSIC but that okay because putting together tunes is surprisingly easy. Here”s one I made earlier:

For each of the five levels (plus tutorial) you get given a ludicrous reason to write eight bars of music. Your expertise is needed to inspire robots to reform a band, or remind two lovers of why they were together in the first place. Whatever the reason, it doesn”t matter. It gave the creators a reason to include a horse wearing 3D glasses and a rocket-powered sheep dog, so I”m all for it.

You”re given a choice of four or five instruments, a range of four notes and 32 positions for each on the graphical sequencer. Select your instrument, pick your notes and away you go. The backing percussion will help guide you can you could let the story guide your style, but it”s really not necessary.

Once you”ve completed each level, your groups of eight bars are stitched together into a full best online casino track, such as those embedded in this review. In the two or so minutes it takes to generate the song, you get to create your own album covers, choosing from a series of backgrounds and stickers or images that you upload. I know, it”s hard to believe but I didn”t draw those beautiful covers by hand. I merely designed them from the building blocks available.

Ostensibly, your music fills a bar that indicates how inspired your charges are by your music. In practice, it”s just filled by using enough notes on enough instruments. I say “instruments”. Sometimes you get an abstract vocal generator. Sometimes it”s a range of dog barks. Here”s a track I created by clicking randomly on the inputs. It scored at the top of every meter.

Cosmic DJ may be a gussied-up midi sequencer, but the bizarre graphics are a good laugh and the fixed 4/4 time makes (almost) everything you do sound good. It”s a bit of silly fun that doesn”t take itself seriously and still has the flexibility to create stuff that sounds really good. Check out the Cosmic DJ SoundCloud tag for more.

Cosmic DJ is out now in Early Access on Steam.