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# ludum dare 29: underground city defender
- URL: https://wootangent.net/ludum-dare-29-underground-city-defender/
- Published: 2014-04-29T13:11:15.000Z
- Updated: 2014-04-29T13:11:15.000Z
- Author: Leigh Dyer
- Tags: Games, Music, ardour, aspect, ludum dare, pianoteq, samplv1, switchbreak, #Migrated-1792830072870, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 08:21

This weekend was [Ludum Dare](http://www.ludumdare.com/?ref=wootangent.net) again, and again [Switchbreak](http://switchbreak.net/?ref=wootangent.net) asked me to write some music for his entry. It's called [*Underground City Defender*](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=2645&ref=wootangent.net), and it's a HTML5/Javascript game, so you can play it in your browser [here](http://switchbreak.net/Prototypes/UndergroundCityPrototype/?ref=wootangent.net)!

The original idea for the game was to make it [Night Vale](http://commonplacebooks.com/?ref=wootangent.net)\-themed, so I started the music with a [Disparition](http://disparition.bandcamp.com/?ref=wootangent.net) vibe in mind. The game didn't turn out that way in the end, but that's okay, since the music didn't either! It's suitably dark and has a driving beat to it, so I think fits the game pretty well.

[The Songs of Switchbreak by pneuman](http://pneuman.bandcamp.com/album/the-songs-of-switchbreak?ref=wootangent.net)

My move to San Francisco is just a few weeks away, so I've sold most of my studio gear, including my audio interface and keyboard. That left me using my on-board sound card to run JACK and Ardour, but that turned out just fine -- with no hardware synths to record from, not having a proper audio interface didn't slow me down.

As some of you guessed, the toy in the mystery box in my last post was indeed a [Teenage Engineering OP-1](http://www.teenageengineering.com/products/op-1?ref=wootangent.net). It filled in as my MIDI controller here, and while it's no substitute for a full-sized, velocity-sensitive keyboard, it did a surprisingly good job.

Software-wise, I used Rui's [samplv1](http://samplv1.sourceforge.net/samplv1-index.html?ref=wootangent.net) for the kick and snare drums, which worked brilliantly. I created separate tracks for the kick and snare, and added samplv1 to each, loading appropriate samples and then tweaking samplv1's filters and envelopes to get the sound I was after. In the past I've used Hydrogen and created custom drum kits when I needed to make these sorts of tweaks, but having the same features (and more!) in a plugin within Ardour is definitely more convenient.

The other plugins probably aren't surprising -- Pianoteq for the pianos, Loomer Aspect for everything else -- and of course, it was sequenced in Ardour 3\. Ardour was a bit crashy for me in this session; I don't know if it was because of my hasty JACK setup, or some issues in Ardour's current Git code, but I'll see if I can narrow it down.