Offbeat might be that thing that kickstarts my music career once and for all. Then again, it’s highly unlikely, as 1) I have zero desire to be a professional musician and 2) I don’t possess a single skill when it comes to musical composition. Despite an illustrious history of the recorder, trumpet, and a fair selection of guitar and basses that collected dust, being able to play and create music was always on the agenda; but I, like so many others, never get/got around to it.
A few years ago I requested an Akai keyboard, then an 8-kit drum thingymajig. Again, didn’t play. Only six months ago, I bought a portable drum/sampler to connect to Koala on the go. It’s still collecting dust, having never left its shelf. I just can’t get my head around it, nor do I have the aspirations to pay for a course or invest time in understanding how it all works. However, I do like playing games and am an advocate that learning is fun. Thankfully, Whetstone Games lets you create music without any faff, and it’s fun, too.
Currently in the Early Access phase, Offbeat is a tiny music studio that lets you create tunes with household items, and being able to further tinker with those devices, too. Set in the mid 80s, your good ol’ uncle has sent you a sequencer he purchased with hopes of being a musician but couldn’t work out how to use the thing (sound familiar yet?), and immediately sets you a task of making a ringtone for his new wireless phone. Don’t have any musical experience or understand how this all works? It doesn’t matter. You’ll be creating within seconds.
Using your ‘favourite item’, a cat/tiger/lion kids keyboard, you plug it into the sequencer to rip some tunes. Initially, this might seem overwhelming looking at a series of mini rectangles to light up, but click on them methodically or randomly, and you can start creating tunes. Unsurprisingly, less is more, and after going gung-ho and clicking everything, being able to play back the sequences or loop sections allows you to fine-tune until you get the sounds you want. I’ll butcher the quote, but very early on the game tells you that there’s no right way to make music, which is absolutely key to see at the beginning of the game and massively encouraging.
Offbeat’s mission statement is applied through practice, too, as you can effectively create anything you like without hindrance and submit it as part of your gig without being penalised for it and unable to progress. After that initial ringtone for your uncle, you then get a series of requests for jingles and whatnot and sample this on audio cassettes (remember them?!). In turn, you’re paid a very, very low fee, though this is more than enough to invest in mail order instructments or whatsits that you can plug in and sample.
Though submissions are very lax, there is still criteria you need to meet such as hitting a certain vibe, or expectatatuions for parts of a song and finishing off a composition for another artist. Once more, these aren’t so rigid and you aren’t under any restraint – as it should be. Because of this, progress can be swift, in terms of unlocking each of the chapters or additional instruments (not necessarily musical ones), though if you really get into it, you could spend hours experimenting.
Very early on in Offbeat you get the chance to mod the gear you already have; adding multiple effects, manipulating octaves and a host most. What stands out most about Offbeat is its creativity and accessiblity. This is the first time I’ve been able to dive straight in and making someing that ‘sounds good’ as opposed to being overwhelmed with a myriad of filters, effects, plugins, and other tat I don’t need as a beginner. The learning curve is very good and it feels very much like a musical sandbox.
If I were to build a better picture of how Offbeat presents itself, it would be Unpacking meets ODDADA, from the perspective of a freelance composer specialising in sound production for the Amiga 500. That sounds pretty impressive to me, and quite honestly, it’s a fun bit of kit. While there are a couple of things to iron out, such as being able to exit the game without fear of losing data whilst playing in handheld mode, you can export and keep every WAV file you produce. Forget your smartphone app bloat – make your own ringtone like it’s the mid 90s! Quality stuff.
