Friday, October 20, 2023
By: Matthew Doucette

Today, Xona Music is reborn!

Some of you may not know, but I used to compose music and stopped 20 years ago. My last song was composed in 2003. As of today I am back making music again, under my Xonatron music alias.

I do not have any songs to share yet. When I am ready, I will be sharing my work here:

>>> Xona Music <<<

 

Xona Music in Xona Games?

Perhaps. You may see some of our own music in our games. (No promises.) Perhaps the OST for our next game, Kakeru: Next Level. (We'll see.)

 

Updated History:

Here's a short breakdown of my music production history:

A timeline:

• 1995-2001:
• • Software: Fast Tracker II (FT2).
  • Composed 224 songs, according to my .xm and .mod files; They are numbered "01".."213" with the addition of remakes (of my own songs), projects (such as games, game mods, ...), and test songs (to test music playing frameworks).
• 1998-2000:
• • Software: ReBirth.
  • Composed 3 songs, according to my three .rbs files; They were made all in the same year, however the year was not recorded; It was between 1998 (based on my ReBirth version, version 1998) and 2000 (based on the last modified date of my songs).
• 2001:
• • Software: Cool Edit Pro.
  • Remastered/remixed 2 songs in 2001.
• 2002..2003:
• • Software: Fruity Loops 3 (FL3).
  • Composed at least 67 songs, according to my last song extracted as .mp3 numbered "67" as well as a old photograph (see below) showing I had song "17.flp" loaded that shows I was naming the songs with a number count, same as I did back with FT2.
• 2003..present:
• • Software: FL Studio 21.
  • Composing songs now...!

Note: Fruity Loops rebranded as FL Studio in 2003, after I quit. I lost all of my original Fruity Loop 3 files, and only have 10 songs exported as .mp3 remaining.

Fast Tracker II, loaded with my "Another Day" song.
Circa 1995-2001.

Fruity Loops 3, loaded with my "17.flp" song.
Circa 2002-2003.

Fast Tracker II vs. Fruity Loops 3:

A quote from my old personal website, describing the advances in Fruity Loops 3 over Fast Tracker II:

The FT2 format (.xm) is quite limited in comparison to FL3's format (.flp). FT2 songs can only use samples as is, without the ability to apply additional effects, and they must be mono. FL3 allows many real-time professional effects such as stereo reverb, chorus, and echo. To produce such professional sounds in FT2, you must use third party sound editing programs and many tricks of the trade inside FT2 itself. With that in mind, it's impressive when anyone produces professional sounding tracks in FT2.

 

Xona- Rebranding History:

Before 2004, I was not known as Xonatron and we were not known as the Xona- suite: My music predated Xonatech, Xona.com, Xona Forums, Xona Music, etc., and Xonatron.

A timeline:

• "Tech Articles" launched in 2004.
• "Tech Articles" (xonatech.com) rebranded as Xonatech in 2005.
• Xonatech rebranded as Xona.com (xona.com) in 2005.
• Xonatech (xona.com/tech) became a sub-project of Xona.com, among many other Xona- sub-projects.
• Xona Music (xona.com/music) launched in 2006 with first publishing of my music.
• I rebranded as Xonatron in 2008 adopting it as my music alias.
• Xona Games (xona.com/games) launched in 2008 as a sub-project of Xona.com.
• Xona Games Inc. incorporated in 2010 after winning many awards.
• Xona.com (xona.com) became Xona Games (xona.com) in 2010-2011, when it become our most dominate project.

 

Imphenzia and Dragon Music:

We still have much need and love for Imphenzia and Dragon Music! We are still very interested in continuing to work with them both. Ultimately, we hope to eventually release a game with a dual soundtrack; No promises! And we do not foresee being able to produce all of the music we need in our games on our own.

 

Milestone:

In the same light as our Xona Games is Reborn! post, this one is a milestone worthy for us to remember.

 

That is all.

 

 

About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.