Visual novel music

A small set of moods, played under a lot of reading. Make everyday, romance, tension, comedy and sad themes that loop quietly while the reader takes their time.

1 version with stems · instrumental

Use in ChatGPT
Try

This is an example. Describe your own above and it comes like this too: solo a part, redo one, download them, or edit it in Studio.

Songs made here

Made from these words on this page, each with its stems. Move a level, or press M or S, to hear a part on its own.

Tension. a quiet tension loop with a low string ostinato, a soft pulse and uneasy piano clusters

Comedy. a light comedy loop with bassoon, pizzicato strings and a bouncy, playful rhythm

How it works

  1. Start from the words in the box. "a gentle everyday slice-of-life theme with soft piano, light strings and warm acoustic guitar". Change any of them, or pick an idea under the box.
  2. Pick the shape. Seamless loop is on, for music that repeats without a click. Pick a tempo, a key and a length, or leave them on Auto.
  3. Get your track with its stems. Play it, download the mix or the stems, or open it in Studio to change the parts.

A small set of moods, played a lot

A visual novel's soundtrack is a palette. Each scene is tagged with a mood, and the same few tracks come back across the whole story. Make the core set first and the rest of the writing gets easier to score.

  • Everyday: soft piano, light strings, warm guitar.
  • Tension: a low string ostinato and an uneasy pulse.
  • Sad: solo violin or cello, slow chords.
  • Romance: solo piano and a warm cello line.
  • Comedy: bassoon, pizzicato, a bouncy rhythm.
  • Mystery: muted vibraphone and plucked bass.

Music under reading

Readers go at their own pace, so one scene's music might play for thirty seconds or ten minutes. Turn on Seamless loop and use the full two minutes. Keep the melody soft and the arrangement thin: the words are the main event, and a busy tune pulls attention away from them. Avoid big builds and drops, which land at a random point in someone's reading.

Character themes and quiet versions

Give each main character an instrument of their own and a short description of who they are: "a shy, gentle flute theme", "a bold, brassy theme for a rival". Players learn the sound before they learn the face.

Every track comes as five stems (drums, bass, guitar, keys and other). Play a character's theme with only the keys for a private moment, or strip the everyday theme down for a scene at night. The cinematic music generator is useful for the big set pieces.

Questions

Should the music change mid-scene?

Only when the mood changes, and on a bar line or after a short fade. Switching on every line of dialogue gets tiring; one track per beat of the story is usually enough.

How do I keep a visual novel's tracks sounding like one game?

Share a few instruments across the set (one piano, one string sound) and stay close in tempo. Different keys are fine for different moods.

How many tracks does a visual novel need?

Fewer than you'd think. A core set of moods (everyday, tension, sad, romance, comedy) covers most scenes, plus a theme for each main character and a few for big moments. Start there and add tracks as routes need them.

Can I use the music in a commercial game or video?

Yes. Every song is royalty-free on every plan, Free included: use it in commercial games, videos, streams, podcasts and apps.

Can I use it in Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes. Add https://gen.daydream.live/mcp as a custom connector in Claude, or as a custom MCP server in ChatGPT, or add the Daydream app from ChatGPT's directory, and sign in with your Daydream account. Then describe a song in the chat: it plays there with its stems in their own lanes, and if you ask for new drums it makes that part again with the other four as they are. It spends the same credits as this page, 5 a song. How to add it.