I decided to try Orb Composer in the middle of a contract working under Super Awesome Action Games. I thought this would be a good way to hit two birds with one stone, as i'm currently also researching A.I and its impact on the Music Industry. As in the case of many indie games the music is not considered until late in the development. And in the case for many composers, this leaves less time for experimentation, and playing it safe within the confines of what you know will work.
This is were Orb Composer S came into play, I was able to transfer midi melody themes from from Cubase into Orb, Orb was then able to suggest possible chord progressions and melody variations. Within 10 minutes I had a wealth of material based of my original idea. I did come up against some stumbling blocks, such as unusual or clashing harmonies with the melody and application crashes. However, these were only a slight inconvenience, as the speed of which melody variations and harmony suggestions can be put together, supersede the previously mentioned minor issues, allowing for much more experimentation than one would be comfortable with due to the tight deadlines.
Orb Composer Track Examples:
PS: Lots of tweaking, nonetheless orb influenced my decision on the melodies and harmonies used.
All in all, I was weary of the potential of software like Orb composer, but I must say, it has grown on me, and is now a welcome tool in my arsenal for composing music, for me it's like having a personal companion to bounce ideas off.
The project title is still under NDA, but once it's lifted i'll update the post with the full information. In regards to Orb Composer, there is a couple of variations available on their website, both with a trial version, so feel free to check it out yourself and make up your own mind.
Update: This project was for a game called “Gun Slinger Samurai” which was was based on a old comic book series, sadly it never got released - even so, it was still a sweet project to work on!