Let's meet the newest member of the Wormwood team, and see what he's been working on!

Posted by Beac on Dec 13th, 2015

Introducing Zer0ktober and the Wormwood OST



S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Wormwood - The Original Soundtrack

I'm very pleased to announce today after the great news that Wormwood was nominated into the Top 100 mods of 2015 and is through to Phase Two of the competition, that we are producing an entirely new Original Soundtrack for the mod.

Today's article will introduce you to a new member of the Wormwood Team; Zer0ktober - composer and audio producer for Wormwood, through a small Question and Answer session. Additionally, we're delighted to share one of the tracks from the soundtrack with you - 'Sunset Frequencies', the Zaton Night track.

We hope you enjoy the track, and please join us in welcoming Zer0ktober to the team!

'Sunset Frequencies'





Q+A

Hello! Who are you and what’s your role in the Wormwood team?

My name is Mikko Taipale, working behind the artist name '0ktober'. I compose and perform the soundtrack for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Wormwood. Most of the time I work with dark / noise ambient, painting dismal and gloomy soundscapes with layers of atmospheric instrumentations.

What software and equipment do you use in your work?

FL Studio 11, Audacity and mostly DSK Music's VST plug-ins (Darkness Theory, Overture). As for the equipment, I use a seven-string Schecter Demon FR as my main guitar, Peavey amplifiers, M-Audio controllers and most recently a Korg Kross workstation.

The software I'm using are usually community-made freeware VSTs, mimicking 'ye-olde' analogue synthesizers from the 70's. I have a lot of faith in Internet communities, so I think this is my way of supporting them as much as I can.

What themes and ideas do you keep in mind while working on the Wormwood original soundtrack?

The thing that makes us all love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series so much - the atmosphere. It can be very difficult to maintain the intense atmosphere through music, and I've found out that dark ambient as a genre is the key to its mysteries. I've always thought of the Zone as gloomy and dark, ugly and beautiful, hopeless - but every time you return to a local safe haven, the sun is setting, you have a can of tuna and a shot of vodka, you'll see small fragments of hope everywhere. You've survived another day. I've always loved this aspect of the game and the polar opposites it offers. I also think of the surroundings of a particular area, how it looks and feels, and then find myself making a composition of it - how would it sound if it were a sound?

What was the main inspiration behind the track we’re showing today, ‘Sunset Frequencies’?

It is a soundscape of how I view Zaton - the far outskirts of Pripyat, a dry lake with stalkers, wildlife and the Zone coexisting with an unbalanced agenda. 'Sunset Frequencies' is the track that plays in the night time, and like I said earlier, it combines the hope and hopelessness of everyday life in the Zone. Zaton also has a lot of hills, so (especially in the Zone) you might tune in to an aimlessly drifting radio broadcast with your PDA if you stay atop of the hills, that's why I ended up using static radio chatter in the track. Zaton is basically the most calm area of the game, so I found myself composing this dark but 'relaxing' tune for its night time.

Last of all, another mention that we are always on the lookout for talented 2D artists, 3D modellers, C++ programmers and Lua scripters to join the team and help make Wormwood the best it can be. Get in touch today and build a new world with us!

Thanks for your time and we look forward to hearing more of your work soon!

PS. The radio broadcasts in this track are actually looped military and KGB transmissions from the Soviet times, they are still broadcasting and no one knows where they are originating from or why they are still playing these messages from the 70's and 80's... Talk about spooky!

Final Words

We hope you're as excited about this news as we are to share it - the addition of our own OST to the mod really changes the feel of the game for the better in our opinion, and will help make your Wormwood experience truly unique!

Please stay tuned for more exciting announcements this week, and remember to vote for us in Phase 2 of Mod of the Year!